ICC NOTE: President Putin’s latest anti-terror law has become a major issue for the religious community based on it prohibiting religious gatherings in non-registered areas. It includes heavy fines for those who do not follow the new law which was passed in order to “curb” religious extremism. Instead, the law could potentially target autonomous churches within Russia as the Russian Orthodox Church is a state church used as an arm of the Putin’s administration. Missionaries and other Christian organizations stationed in Russia have vowed to remain and fight the law wherever they can. 

7/26/2016 Russia (Newsweek) – In signing a new anti-terrorism law, Russian President Vladimir Putin could have authority to crack down on non-government-aligned churches, said Archbishop Andrew Maklakov, administrator of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church of America.

There are two sects of Russian Orthodox Christians. The Moscow Patriarchate is the main branch of the church, which had ties to the Russian government going back to the czar era that ended in the early 20th century. During the Soviet era, the autonomous church was established, adhering to Russian Orthodox theology, but completely independent of the government-aligned church.

“As the Russian Federation has drifted back to its Soviet roots more and more over the past 25 years, it has increasingly sought to harass, persecute, and destroy any religious organization that it might consider competition to its own ‘state church,’” the archbishop told the Daily Signal in an email.

The autonomous church in the United States and abroad, “opposes this new law because as an entity not subject to the official state-run church, it is not exempt from the provisions of this law,” he continued. “Rather, it understands that this law is but another weapon in the hands of the neo-Soviet Russian state to dismantle and destroy our church in a way that appears lawful to Western observers and critics.”

The anti-terrorism law prohibits religious gatherings in non-registered areas, which couldreportedly include private homes. It also restricts promoting religion on the Internet. Missionary work or sharing faith without possessing certain documents to do so would lead to fines of up to the equivalent of $765 for a Russian citizen and up to $15,000 for an organization, while a foreign violator would be deported.

“In my opinion, this is just a way for Putin to try to get the band back together,” the Reverend Mark Templet of Saint Peter the Aleut Orthodox Parish in Abita Springs, Louisiana, told the Daily Signal in a phone interview. “It’s about going back to the Soviet era; [Putin] wants the Moscow Patriarchate to stand alone for national identity. We are a fly in the ointment of that because we believe there should be a separation between the state and the church.”

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