A group of government officials and religion experts has drafted a report that identifies the Roman Catholic Church and other 'foreign confessions' as potential threats to national security and urges law enforcement agencies to closely monitor their activities.
The report, which is currently undergoing final touches, is an examination of the development of religious extremism and is not intended to provide the basis for a government order, said Nationalities Minister Vladimir Zorin, who is co-authoring the document with Chechen administration head Akhmad Kadyrov and 33 other officials.
The group's findings, however, provide an insight into the thought about religious issues in government circles.
A section of the draft report, titled 'Assessment of Threats to National Security Related to Religious Extremism,' contains a list topped by the Catholic Church. Protestants are ranked No. 2 - although no faiths are specified - and the list is rounded out by what the draft calls pseudo-religious organizations, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Scientologists and Satanists.
The draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Moscow Times, says some 'foreign confessions' have rapidly expanded over the past decade and crowded out traditional Russian faiths - namely, the Russian Orthodox Church, Judaism and Buddhism, the only faiths to escape criticism in the report, which also attacks radical Islam.
"The Moscow Times" Dec. 9, 2002 [ïîëíûé òåêñò ñòàòüè]
