A Lot Of Heavy Reading

Just a few links I found on the Internet for anyone who is curious about religion in Russia. If I find more, I'll post them. Feel free to add any other links you find by commenting on this post.

The first link is to a Web site on religion news in Russia. It is compiled by a professor and appears to be quite comprehensive. The second link is to a 1997 PBS special on the religion law Russia imposed last year. I worked at the e-zine IntellectualCapital.com back then -- we published a Russian edition in cyrillic (kinda cool to see my byline and articles in another nation's alphabet!) -- and as I recall, the law sparked a lot of concerns about the future of religious freedom in Russia.

The third link is to the latest U.S. State Department annual report on the state of religious freedom in Russia. It provides some insight into the impact the 1997 law has had. Here's a quick summary: "The [Russian] Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice; however, in some cases the authorities imposed restrictions on some groups. Although the Constitution provides for the equality of all religions before the law and the separation of church and state, the Government did not always respect this provision."

Russia Religion News (Professor Paul D. Steeves, Stetson University
Church & State: Limiting Religion in Russia (PBS Online NewsHour, Sept. 29, 1997)
2003 International Religious Freedom Report (U.S. State Department)