ISKCON Temple in Russia Given Ultimatum to Vacate Premises

[Guest guest]

http://news.iskcon.com/node/2252 Russian ISKCON Temple Given Ultimatum to

Vacate Premises

 

A historical city of Vladimir in Russia is known as a former capital of Russia

and famous for its ancient Orthodox churches.

 

Unfortunately, less is known about the situation with non-Orthodox denominations

in Russia and in Vladimir in particular. A U.S. Congress-backed panel has

included Russia on its Watch List of countries where people's religious freedoms

are at risk. Existence of Protestant, Hindu and other religious and

interreligious organizations has become more problematic than in the 1990s. See

also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Russia.

 

A more recent example: Hare Krishnas of Vladimir city received an ultimatum to

vacate their place of worship by September 1st, 2009. Here are the actual

documents: http://www.vtsnet.ru/iskcon/mrooskv-otkaz.jpg,

http://www.vtsnet.ru/iskcon/pdj-otkaz.jpg. This is hardly any surprise

considering taking the Moscow temple away by the Moscow government under the

pretext of overhauling some six years ago.

 

It was eventually demolished (video:

http://www.vedamedia.ru/component/option,com_seyret/task,videodirectlink/Itemid,\

41/id,311/).

 

This time ISKCON devotees in Vladimir received a similar notification. The local

authorities are not providing them with any other building in return.

 

Both situations seem to reflect the current government`s pro-Orthodox Church

policy.

 

Modern Vladimir (200 kilometers [124 miles] to the east of Moscow) is a part of

the famous " Golden Ring " of ancient Russian cities, a significant tourist

attraction. For the last 17 years, the ISKCON temple in Vladimir was a place of

worship for local Russians and visiting Hindus alike, and a place where hungry

people could eat free vegetarian food.

 

Sacipati Dasa (Chairman of ISKCON Vladimir) says: " We asked the Municipal

Housing Board to cancel this decision and explain that ISKCON Vladimir and Food

for Life Vladimir are important educational and charitable organizations. We

hope that this problem can still be solved favorably. "

 

The Moscow Times reported on 4 May 2009 that the U.S. Commission on

International Religious Freedom said the main reason it had put Russia on the

Watch List of 11 countries was the creation in February of the Justice

Ministry's Expert Religious Studies Council, " which was given extremely wide

powers to investigate religious organizations, including their activities and

literature, for a broad array of reasons, including extremism. "

 

The 269-page report

http://www.uscirf.gov/images/AR2009/final%20ar2009%20with%20cover.pdf, which

devotes 15 pages to Russia, also expresses concern that its recently appointed

council's head, prominent anti-cult activist Alexander Dvorkin is an active

Orthodox Church ideologist, but lacks academic credentials as a religion

specialist. His deputy Roman Silantyev has written articles intolerant of

" so-called radical Islam " and the council includes five pro-Russian Orthodox

Church members known for attacking Hindu and Protestant faiths. The report also

raises concerns about religious liberty in four other former Soviet republics,

including Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, together with countries like China, North

Korea and Saudi Arabia.