31
Vera B. Romanovskaya
Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University
Bika A. Immayeva
Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University
Determination of the criteria of destructiveness in the activities of new religious movements (theoretical and legal aspect)
Romanovskaya V.B., Immayeva B.A. Determination of the criteria of destructiveness in the activities of new religious movements (theoretical and legal aspect). Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2020, vol. 26, № 4, pp. 209-215 (In Russ.). DOI https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2020-26-4-209-215
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2020-26-4-209-215
УДК: 342.7 : 291
Publish date: 2020-09-10
Annotation: The confessional composition of modern society is characterised by great diversity. In addition to traditional religious organisations, new (non-traditional) religious and socio-spiritual movements operate in it, representing a whole spectrum of religious, quasi-religious and pseudo-religious cults, whose teachings and practices can be both destructive and constructive. In carrying out legal regulation of the activities of religious associations, the state must, on the one hand, ensure the freedom of conscience and religion guaranteed by the Constitution, and on the other hand, protect society from destructive cults that can harm morality, health, rights and legitimate interests of citizens, the constitutional order and security of the state. Therefore, one of the most important tasks of modern social sciences, including legal ones, is the study of the spiritual «temperature» of society; conducting research aimed at identifying the causes of negative and positive processes occurring in the spiritual sphere of society, as well as determining the specifics of non-traditional religiosity as a special form of social activity. Based on the analysis and interpretation of rich empirical material, the authors formulated a list of criteria by which one can separate destructive (totalitarian) sects from new religious or intellectual (spiritual) movements of a positive nature. The proposed list of criteria can be used by law-making and law enforcement bodies in the framework of improving the legal regulation of the activities of religious associations and building state-confessional policy in general.
Keywords: state-confessional legal relations, new religious movements, sects, destructive and totalitarian sects, spiritual and moral education, criteria of destructiveness, prevention of extremism.
Literature list: Sgibneva O.I. Religioznye konversii v sovremennoi Rossii [Religious conversions in modern Russia]. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta [Bulletin of Volgograd State University], 2017, № 181, pp. 80–85. (In Russ.) Smirnov M. Iu. Sotsiologiia religii: slovar' [Sociology of religion: a dictionary]. Saint Petersburg, SPbGU Publ., 2011, 412 p. (In Russ.) De Leo D. Suicide prevention is far more than a psychiatric business. World Psychiatry, 2004, 3 (3), pp. 155–156. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1414698/ (дата обращения: 12.10.2020). Eileen Barker (ed.). New Religious Movements: A Perspective for Understanding Society. Edwin Mellen Press, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 393. URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/religious-studies/article/eileen-barker-ed-new-religious-movements-a-perspective-for-understanding-society-pp-393-edwin-mellen-press-1982-4400-paper/28F03057F7334D13BA7544D8CC774E80 (дата обращения: 02.10.2020). G. Yemelianova. Divergent trends of Islamic radicalization in Muslim Russia. Russia and islam: State, society and radicalism, ed. by R. Dannreuther, L. March. Taylor & Francis Group, 2010, pр. 129–132. P.C. Lucas, T. Robbins. New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century. Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective. Florence, Taylor & Francis Group, 2004, рр. 103.
Author's info: Vera B. Romanovskaya, ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7938-5171, Candidate of Jural Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Theory and History of State and Law, Faculty of Law, Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. E-mail: vera_borisovna@mail.ru
Co-author's info: Bika A. Immayeva, ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4720-4452, Master of Law Faculty, Lobachevsky Nizhny Novgorod State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. E-mail: 1997immaeva@gmail.com