Introduction -- Soul Wars: The Problem and Promise of Proselytism in Russia

A new war has developed for the salvation of souls in Russia, as local and foreign religious groups battle in Russia over the right and power to proselytize. This is, in parti a legal war just as it is a religious war, as the Russian government has developed favorite denominations and oppressed others. After the Soviet Union crumbled, president Mikhail Gorbachev broke the Marxist/Lennist atheism of Russian and allowed religious freedom with legal backing. No state religion was implemented, and Russia entered a golden age of religious liberty along with a massive religious awakening, both within and without its borders. Foreign religious groups even began to make some headway in Orthodox Russia. These new arrivals eventually created resentment due to their Western concepts and their “hit and run evangelism.” The Russian Orthodox church requested these groups lower their level of activity, but they were ignored and forced to turn to state law. They proposed restrictions on foreign proselytism, which were only enacted on the local level. However, the Russian government eventually passed the Freedom of Conscience Law, a controversial law that places religious groups with certain classes. The Orthodox Russian Church receives legal protection and benefits. Traditional foreign religions, like Protestant Christian and mainline Jewish and Muslim sects, are given full protection under the law, but fewer benefits. Other religious groups, those considered “dangerous” by the Orthodox Russian Church, are given only a pro forma guarantee of freedom of worship and liberty of conscience. Similarly, religious organizations are given a juridical personality and affirmative rights, while religious group are given only minimal protections and can be dissolved for a number of reasons that are vague and expansive