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Proposed law in Russia threatens Krishna worship (1/2)
An Appeal for help from Krishna Devotees in Russia.
Members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in
Russia have recently come under intense pressure from sections of the
Russian Orthodox Church and nationalists within the Russian Parliament.
As Gleb Yakunin, a member of the Russian Parliament said recently, "The
Patriarchate [of the Orthodox church] is trying to make it illegal for
foreign missionaries to come into the country. They want parliament to
pass a new law in which the Orthodox church will be given predominance in
Russia and all other forms of religion will be squashed."
This draft law has been discussed in Committee, and will now be discussed
in the Russian Parliament on April 14th. I.e. in just a few days.
Our appeal to you is that you write a letter to President Yelsin and fax a
copy of that letter to Ivan Ribkin, speaker of the Russian Parliament. We
would be indebted if you could also post or fax a copy of your letter to
our communications director in Moscow. He will pass the letter on to all
the members of the parliamentary committee, church representatives and
politicians. Their addresses are:
Mr. Boris Yelsin
The Kremlin
Moscow
Fax: +7.095.206.0766
Fax: +7.095.206.3961
Mr. Ivan Ribkin
Speaker of the Russian Parliament
Russian State Parliament
Ohotniy-ryad 1
Moscow
Fax : +7.095.292.8508
Sucaru das
ISKCON Communications Director
Khoroshevskoye shosse d.8
korp.3, Moscow
Fax : +7.095.945.3317
In your letter we ask that you consider representing some of our concerns
as listed below:
*That ISKCON represents Vaishnavism, a major denomination of the ancient
Hindu tradition and it is not a new religious sect.
*ISKCON does not support illegal or immoral activity and does not support
practices which are harmful to peoples mental or physical health.
*That the proposed new religious law is not representative of a democratic
government.
*How ISKCON, in your country, is seen to make a positive social
contribution.
Please feel free to make any point in your letter that you feel is
relevant to the case. As Gleb Yakunin said, "It is up to people like
yourselves to protest so that this law will not get on to the statute
books." The added concern for ISKCON is the threat of being relegated to
the status of a totalitarian cult. Ahuti devi dasi, a Moscow psychologist
and Krishna devotee appeals, "If we do not get help from outside the
Russian Republic the future looks bad for our freedom to worship. It will
be like the old days again. We must protect our rights and those of our
children and future generations of Russians so that we are allowed to
worship God as our heart desires."
Please consider our appeal seriously. A little help could change a lot.
Russian notes: There are approximately 250,000 Krishna devotees in Russia
today. Ninety-six per cent of these are congregational members. Krishna
devotees in distribute 20,000 free meals a week in Russia, including a
daily distribution of 500 meals in Chechnya, where Hare Krishna Food for
Life workers co-operate with the Russian government welfare services and
international aid agencies.
Included in the following post is an excerpt from the propsed new law and
also the result of a so-called "investigation", based on which, ISKCON was
labeled a destructive cult by the Moscow Municipal Council.
Both will speak for themselves.
Thank you,
Petter Claesson (Premarnava das)
Korsnas Gard
S-147 92 Grodinge
Sweden
Phone: +46-8-53025352 e-mail: petter@algonet.se
Fax: +46-8-53025006 premarnava.hks@com.bbt.se
