Jehovah's Witnesses as 'extremists': Court sharpens edges of Russia's religious space
A Supreme Court ruling puts the Jehovah's Witnesses at risk of property seizure and prison over the sect's proselytization and 'radical' beliefs. Even members of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church say the decision goes too far.
Fred Weir
Correspondent
MAY 1, 2017 MOSCOW—It's a quiet Tuesday evening at Moscow's largest Kingdom Hall, a gathering point for Jehovah's Witnesses, and it's a hive of activity. In one room a few dozen people are engaged in Bible-reading; in another they are singing hymns.
There is no outward sign of awareness that Russia's Supreme Court has just banned the Jehovah's Witnesses as an "extremist" group on a par with terrorist organizations like ISIS and Al Qaeda – nor that carrying out these very activities may soon be grounds for criminal charges and prison.
It's a legal decision that looks portentous on many levels. It is the first major post-Soviet instance in which Russia has moved to outlaw an entire religion, deploying "extremism" laws against a group that poses no threat whatsoever of violence, racism, or hate speech.
Some see the hand of the powerful Russian Orthodox Church behind the decision. Others suggest it's part of a more general wave of "majoritarian" social conservatism that's enforcing a gradual homogenization on the entire society. Civil rights experts worry the move could presage a wider crackdown on "non-traditional" religious faiths, generally viewed as alien to Russia, that took root around the country in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse a generation ago.
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2017/0501/Jehovah-s-Witnesses-as-extremists-Court-sharpens-edges-of-Russia-s-religious-space
