Religious associations in the Russian Federation can. Religious associations and organizations in the Russian Federation – Knowledge Hypermarket
Article 6 The law establishes the definition and characteristics of a religious association:
“A religious association in the Russian Federation is recognized as a voluntary association of citizens of the Russian Federation, other persons permanently and legally residing on the territory of the Russian Federation, formed for the purpose of jointly professing and spreading the faith and having the following characteristics corresponding to this purpose:
religion;
performance of divine services, other religious rites and ceremonies;
teaching religion and religious education of its followers.”
Religious associations represent a form of collective exercise by individuals of their right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.
Distinctive features of the concept of “voluntary association” are:
1) voluntary Creation associations by persons initially uniting to achieve joint goals;
2) voluntariness introductions into the association and stay in him. However, not in all confessions the internal structure is created and developed through the independent unification of ordinary believers. In some religions, to create religious societies, the will of those uniting is not enough - permission or approval from the spiritual authorities is necessary.
Also, it is not on the basis of the voluntary expression of the will of the participants that a special type of religious association is created - a religious institution or organization created by a centralized religious organization in accordance with paragraph 6 of Art. 8 of the law, in particular institutions of professional religious education. Such religious associations have only one founder, a legal entity - a centralized religious organization, and, strictly speaking, they cannot be considered as a voluntary association of citizens. Citizens voluntarily participate in the activities of a religious institution, but are not its creators.
Unlike other non-profit, including public associations, the main goal of a religious association is not determined independently by its founders, but is established by the commented norm. Although the law allows religious organizations to carry out a wide range of activities, the purpose of the charter must be stated as “the joint profession and propagation of the faith.” For example, a religious organization has the right to carry out charitable activities. But in accordance with Art. 6 Federal Law “On charitable activities and charitable organizations”, charitable organization is a non-governmental (non-state and non-municipal) non-profit organization created to implement the goals provided for by this Federal Law by carrying out charitable activities in the interests of society as a whole or certain categories of persons.
The goals of charitable activities are listed in Art. 2 of the said Law. Thus, the same legal entity cannot simultaneously have the status of a religious association and a charitable organization - they are created for different purposes. This, of course, does not prevent a religious organization from engaging in charitable activities, or a charitable organization, for example, from accompanying its activities with religious rituals. But it is possible to take advantage of special rights and benefits established only for charitable or only for religious organizations, depending on whether the organization is registered as a religious or a charitable organization.
Combining the status of a religious association and an educational institution is possible for institutions of professional religious education. At the same time, the Law “On Education” does not define the purpose of an educational institution, enshrining it in Art. 12 only that “an educational institution is one that carries out the educational process.”
For religious associations in the form of religious groups, if they do not have a charter, the purpose of forming a religious association may not be formally stated, but it must have the characteristics listed in the commented norm (see further commentary on Article 7 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”) .
The Civil Code of the Russian Federation in Article 50 divides legal entities into commercial and non-commercial, defining non-profit organizations as not having profit as the main goal and not distributing the profits between participants. Art. 117 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation classifies religious organizations as non-profit organizations. For religious associations that do not have the rights of a legal entity (religious groups), the classification provided for in Art. 50 of the Civil Code, formally inapplicable. Religious groups, not being subjects of civil legal relations, in principle cannot make a profit (only members of a religious group, acting as individuals, can receive income). However, in view of the provisions defined in Art. 6 and 7, the purpose of forming a religious association in the form of a religious group other than making a profit, it can be stated that all religious associations have a non-commercial purpose.
The Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” says that a religious association "admitted" as such. The basis for recognition is the conformity of the purpose and characteristics of the association with those established by law. Thus, not every association that proclaims itself to be religious is recognized as such. In addition to self-identification, there must also be objective properties of a religious association. Such government control is necessary for two main reasons. Firstly, international law provides for a number of special guarantees ensuring the freedom of activity of religious associations , therefore, it is necessary to establish their difference from other ideological associations in order to determine which associations are subject to these special guarantees.
Secondly, the status of a religious association with the rights of a legal entity provides for the possibility of using tax benefits and special rights, in particular the exclusive right to receive ownership or use of religious property that is in state or municipal ownership. This makes state control (“recognition”) necessary to prevent abuse and the formation of pseudo-religious associations for the purpose of access to special benefits and rights.
The three criteria required for a religious association, listed in the commented norm, are formal criteria that make it possible to distinguish religious associations from any other associations. In practice, the problem of “recognition” or “non-recognition” of an association as religious may arise in the process of acceptance by an authorized government body of documents submitted for state registration of a religious organization as a legal entity. If the religious organization being created has confirmation from a centralized religious organization of the same religion of inclusion in its structure, recognition of the religious nature of the organization does not pose a problem. If an application for registration as a legal entity is submitted by founders professing a doctrine not previously represented on the territory of the Russian Federation, or the religious organization being created belongs to a well-known religion, but is autonomous and is not part of the structure of any centralized religious organization, it may be necessary to conduct research , whether the professed doctrine is a religion (creed). Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” provides for the conduct of state religious studies examinations for appropriate purposes.
The listed characteristics make it possible to refuse recognition as religious to those associations that clearly do not have them: commercial organizations, associations of a political, philosophical, trade union, etc. nature, which do not have a creed and do not perform religious services. At the same time, due to the extreme diversity of religious teachings, an attempt to give an unambiguous answer to the question of where the line between religion and non-religion lies is faced with the absence of a single universal definition of religion. Academician L.N. Mitrokhin spoke about the impossibility in principle of developing such a definition in his article “Religion” in the “New Philosophical Encyclopedia”: “We can even state that it is generally impossible to give an adequate formal-logical definition of religion; its essence is comprehended only as a result of identifying its specific, diverse forms and essential characteristics" .
The first sign is “creed” or creed, that is, the presence of a system of ideas about the relationship between man and the supernatural that are stable and perceived as absolute truths. The formulation is necessarily very broad, because in a number of religions, such as Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, there are no ideas about a personal God that are characteristic of Christianity or Islam. Due to this breadth and vagueness of the formulation, the question arises: what is the difference between religion and religious-philosophical and philosophical-idealistic teachings about God, the Absolute Spirit, the Supreme Being, etc.?
The second sign - “performing divine services, other religious rites and ceremonies” - is intended to distinguish religions from doctrines of a philosophical and ideological nature, the followers of which do not practice rituals and ceremonies (and, as a rule, do not consider their teachings to be a religion). In centralized religious organizations, worship services and other religious rites and ceremonies can be carried out both directly and in local religious organizations included in its structure.
The third sign - “teaching religion and religious education of its followers” - seems less clear. If the first two signs in the language of logic are called “necessary” (i.e., the presence of each of them is necessary for recognition of an association as religious), then the third sign in the existing formulation cannot be unambiguously perceived as necessary. Some religious associations, for various reasons, including the lack of converts and youth, do not educate and educate anyone for a more or less long period of time, but because of this they do not lose their religious nature. In addition, the concept of “follower” is devoid of legal specificity, so it remains unclear who exactly should be trained and educated in the association in order to satisfy the criterion of recognizing him as religious.
Apparently, it would be more correct to mean by the third sign the presence in the union of religious morality and ethics, based on religious doctrine, moral and ethical ideas about good and evil, proper and improper, on which religious education is based. This criterion allows us to distinguish religions from teachings and practices such as spiritualism and magic. The latter also have teachings about the supernatural, rites and rituals for interaction with the other world, but, as a rule, do not contain special moral and ethical principles.
To complete the review of the difficulties faced in resolving the issue of recognizing an association as a religious one, we state that Freemasonry almost perfectly complies with all the criteria for a religious association established by the Russian legislator. Only the lack of desire on the part of the Masonic associations themselves to be recognized as religious associations has not yet confronted the law enforcer with the need to make an appropriate decision.
Expression " a joint confession and spread of faith" presupposes the presence one common religion of persons forming a religious association. The worship of different deities according to the teachings of different religions cannot be recognized as a “common” profession of faith. Therefore, interfaith associations, even if their activities are accompanied by ecumenical joint worship, are not recognized as religious associations. However, in cases of significant similarity of faiths, joint confession of faith becomes more possible. For example, resolving the question of whether local religious organizations of Sunnis and Shiites can be part of one Muslim spiritual administration, whether they carry out a joint the profession of faith, in our opinion, lies outside the competence of the state.
In relation to individuals, control over the degree of religious unity of the founders and participants (members) of a religious association is difficult or impossible. In relation to centralized religious organizations, the use of a formal approach, allowing the entry into its structure only of religious organizations whose charters indicate a literally identical religion, seems to be an excessive restriction. This approach turns the secular state into an arbiter, assessing the degree of significance of theological differences without taking into account the opinions of the religious organizations themselves about the possibility of uniting in a centralized structure. Apparently, if religious organizations belonging to the same religion (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.) consider it acceptable to join the structure of a common centralized religious organization, there are no legal obstacles to recognizing this organization as a religious one.
A separate problem is the degree of constancy of the creed professed in a religious association and the limits of the competence of state control in this area. It is obvious that an association that frequently and significantly changes the fundamentals of a religious doctrine (by name and/or content) cannot be considered a religious association. (In this case, it is not possible to talk about the presence of some individually defined creed, there are no those essential signs of religious or other ideological beliefs that the European Court of Human Rights has defined as “views that have reached a certain level of conviction, significance, unity and importance” .) At the same time, the state cannot be drawn into the control of theological provisions. For example, the state should not judge how adequate the doctrine professed by a particular religious association is to Orthodoxy, in particular if significant changes have been made in the content of the doctrine, but which the participants of this association themselves continue to consider Orthodox. Apparently, a secular state should limit itself to stating availability religion as a necessary sign of a religious association.
In relation to religious associations in the form of religious groups, the confessional identification of their religious affiliation, in principle, lies outside the competence of the state. (There are no legal grounds for subjecting a religious group to state religious studies examination to determine its religion.) In relation to religious organizations, state control over the compliance of the religious affiliation recorded in the charter with the actually professed doctrine is possible. Although in this case, the line between the freedom of theological interpretation by a religious organization of its doctrine and the need to act in accordance with the charter remains not always clear.
The law does not establish exceptional the rights of religious associations to carry out activities related to the joint confession and dissemination of faith. Judicial practice knows examples when the performance of religious services by a public association and its activities to disseminate religious beliefs were perceived by regulatory state bodies as a violation of the law, giving grounds for the liquidation of such a public association in court. It appears that this is an unlawful interpretation of the law, derogating from the right to freedom of conscience. From the fact that a religious association has the goal of jointly professing and spreading the faith, it does not logically follow that activities to profess and spread the faith can only be carried out by religious associations. (Similar to how the existence of charitable organizations does not mean that no one else has the right to engage in charitable activities). In this matter, one should be guided by the general principle: “in the sphere of rights and freedoms, everything that is not directly prohibited by law is permitted.”
The Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” uses the terms "participant", "member" And "follower". The terms “participant” and “member” are used interchangeably in the Law. The law leaves it up to the charters of religious organizations to independently regulate the nature of their legal relations with individuals participating in their activities. The law also gives religious associations the opportunity to independently determine whether they are organized according to the principle of fixed membership or do not have it.
Legal relations between a religious association and individuals participating in its activities can be reduced to two types. In one embodiment, the participation of an individual is documented in accordance with the requirements of the charter of the religious association, and the person is endowed with the rights and responsibilities provided for by the charter. In another option, an individual actually participates in the activities of a religious association, but his connection with the religious association is not documented and he does not have rights and obligations, in particular, he does not participate in managing the activities of the religious association. For example, based on the Model Charter of a local religious organization - the parish of the Russian Orthodox Church (2009), only persons included in the parish bodies are in the first type of relationship with the parish, the rest of the parishioners are in the second type of relationship with the parish.
For comparison: according to the Federal Law “On Public Associations”, Art. 6 gives a clear definition of the concepts “member” and “participant”: “members of a public association are individuals and legal entities - public associations, whose interest in jointly solving the problems of this association in accordance with the norms of its charter is formalized by appropriate individual statements or documents that allow taking into account the number of members of a public association in order to ensure their equality as members of this association”, “participants of a public association are individuals and legal entities - public associations that have expressed support for the goals of this association and (or) its specific actions, taking part in its activities without mandatory registration conditions of their participation, unless otherwise provided by the charter.”
The Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” does not introduce terms to designate such significantly qualitatively different types of participation of individuals in religious associations, leaving the appropriate regulation to the discretion of religious associations. As a result, there is a lack of terminological unity. In some religious associations, persons who are members of them on a fixed basis may be called members, and those not documented - participants, in others - vice versa. A religious association may only have persons with documented participation, who may, at the discretion of the religious association, be called participants or members. In a religious organization registered as a legal entity, due to the necessity of having bodies of a legal entity, there must be a sufficient number of individuals whose participation, rights and obligations in the religious organization are defined in documents.
The Federal Law “On Public Associations” directly allows participation (membership) in public associations along with individuals and legal entities (public associations can be founders and members (participants) of other public associations). The Law under comment leaves the settlement of this issue to the discretion of religious associations. However, a local religious organization can only be established by individuals (citizens of the Russian Federation).
Within the framework of the law enforcement practice accumulated over the years of the Law, it cannot be said that the definition of the concept of “religious association” established in it, in which the developers saw one of the main advantages of the Law, significantly influenced the religious situation. The number of associations that were denied recognition as religious turned out to be insignificant; the associations that were recognized as religious despite their self-determination are practically unknown. At the same time, judicial authorities refused to register public associations whose charters actually indicated their religious nature.
In Art. Article 6 also establishes restrictions prohibiting the creation of religious associations in government bodies, other government bodies, state institutions and local governments, military units, state and municipal organizations, as well as the creation and activities of associations whose goals and actions are contrary to the law. This norm is intended to practically ensure the secular nature of the state, but it does not prevent civil servants or military personnel from being members of a religious association that exists outside the organization or institution, for example, being members of a Parish Assembly.
Head of the legal service of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in. Ksenia (Chernega) also explains that: “the territory, in particular premises belonging to the relevant body (organization), can be used for the creation and activities of religious associations. For example, on the territory of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov created and operates the courtyard of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' - the home church of the Holy Martyr Tatiana; house churches operate in the buildings of the Holy Synod and the Senate, assigned the right of operational management to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. In such cases, a government body, local government body, military unit, state (municipal) organization only provides premises (part of the territory) for the creation and activities of a religious association, but the administration and employees of the relevant body (institution) do not have the right to be part of the founders of such a religious association. association, as well as in the composition of its management bodies" .
The law introduced two different forms, in which religious associations can be created, assigning them names - religious group and religious organization(Article 6, paragraph 2). In the Law “On Freedom of Religion” there was one term - “religious associations”, which designated associations that both had the right of legal personality and those that did not. In the current Law, the main difference between the forms of associations is their legal personality, the presence or absence of a legal entity.
Religious group according to Article 7, A voluntary association of citizens is recognized, formed for the purpose of jointly professing and spreading the faith, carrying out activities without state registration and acquiring the legal capacity of a legal entity. The premises and property necessary for the activities of a religious group are provided for the use of the group by its members.
A religious group is a form of direct implementation of constitutional rights guaranteed by Art. 28 of the Constitution (for joint confession and spread of faith) and Art. 30 of the Constitution (the right to association), - in person, without mandatory registration, without obtaining permission to create a religious group or notifying any government body about its creation.
In the wording of the first paragraph of Art. 7 only talks about the association of “citizens”, without mentioning persons who do not have Russian citizenship. This gives rise to the possibility of several interpretations of the norm. Either the named persons do not have the right to unite at all for the joint confession and spread of faith (but such an interpretation contradicts Article 28 of the Constitution and the definition of a religious association given in Article 6, paragraph 1), or their actual association is not recognized by the religious group commented on by the Law, either they must form a religious group only together with Russian citizens, or a religious group can still be formed by persons who do not have Russian citizenship. Taking into account the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article 2 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, it should be concluded that the Law does not directly establish the exclusive right of citizens of the Russian Federation to form religious groups, and, therefore, a religious group can also be formed by persons who do not have Russian citizenship.
The law does not regulate the procedure for the formation of a religious group, as a result of which the question of at what point in time and by what formal characteristics can the fact of the emergence of a religious group be clearly established. For comparison: the Federal Law “On Public Associations” dated May 19, 1995 No. 82-FZ in Article 18 establishes that “a public association is considered created from the moment of adoption at a congress (conference) or general meeting decisions on the creation of a public association, on the approval of its charter and on the formation of governing and control and audit bodies". Without these mandatory procedures, a public association cannot “actually” come into being, even if there is a group of citizens jointly and regularly engaged in some kind of non-commercial activity to achieve common goals.
In contrast to the above example, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” does not answer the question: is it sufficient for recognition of the formation of a religious group to have a set of objective characteristics, that is, the existence of a group of persons engaged in joint professing and dissemination of faith and possessing the listed in clause 1 art. 6 signs (religion; performance of divine services, other religious rites and ceremonies; teaching religion and religious education of one’s followers)? Or, as with the creation of a public association, objective signs of the emergence of a religious group must necessarily be accompanied by the subjective intention of its participants to form (create) a religious association, formally expressed in holding a constituent meeting?
In the wording of Art. 7 the expression “voluntary association..., educated...", "citizens, formed...", and Art. 6 uses, in relation to all religious associations, the term synonymous with “education” "Creation". The formation (creation) of an association cannot occur otherwise than in the presence of a subjective intention of the participants to form (create) an association. As a comparison with the Federal Law “On Public Associations” shows, the mere fact of joint actions carried out by several persons aimed at achieving a common goal cannot be considered as the creation of an association. The actual participation of an individual in the joint professing and dissemination of faith with other persons cannot be identified with the expression of a conscious intention to act as the founder of an association.
Thus, believers have the right to both carry out joint activities to profess and spread the faith without forming a religious group, and to establish a religious group through a conscious expression of will in the form of a constituent assembly.
An alternative interpretation, according to which a religious group is recognized as having arisen if there are objective signs defined in Article 6, including without the presence of a formally expressed will of the participants to form (create) a religious association, contradicts the norm of Art. 30 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to part 2 of which “no one can be forced to join or remain in any association.” With this approach, the law enforcement officer recognizes believers as “members of a religious group” against their will, forcibly.
In addition, the application of the principle of “recognizing the fact of the emergence of a religious group without a formal establishment” entails a number of insurmountable practical problems.
The law did not define formal quantitative criteria by which the existence of a religious group is recognized - the number of participants, the frequency of events held, as well as a way to reliably determine who is recognized as a member of the group (in the absence of a group charter and in the absence of voluntary self-identification of an individual as a member of the group). For example, is a religious family that practices communal prayer recognized as a religious group? Or will she become so through attempts to convert an unbelieving family member (“spreading the faith”)? Or from the moment non-family members join in the joint performance of religious rites? In fact, “recognition as a religious group of a group of persons who do not call themselves such” with this approach is carried out at the discretion of the law enforcement officer within a very broad framework of the characteristics of a religious association listed in paragraph 1 of Art. 6. Such recognition of the existence of a religious group only on objective grounds does not entail any legal consequences, with the exception of special cases discussed below.
The creation of religious associations (including in the form of religious groups) is prohibited by paragraph 3 of Art. 6 “in government bodies, other government bodies, state institutions and local governments, military units, state and municipal organizations.” Thus, if we recognize as a religious group any group of citizens who jointly practice a religious cult and have the objective signs of a religious association listed in Article 6, then all hundreds of groups of prisoners gathering in places of imprisonment to conduct worship services, study the Law of God, and receive the Sacrament of baptism ( “spread of faith”), all groups of religious military personnel, for whom the institution of military clergy is now being created, are all subject to the ban on the creation of religious associations in the relevant government institutions and military units.
An association can be “forced” to be recognized as religious in accordance with objective criteria (in addition to the consent of its participants to consider themselves a religious association (group)) in the cases provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 14 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, when the court decides to ban the activities of a religious organization associations. (See further commentary to Article 14 on the issue of banning the activities of a religious group.)
The absence of legal requirements for the minimum quantitative composition of a religious group in combination with the principles of interpretation of legislation established by paragraph 3 of Art. 2 of the commented Law, allows us to conclude that to create a religious group by holding a constituent meeting, two individuals who have reached the age of 18 are sufficient (by virtue of the provisions of Part 1 of Article 21 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) (on the issue of citizenship of the founders of a religious group, see above ). The law does not establish the obligation to adopt a charter and form the bodies of a religious group, in contrast to the procedure for creating a public association. The religious group being established must have the purpose and characteristics provided for in paragraph 1 of Art. 6.
The practical significance of the formal establishment of a religious group exists in the case provided for in paragraph 2 of the commented article. Holding a constituent meeting does not entail any other legal consequences.
According to paragraph 2 of Art. 7 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, “citizens who have formed a religious group with the intention of subsequently transforming it into a religious organization shall notify local government bodies of its creation and the beginning of its activities.”
In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 9 and paragraph 5 of Art. 11 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, for state registration of a local religious organization, the founders are required to provide either confirmation of its existence in the given territory for at least fifteen years (in the form of a religious group), issued by local authorities, or confirmation of inclusion in the structure of a centralized religious organization of the same religion, issued by the specified organization.
If the registered religious organization is part of the structure of a centralized religious organization, it must not provide confirmation of its existence in the given territory for at least fifteen years, issued by local government bodies. Therefore, the religious group on the basis of which such a local religious organization is established and registered is not obliged to notify local government authorities about the creation and commencement of activities. (In this case, a religious group can be formed and exist indefinitely until its members make a decision on the establishment and registration of a religious organization. It is also possible that the religious association did not exist until the constituent meeting of the local religious organization being created. In this case Formally, between the date of the founding meeting and the date of state registration of a local religious organization, a religious group temporarily exists. It is also not obliged to notify local government bodies about the creation and start of activities.)
If citizens who have formed a religious group with the intention of later converting it into a religious organization intend that this local religious organization will not be part of the structure of the centralized religious organization, they must take measures that will ensure, after due time, that it receives confirmation of its existence on given territory for at least fifteen years (in the form of a religious group), issued by local authorities. For this purpose, they notify local government bodies about the creation and start of activities of a religious group.
The law does not regulate the procedure for registering religious groups with local government bodies or the form of notification. Proof of the creation of a religious group can be the minutes of the founding meeting. To enable subsequent identification of a religious group before issuing confirmation of its 15-year existence, the notification must also contain information about the name and religious affiliation of the religious group. Although when holding the constituent meeting of a local religious organization into which the religious group is being transformed, there must be at least 10 founders (in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 1 of Article 9), the law does not establish the minimum number of religious groups from the moment of formation and during the 15-year period period preceding its transformation into a local religious organization. As shown above, in the absence of such special requirements, two founders are sufficient to form a religious group.
According to paragraph 3 of Art. 7 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, “religious groups have the right to perform divine services, other religious rites and ceremonies, as well as to carry out religious teaching and religious education of their followers.”
Strictly speaking, this paragraph refers to the right that belongs to participants religious group, since a religious group, not being a subject of law, cannot have rights and obligations.
The listed types of activities are, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 6 Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, essential features of a religious association. Religious groups not only have the right to do these actions, but are in some way “obliged” to do them, otherwise the group may not be recognized as religious.
The decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) of May 12, 2009 in the case “Masaev v. Moldova” considered the complaint of a Muslim who was fined for participating in collective prayer with other Muslims in a private house. The fine was imposed based on legislation that punishes “profession of beliefs or rituals” without prior recognition of the religious denomination by the state. The court stated that the requirement to register a religious denomination in itself does not contradict Art. 9 and 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. But it is incompatible with the ECHR “to punish individual members of an unregistered denomination for praying or otherwise manifesting their religious beliefs. A contrary view would mean that an exception to the right to freedom of conscience is made for the religious beliefs of minorities not formally registered by the state.” .
Without being subjects of law, religious groups cannot enter into legal relations and carry out activities requiring civil legal personality (for example, establish media, educational institutions). Without its own property, a religious group cannot carry out charitable activities; only members of the religious group can act as philanthropists. Members of a religious group fully enjoy the guaranteed Art. 28 of the Constitution the right to spread one’s religious associations among an indefinitely wide range of people, and not just among “followers” of a religious group (the meaning of the concept “follower” is not defined by the Law under commentary).
One of the fundamental differences between the current Law and the RSFSR Law “On Freedom of Religion” is the complication of the procedure for a religious association to acquire the status of a legal entity and the corresponding legal personality. The concept of regulation of this issue by Law can be expressed approximately as follows. The implementation of fundamental rights and freedoms of man and citizen, which requires the opportunity to unite and act in accordance with one’s beliefs without receiving any special sanction from the state, can be carried out within the framework of a religious group. But in order for a religious association to acquire the rights of a legal entity and the ability to enter into legal relations as a single whole, it is necessary to undergo state registration. This requirement is dictated by both the general norm of Art. 51 of the Civil Code, according to which state registration is mandatory when creating any legal entities, and the need to ensure religious the nature of the organization being created, in that the legal capacity it acquires will not be used to the detriment of the interests of society .
According to Article 8, religious organization recognizes a voluntary association of citizens of the Russian Federation and other persons permanently and legally residing on the territory of the Russian Federation, formed for the purpose of jointly professing and spreading the faith and registered as a legal entity in the manner prescribed by law.
According to paragraph 2 of Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, “religious organizations, depending on the territorial scope of their activities, are divided into local And centralized».
Despite this wording of the Law, the territorial scope of activity cannot be considered as basic criterion for distinguishing between local and centralized religious organizations. Of course, as a rule, the territorial sphere of activity of a centralized religious organization is wider; it can extend to the entire Russian Federation. At the same time, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” does not establish any limits on the territorial scope of activity for a local religious organization.
The Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated February 6, 2004 No. 60-G04–3 states that
“the special Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, in contrast to the Federal Law of May 19, 1995 No. 82-FZ “On Public Associations”, does not establish the conditions under which the activities of a local religious organization are limited to the territory of one municipal entity (...) The arguments of the cassation appeal that... a local religious organization has the right to carry out its activities only within the territory of one municipal entity and does not have the right to carry out activities within the entire territory of the subject of the Russian Federation cannot be recognized as justified.”
Article 10 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” does not require mandatory indication of the territorial scope of activity of a religious organization. The legislation also does not establish a ban on the activities of a religious organization outside the territorial sphere and does not provide for the application of any sanctions in these cases.
During the development of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, the initial version of the bill provided for the classification of religious organizations into several types depending on the territorial scope of activity (all-Russian, regional, local). Centralized religious organizations would be classified as all-Russian or regional, depending on the number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation in which there are local religious organizations included in their structure. Accordingly, the right to carry out their activities would be limited to the appropriate territorial framework. However, this classification option was not included in the final text of the Law.
The most significant difference between a local and a centralized religious organization is another characteristic than the territorial scope of activity. Local religious organizations may be created exclusively by individuals(citizens). Creation of centralized religious organizations impossible without the participation of legal entities(local religious organizations), which either act as founders of a centralized religious organization, or are included in the newly created centralized organization, the founder of which is an already existing (superior) centralized religious organization, the subordination of which is provided for by the charters of local religious organizations.
Clause 3 of Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” established that
“a local religious organization is a religious organization consisting of at least ten participants who have reached the age of eighteen and permanently reside in the same locality or in the same urban or rural settlement.”
The requirement for the permanent residence of the minimum number of participants in a local religious organization in one locality or in one urban or rural settlement was first introduced in the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”. The previous Law of the RSFSR “On Freedom of Religion” did not provide for requirements for the place of residence of participants in a religious association. The meaning of the requirement is that a religious organization must have a real opportunity to carry out its activities for the joint professing and dissemination of faith. If the participants of a local religious organization lived at a considerable distance from each other, in different regions, they would not have the appropriate physical opportunity. At the same time, the absence of this restriction would open up the possibility of creating fictitious local religious organizations.
However, the Law does not establish requirements for the minimum intensity of worship services and other types of religious activities for a local religious organization. Therefore, its participants, even living at a considerable distance from each other, have the theoretical opportunity to regularly gather to carry out religious activities. The problem comes down to the size of travel costs. Thus, the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” limits the rights of citizens who do not permanently reside in one area or in one urban or rural settlement to create a local religious organization.
The law does not directly establish that a reduction in the number of participants in an organization to less than 10 is grounds for its liquidation. It can be considered that the insufficient number of participants is a violation of the norms of paragraph 3 of Art. 8 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”, which provides grounds for liquidation of the organization in accordance with paragraph 1 of its article. 14. However, the lack of a precise legal definition of the concept of “participant” makes the outcome of the relevant trial questionable. The charters of local religious organizations, taking advantage of the discretion granted by the legislator in determining the status of “participants,” sometimes do not use this term at all (See, for example, the Model Charter of an Orthodox Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church of 2009. At the same time, its paragraph 7.2 establishes that the number members of the collective body parish - the Parish Assembly - cannot be less than ten people).
In the already mentioned above Determination of the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated February 6, 2004 No. 60-G04-3, it was recognized as correct to expand the concept of “locality” to a subject of the Russian Federation: “the court made the correct conclusion that all the founders of the organization live in the same locality (Kamchatka region), that is, in one part of the territory, characterized by a commonality of natural, historical, cultural and other features.”
In the Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of January 25, 2012 No. 115-О-О on the complaint of the local religious organization of Evangelical Christian Baptists in Mytishchi “Biblical Mission”, a definition of “locality” is also given that is not clearly related to the boundaries of any administrative territorial entity:
“ within the meaning of paragraph 3 of Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations” in conjunction with its Article 6, one locality should be recognized as a part of the territory of the Russian Federation, residence within the borders of which provides the opportunity for joint confession and spread of faith through the performance of religious rites and ceremonies " ====In practice, disputes often arise over whether residency requirements imposed by law should apply to founders local religious organization, apply to all of its participants(members). Registration authorities in a number of regions, including Moscow and the Moscow region, believe that they should all live in the same area. Deputy Director of the Department for Non-Profit Organizations of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation T.V. Vagina states that “Permanent residence in one area or in one urban or rural settlement is a mandatory condition for membership in a local religious organization in accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 8 Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” .
However, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, in the above-quoted ruling dated January 25, 2012, took a different position: “the contested legal provision (clause 3 of Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” - M.Sh.) ... does not imply that residence in the same municipality is a prerequisite for membership in a local religious organization.”
In practice, a dispute regarding a citizen’s right to be a member (participant) of a local religious organization can arise only if we are talking about fixed membership, i.e., the documentary record of all its members (participants) provided for by the organization’s charter or the inclusion of a citizen in any of the bodies of this organization. For example, problems may arise if a citizen living in another subject of the Federation is elected chairman or member of the audit commission of a local religious organization. (In relation to a person living in another city within the same subject of the Federation, as is clear from the above, there are no obstacles).
If a citizen living outside the subject of the Federation in which a local religious organization is located constantly comes to it to participate in worship services and perform religious rituals, but is not listed in any lists of members (participants) of this organization, then there is no violations of the law. Let us recall that in the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” there are no definitions of the concepts “member” or “participant” of a religious organization. If the question of who is a member (participant) of a local religious organization is not resolved in its charter, if it does not have a fixed membership, then there are no formal legal criteria to distinguish a “member” of the organization who comes to it from another region to pray, from a “visitor” to a worship service.
Clause 4 of Article 8 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” established that “a centralized religious organization is recognized as a religious organization consisting, in accordance with its charter, of at least three local religious organizations.”
The wording "consisting of..." suggests that the centralized religious organization relates to the corresponding local religious organizations as a whole and the parts of which it is composed. However, the law provides religious organizations with significant freedom to choose options for legal relations between centralized and local religious organizations. The latter may be members of a centralized religious organization, which they jointly establish as an association (union), and jointly participate in its management. It is also possible that local religious organizations are not members of a centralized religious organization, but are included in its composition (structure) with rights and obligations (or only obligations) in relation to the centralized religious organization established in their charters.
In addition to local religious organizations, the centralized religious organization also includes individuals. Members (participants) of the relevant local religious organizations may be considered as such indirectly (and if provided for by the charter - directly). Their activities in jointly professing and disseminating faith within the framework of local religious organizations can simultaneously be considered as participation in the activities of a centralized religious organization uniting local ones. Members (participants) of a centralized religious organization may be individuals holding positions in the bodies of this organization.
The law provides for another type of religious organization in paragraph 6 of Article 8: this an institution or organization created by a centralized religious organization, including governing or coordinating bodies, as well as institutions of professional religious education. They must have the signs of a religious association established in Art. 6, paragraph 1 of the Law.
This norm takes into account the diversity of structures created to ensure religious life, which actually function for many years, but do not fall under the definitions of local and centralized organizations. This type includes: the Moscow Patriarchate - the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), its Department for External Church Relations and other synodal departments, theological academies, seminaries and schools, and many others. Strictly speaking, all of them, like centralized religious organizations, do not fully correspond to the basic definition of a religious association given in Art. 6, since they are not “voluntary associations of citizens”, being created by legal entities, although they are undoubtedly religious in nature. This illustrates how difficult the task of legal regulation of the activities of religious organizations is.
The law regulates the right of centralized religious organizations to use the words “Russia”, “Russian” and derivatives from them in their names, establishing in paragraph 5 of Article 8 that this is possible if the structures of such organizations operated on the territory of the Russian Federation legally at least 50 years until the specified organization applies for state registration. This norm is theoretically capable of giving rise to many problems associated with the disclosure of the concept of “structure”, with the position of organizations that legally operated in Tsarist, but not in Soviet Russia, with the relationship between the concepts of “Russia” and “Russian Federation”. In practice, religious organizations registered before the entry into force of the Law retained the right to be called “Russian” regardless of the currently established period, which was explained by the Constitutional Court in its ruling No. 46-O dated April 13, 2000 on the complaint of the religious association “Independent Russian Region of the Society of Jesus” (Jesuit order).
An important provision for state-confessional relations is enshrined in paragraph 7 of Article 8. According to it, state authorities, when considering issues affecting the activities of religious organizations in society, take into account the territorial scope of activity of the religious organization and provide the relevant religious organizations with the opportunity to participate in the consideration of these issues. This norm is implemented with the active assistance of structures that ensure interaction between government bodies and religious organizations, through government bodies holding consultations with representatives of religious organizations before making decisions. For example, representatives of the largest Russian religious organizations regularly participate in the preparation of bills regulating the activities of religious associations.
At the same time, this norm establishes a certain hierarchy of contacts, although not explicitly expressed. It can be interpreted in such a way that federal authorities, when considering issues relating to the life of the country as a whole, should provide the opportunity to participate in their discussion only to those religious organizations whose activities extend to the entire Russian Federation. However, federal regulations can significantly affect the interests of those religious organizations that operate in individual subjects of the Federation and do not have an all-Russian structure. Therefore, the question of when and which religious organizations have the right to take part in the discussion of issues affecting their activities is not quite simple.
The law does not define the concept of “issues affecting the activities of a religious organization,” which creates additional difficulties. For example, if, when deciding on the opening of a Protestant house of worship or the construction of a mosque, local authorities seek the opinion of an Orthodox bishop, the latter may believe that such a decision will negatively affect the activities of neighboring Orthodox parishes. Should the interests of some faiths be taken into account when making decisions related to the activities of others, and how can the authorities maintain objectivity and impartiality? To date, law enforcement practice has not given a clear answer to these questions.
According to the requirements of paragraph 8 of Article 8,
“The name of a religious organization must contain information about its religion. A religious organization is obliged to indicate its full name when carrying out activities.”
However, “The Law does not explain how religion should be indicated in the name of a religious organization. For example, if we are talking about the religious organization of a Christian denomination, is it enough to mention Christianity in general or is it necessary to indicate the type of faith (Orthodox, Anglican, Baptist, etc.)? The legislation does not contain clarifications on this matter.” .
In accordance with the provisions of paragraph 9 of Article 8,
“a religious organization is obliged to inform the body that made the decision on its state registration about changes in the information specified in paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Federal Law of 08.08.2001 No. 129-FZ “On State Registration of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs”, with the exception of information about received licenses, within three days from the date of such changes.”
Full list of information included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE):
“a) full name. If in the constituent documents of a legal entity its name is indicated in one of the languages of the peoples of the Russian Federation and (or) in a foreign language, the name of the legal entity in these languages is also indicated in the state register;
b) organizational and legal form;
c) the address (location) of the permanent executive body of the legal entity (in the absence of a permanent executive body of the legal entity - another body or person having the right to act on behalf of the legal entity without a power of attorney), at which communication with the legal entity is carried out;
d) method of formation of a legal entity (creation or reorganization);
e) information about the founders of the legal entity;
f) copies of the constituent documents of the legal entity;
g) information on legal succession - for legal entities created as a result of the reorganization of other legal entities, for legal entities whose constituent documents are amended in connection with the reorganization, as well as for legal entities that ceased their activities as a result of the reorganization;
h) the date of registration of changes made to the constituent documents of a legal entity, or in cases established by law, the date of receipt by the registering authority of notification of changes made to the constituent documents;
i) the method of terminating the activities of a legal entity (by reorganization or liquidation);
j) last name, first name, patronymic and position of a person who has the right to act on behalf of a legal entity without a power of attorney, as well as passport data of such a person or data of other identification documents in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, and taxpayer identification number, if available;
k) information about licenses obtained by a legal entity.” According to the same paragraph 9 of Art. 8 of the Law, a religious organization is also obliged to annually inform the body that made the decision on its state registration about the continuation of its activities.
The Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations” establishes in Art. 32 that non-profit, including religious, organizations “are required to submit to the authorized body documents containing a report on their activities, on the personnel of the governing bodies, as well as documents on the expenditure of funds and the use of other property, including those received from international and foreign organizations, foreign citizens and stateless persons.”
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 15, 2006 No. 212 established that the deadline for submitting the report is no later than April 15 of the year following the reporting year.
In accordance with clause 3.1 of Art. 32 of this law, non-profit (including religious) organizations that meet the following three criteria are exempt from reporting:
their founders (participants, members) are not foreign citizens and (or) organizations or stateless persons,
during the year they did not receive property or funds from international or foreign organizations, foreign citizens, stateless persons,
receipts of property and funds from such non-profit organizations during the year amounted to up to three million rubles.
Such religious organizations are represented to the Ministry of Justice or its territorial body statement, confirming their compliance with this paragraph, and information in any form about the continuation of its activities annually, no later than April 15 of the year following the reporting year.
The reporting form for religious organizations was approved by order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated March 29, 2010 No. 72.
By Order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated October 7, 2010 No. 252, religious organizations are obliged to post their reports or information about the continuation of their activities on the Internet. Reports and messages are posted on the information resources of the Ministry of Justice of Russia on the Internet, intended for posting reports and messages, access to which is carried out through the official website of the Ministry of Justice of Russia (www.minjust.ru) and the official websites of its territorial bodies on the Internet (hereinafter referred to as information resources Ministry of Justice of Russia on the Internet).
At present, the question of whether a religious organization that represents report about its activities in accordance with the requirements of Art. 32 Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations”, additionally inform the authorities of the Ministry of Justice on the continuation of its activities In accordance with the requirements of Art. 8 clause 9 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” (This problem does not arise in relation to those religious organizations that, for the above reasons, are exempt from the obligation to provide an annual report and are limited to informing about the continuation of their activities.) From a formal point of view, “a report on activities " and "information about the continuation of activities" are two different documents. However, in practice, the Ministry of Justice authorities do not require additional information about the continuation of activities from the religious organization that submitted the report.
If a religious organization has ceased to provide the above information due to the actual termination of its activities, the Law provides that
“repeated failure by a religious organization to submit, within the prescribed period, updated information necessary to make changes to the unified state register of legal entities is the basis for the body that made the decision on state registration of the religious organization to apply to the court with a request to recognize this organization as having ceased its activities as a legal entity person and on its exclusion from the unified state register of legal entities.”
This is the provision of paragraph 9 of Art. 8 corresponds to paragraph 1 of Art. 14 of the Law, which indicates the possibility of liquidating a religious organization by court decision in the case provided for in paragraph 9 of Art. 8. (See further comments to Article 14 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”.) The Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations” also established in paragraph 10 of Article 32 that
“repeated failure by a non-profit organization to submit the information provided for in this article within the prescribed period is the basis for the authorized body or its territorial body to apply to the court for the liquidation of this non-profit organization.”
However, if a religious organization actually continues its activities and does not commit violations of the law (except for the timely submission of the above information), liquidation cannot be used as a sanction, i.e., as a form of “punishment” of such a religious organization. The Determination of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated February 7, 2002 No. 7-O states that it is possible to resolve the issue of terminating the activities of a religious organization
“only if it is duly proven that it has ceased its activities or is carrying out illegal activities that are incompatible with the obligations of a religious organization as a legal entity arising from the Constitution of the Russian Federation. Wherein court deciding on the liquidation of a religious organization as having not undergone re-registration within the specified period, including due to the termination of its activities, cannot be limited to establishing formal conditions for the application of provisions clause 4 art. 27 (failure to re-register within the specified period) and clause 9 art. 8 (failure to provide required information) the said Federal Law" (emphasis added - M.Sh.).
Legislation establishes administrative responsibility for failure (improper fulfillment) by a religious organization of the obligation to submit the above information to the authorized body. Article 19.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for failure to submit or untimely submission to a state body (official) of information (information), the submission of which is provided for by law and is necessary for this body (official) to carry out its legal activities, as well as submission to a state body (official) such information (information) in incomplete volume or in a distorted form is subject to an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of one hundred to three hundred rubles; for officials - from three hundred to five hundred rubles; for legal entities - from three to five thousand rubles.
Article 9 regulates the procedure for creating religious organizations. The founders of a local religious organization must be at least ten citizens of the Russian Federation. Thus, persons who are not Russian citizens cannot act as founders of an organization. However, such persons who permanently and legally reside in Russia may be members (participants) of the organization and even its leaders.
According to the scheme laid down in the law, social adaptation in Russia of a new religious movement should proceed as follows: first, followers of the new religion form a religious group and notify the local government body of its creation. Then a 15-year period must pass, during which a clear understanding of the nature of the activities of this group is formed, and confidence appears in the absence of offenses or social danger in it. After this, the group receives state registration and becomes a local religious organization. At least two other religious groups must go the same way. Only after this will three local religious organizations be able to establish a centralized one and further increase in the number of religious organizations of a given denomination will occur without time limits.
The European Court of Human Rights, in its judgment of 01.10.2009 in the case “Kimlya and others v. Russia”, recognized the restrictions established by the “15-year rule” as violating Article 9 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Thus, after the adoption of this ECHR Resolution, the “15-year rule” essentially ceased to apply, although changes to the legislation have not yet been made.
The ECtHR stated in the above-mentioned Resolution that the state is obliged to take measures aimed at eliminating refusals to register religious organizations on the grounds of non-compliance with the requirement that the religious association has previously existed for at least 15 years as a religious group.
Thus, after the entry into force of the said Resolution of the ECHR, the Ministry of Justice of Russia and its territorial bodies not entitled to justify the refusal of state registration of a religious organization or leaving the corresponding application without consideration, refer to the absence (failure to submit) of a document confirming the existence of the religious group for at least 15 years.
In this regard, the very norm of the commented article on the need to provide for state registration of a local religious organization confirmation of the existence of a religious group in a given territory for at least 15 years, issued by a local government body, requires adjustment .
A centralized religious organization can be formed if there are at least three local organizations. The Law does not directly state that local organizations included in the centralized structure must belong to the same religion, but this indirectly follows from what is established in Art. 6 signs of the religious nature of an organization - the presence of a religion.
For local religious organizations, a minimum of ten citizen founders was established by the Law on Freedom of Religion, instead of the twenty required in Soviet times. This was taken as one of the steps to liberalize legislation. This figure (10) was not substantiated by any sociological data, practical or legal considerations.
Sometimes opinions are expressed about the advisability of increasing the minimum number of founders, although, we note, the number of actual participants in the organization may in practice be either greater or less than the number of founders. One hundred to two hundred people belonging to a religious group can act as founders of a religious organization in its entirety, or they can choose only the required ten participants for this. At the same time, an increase in the minimum number of founders may prompt believers to make up for their lack by attracting friends and acquaintances who are ready to help them register, but who are not practicing participants in the religious association.
Actually counteracting such practices will not be easy; formally it is contrary to the Law, but how to check whether all the founders participate in worship services, in religious activities and how often? As we see, in this case, restrictive measures are unreasonable and can lead to results opposite to those desired.
Another interesting problem is how many local organizations can be founded by the same citizen. A.E. Sebentsov believes that only one . Soviet legislation contained an even stricter norm: “Each citizen can be a member of only one religious and cult association (society or group).” . But there is no basis for such a restriction in the current Law. It is impossible to even answer unequivocally whether one citizen can act as a founder of local organizations of different faiths. If his own religious beliefs allow him to identify his beliefs with several faiths, it is difficult to see this as a violation of the law. Another thing is how this position of a citizen will be viewed by the religious organizations themselves, the founders of which he is. But this is already beyond the scope of legal regulation.
The question regarding centralized religious organizations is somewhat different. The extremely low number of local religious organizations that could form a centralized one indirectly contributed to the fact that disintegration processes noticeably accelerated in a number of confessions, during which a number of centralized religious organizations were formed, challenging each other for the right to represent the interests of believers in the region or in the country as a whole. But at the same time, increasing the qualifications will lead to the fact that the Law will actually act as a tool for maintaining “internal church discipline”, a means of fighting the leadership of large confessions against “schismatics” and oppositionists. The latter will experience much more O Greater difficulties in creating an alternative centralized religious organization. Bills providing for an increase in the minimum number of local religious organizations required to form a central religious organization have been repeatedly introduced into the State Duma, but have not received the support of legislators.
Article 10 determines the basic requirements for the content of the charter of a religious organization, which is its constituent document. According to paragraph 2 of Art. 10, the charter of a religious organization indicates:
“name, location, type of religious organization, religion and, in the case of belonging to an existing centralized religious organization, its name;
goals, objectives and main forms of activity;
procedure for creating and terminating activities;
the structure of the organization, its governing bodies, the procedure for their formation and competence;
sources of funds and other property of the organization;
the procedure for making changes and additions to the charter;
procedure for disposing of property in the event of termination of activity;
other information related to the specifics of the activities of this religious organization.”
Article 11 The law is devoted to state registration of religious organizations. It defines that decision-making on state registration is carried out by the federal executive body authorized in the field of state registration of public associations or its territorial body (hereinafter referred to as the state registration body). Currently, this function is performed by the Ministry of Justice and its territorial departments in the constituent entities of the Federation. The administrative regulations for the provision of public services by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for making decisions on state registration of non-profit organizations were approved by Order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated December 30, 2011 No. 455.
(Herself registration of all types of legal entities is carried out by an authorized state body in accordance with the Federal Law “On State Registration of Legal Entities” dated 08.08.2001 No. 129-FZ. Currently, the registration of legal entities and their inclusion in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE) is carried out by the Federal Tax Service).
Thus, the state registration authority reviews the application for registration of a religious organization and the submitted materials and, in case of a positive decision, transfers them to the body that enters information about the creation of a religious organization into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
In Art. 11 clause 5 provides a list of documents submitted to the state registration authorities by the founders of a local religious organization:
“registration application;
a list of persons creating a religious organization, indicating citizenship, place of residence, date of birth;
charter of a religious organization;
minutes of the founding meeting;
a document confirming the existence of a religious group in a given territory for at least fifteen years, issued by a local government body, or confirming its inclusion in a centralized religious organization, issued by its governing center;
information about the basics of religious doctrine and corresponding practices, including the history of the emergence of the religion and this association, the forms and methods of its activities, attitudes towards family and marriage, education, the peculiarities of the attitude towards the health of followers of this religion, restrictions for members and ministers organizations in relation to their civil rights and obligations;
information about the address (location) of the permanent governing body of the newly created religious organization, through which communication with the religious organization is carried out;
document confirming payment of state duty.
If the founders do not submit a document confirming the existence of a religious group in a given territory for at least fifteen years, the territorial body of the federal state registration body independently requests the specified information from the relevant local government body.”
The last paragraph was introduced into the text of the Law in connection with the adoption of the Federal Law “On the organization of the provision of state and municipal services”, according to which, from July 1, 2011, bodies providing state and municipal services do not have the right to demand from the applicant documents and information that they already have state bodies and organizations, local governments. The body providing the state or municipal service, if the applicant fails to provide the specified documents, must request them independently (interdepartmental exchange of information and documents).
At the same time, the legal consequences of the applicant’s failure to submit a document confirming the 15-year period, as well as the failure to provide the specified document by a local government body at the request of a territorial body of the Ministry of Justice of Russia, are equivalent: the absence of a document confirming the 15-year period of existence of a religious group in a given territory, is not a reason for refusal in the state registration of a religious organization or leaving the application for its state registration without consideration.
After the establishment of a unified procedure for registering legal entities in 2002, a state fee began to be collected when registering a religious organization. Previously, as in Soviet times, registration of religious organizations was free and there was no fee. In accordance with Art. 333 33 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the amount of the state duty for state registration of a legal entity, including a religious organization, is 4,000 rubles, for registration of amendments to the constituent documents (the charter of a religious organization) - 800 rubles.
Paragraph 9 of Article 11 establishes the right of the body making the decision on registration, if the applicants fail to comply with the listed requirements, to leave the application without consideration. Unlike refusal of registration, in this case there is no indication of the possibility of challenging in court the abandonment of the application without consideration. In Art. Article 11 also talks about carrying out, in necessary cases, a state religious studies examination (clause 8).
The procedure for conducting state religious studies examination and the Regulations on the expert council for conducting state religious studies examinations were approved by Order of the Ministry of Justice dated February 18, 2009 No. 53.
An exhaustive list of grounds on which state registration of a religious organization may be denied is contained in Article 12:
“the goals and activities of a religious organization contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the legislation of the Russian Federation;
the organization being created is not recognized as a religious one;
the charter and other documents submitted do not comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation or the information contained in them is not reliable;
an organization with the same name was previously registered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities;
the founder(s) are not authorized.”
From a practical point of view, it is difficult to imagine an attempt to register a religious organization that openly proclaims illegal goals, but in the event of a gap in the legislation, it would be impossible for the authorities making the decision on registration to justify the refusal. More difficult to interpret is the wording of the provision regarding the activities of a religious organization that has not yet been created that is contrary to legislation. If we are talking about violations of the law by members of a religious group about to register, it is unclear to what extent these violations can be regarded as illegal activities of the religious association as a whole.
If at least one of the signs of the religious nature of the organization named in Art. 6, she is not religious and this entails refusal of registration. The founders, in principle, can eliminate contradictions with the law in the charter and other submitted documents with the help of lawyers. The issue of reliability of information about the founders, about the fundamentals of doctrine and religious practice is important (concealment or distortion of any odious provisions is possible). The latter is especially significant when an organization is registered from among new religious movements, which is not part of the structure of a centralized organization.
Refusal to register a religious organization, as well as evasion of registration, can be appealed in court. In this case, evasion should be understood as cases when the registering authority does not give the applicants any response beyond the deadlines established by law. It is possible that repeated abandonment of an application without consideration under far-fetched pretexts should also be classified as evasion. In accordance with the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of February 10, 2009 No. 2, cases of challenging the refusal of state registration, evasion of state registration of religious organizations are subject to the jurisdiction of courts of general jurisdiction.
According to paragraph 1 of Art. 256 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, a citizen has the right to apply to the court to challenge decisions, actions (inactions) of public authorities within three months from the day he became aware of a violation of his rights and freedoms. Any of the founders of the religious organization being created can make such an application, since the refusal affects the rights of each of the founders.
Article 13 regulates the creation and activities of representative offices of foreign religious organizations. The law gives the definition: “A foreign religious organization is an organization created outside the Russian Federation in accordance with the legislation of a foreign state.” Thus, the Catholic parish created in Russia will be Russian local religious organization, and an Orthodox parish of the Moscow Patriarchate created in Ukraine or Belarus - foreign religious organization.
Foreign religious organizations can open their representative offices on Russian territory, which, however, do not have the status of a religious association and cannot engage in religious or other religious activities. Currently, the Procedure for registration, opening and closing of representative offices of foreign religious organizations in the Russian Federation is approved by Order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia No. 62 dated March 3, 2009.
Art. 13 clause 5 provides that a Russian religious organization has the right to have a representative office of a foreign religious organization. This right is granted by law to both local and centralized organizations, therefore the above-mentioned “Registration Procedure...” unreasonably deprives local organizations of this right, talking about the right to have them only for centralized Russian religious organizations. However, due to the small number of representative offices of foreign religious organizations, of which only about ten are registered in the entire Russian Federation, this problem is irrelevant.
IN article 14 the procedure for liquidating a religious organization and banning the activities of a religious association in case of violation of the law are regulated. First of all, it should be recalled that in legal language the term “liquidation” has a different semantic connotation than in everyday speech - it is the termination of a legal entity, including a completely voluntary one.
The law is based on the norm established in Article 61 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, indicating two possible options for the liquidation of a religious organization: - 1) by decision of the founders or a body authorized by the organization’s charter, and 2) by a court decision in the event of unlawful actions of the organization or due to actual termination its activity (self-disintegration).
Article 14(1) states that religious organizations can be liquidated by decision of the founders or a body authorized to do so by the charter of the religious organization.
The right to make a decision on liquidation religious institution, for example, an institution of professional religious education, is owned by its founder.
The Model Charter of a local religious organization - the Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church includes a provision that “if the Parish Assembly makes a decision to withdraw the Parish from the structure and jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Parish is deprived of confirmation of belonging to the Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church, which entails the liquidation of the Parish and deprives his right to use phrases and religious symbols in the name indicating affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.”
Thus, here an additional basis is directly introduced for the liquidation of a religious organization as a legal entity, which should occur “automatically”, without the adoption of a corresponding decision by the bodies of the local religious organization. This provision of the charter is intended to prevent the “flight” of a local religious organization (with all its property) from the centralized religious organization of the Russian Orthodox Church. But the registration authority does not have the right to independently decide on the liquidation of a religious organization on the basis of the provisions contained in its charter. In the current situation, he may refuse to register a local religious organization with a new charter reflecting its withdrawal from the CRO, due to the fact that such a change in the charter contradicts the above statutory provision on liquidation as a mandatory consequence of leaving the CRO. But the validity of such a refusal seems indisputable. We are not aware of judicial practice in cases related to the liquidation of Orthodox local religious organizations that left the structure of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The most important norm of Russian legislation on religious associations, which distinguishes it from Soviet legislation, is the norm on exclusive competence of the judiciary make decisions on the liquidation of a religious organization (except for the above-mentioned voluntary decision on liquidation made by the founders or a body authorized by the charter of a religious organization), on a ban on the activities of a religious association. In Soviet times, the right to terminate activities religious association belonged to the executive authorities. It was carried out by deregistering religious associations by decision of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In modern Russia, no executive body is vested with the authority to make a decision to liquidate a religious organization or ban the activities of a religious association. An adversarial trial, during which a religious association can provide arguments and evidence in defense of its interests, is intended to serve as a defense against the administrative arbitrariness of the executive branch.
Clause 1 of Art. 14 establishes that religious organizations may be liquidated
“by a court decision in the event of repeated or gross violations of the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, this Federal Law and other federal laws, or in the case of a religious organization systematically carrying out activities that contradict the goals of its creation (statutory goals);
by a court decision in the case provided for in paragraph 9 of Article 8 of this Federal Law.”
This does not mean, however, that any Repeated violations of laws may serve as grounds for the liquidation of a religious organization. In particular, in judicial practice such a violation of the law as repeated failure to submit a report on its activities or information about the continuation of activities is not recognized as a sufficient basis for the liquidation of a religious organization.
The Determination of December 14, 2010 No. 49-G10–86 of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation states:
“The Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Bashkortostan (hereinafter referred to as the Department) filed a lawsuit for the liquidation of the local Muslim religious organization Mahalla No. 1033 p. Kudashevo, Tatyshlinsky district of the Republic of Bashkortostan (hereinafter referred to as the Religious Organization) and its exclusion from the unified state register of legal entities.
In support of his claims, the plaintiff indicated that during the audit it was established that the religious organization... failed to fulfill its obligation to annually inform the body that made the decision on its state registration about the continuation of its activities no later than April 15 of the year following the reporting one. This information was not provided by the Religious Organization for 2006–2009.
On August 28, 2009, the Department issued a warning to the defendant to eliminate this violation by September 30, 2009, which was not fulfilled.
These circumstances, according to the plaintiff, indicate repeated violations by the Religious Organization of the requirements of federal laws and are grounds for its liquidation. (...)
By virtue of para. 2 p. 2 art. 61 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a legal entity may be liquidated by a court decision in the event of gross violations of the law committed during its creation, if these violations are of an irreparable nature, or carrying out activities without proper permission (license), or prohibited by law, or in violation of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, or with other repeated or gross violations of the law or other legal acts, or when a non-profit organization, including a public or religious organization (association), a charitable or other foundation, systematically carries out activities that are contrary to its statutory goals, as well as in other cases provided for by this Code .
In accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 117 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the specifics of the legal status of public and religious organizations as participants in relations regulated by the said Code are determined by law.
Liquidation of a religious organization is one of the types of liability of legal entities for violations, the procedure and grounds for its application are provided for in Art. 32 of the Federal Law of January 12, 1996 No. 7-FZ “On Non-Profit Organizations”, Art. 14 of the Federal Law of September 26, 1997 No. 125-FZ “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” and Article 61 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
In accordance with paragraph 1 of Art. 18 and clause 10 of Art. 32 of the Federal Law “On Non-Profit Organizations”, a non-profit organization may be liquidated on the basis and in the manner provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, this Federal Law and other federal laws. Repeated failure by a non-profit organization to submit the information provided for by this article within the prescribed period is the basis for the authorized body or its territorial body to apply to the court for the liquidation of this non-profit organization.
In the Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of July 18, 2003 No. 14-P in the case of verifying the constitutionality of the provisions of Article 35 of the Federal Law “On Joint Stock Companies”, Articles 61 and 99 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, it is stated that the absence in paragraph 2 of Article 61 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation of a specific list of provisions violation of which may lead to the liquidation of a legal entity, that is, its termination without the transfer of rights and obligations through succession, does not mean that this sanction can be applied on just one formal basis - due to repeated violations of legal acts binding on legal entities. Based on the general legal principles of legal liability (including the presence of guilt) and established by Art. 55 (Part 3) of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, criteria for restricting rights and freedoms, the observance of which is mandatory not only for the legislator, but also for the law enforcer, the contested norm presupposes that repeated violations of the law in the aggregate must be so significant as to allow the court - taking into account all the circumstances of the case, including an assessment of the nature of the violations committed by the legal entity and the consequences caused by it - to decide on the liquidation of the legal entity as a measure necessary to protect the rights and legitimate interests other persons(italics mine. - M.Sh).
Thus, based on the constitutional and legal meaning of these norms, a legal entity, including a public a religious organization cannot be liquidated only on the formal grounds of repeated violations of the requirements of the law, even if they are proven.
The nature of the violations committed by a legal entity, as well as the consequences caused by them, must be so significant and irreparable that restoration of legality is possible only through its liquidation(italics mine. - M.Sh.).
Liquidation of a legal entity as a response to violations of current legislation must be applied in accordance with the general legal principles of legal liability and be proportionate to the violations committed by the legal entity and the consequences caused by them.
Refusing to satisfy the application of the Department, the court correctly proceeded from the fact that the violations of the current legislation that took place in the activities of the said Religious organization, which were revealed during the audit carried out by the Department, by their nature and their consequences cannot be a sufficient basis for the liquidation of this public organizations.
At the same time, the court correctly took into account the possibility of eliminating the violations committed, as well as the explanations of the founders of the Religious organization that the failure to provide reports was due to the fact that the imam-khatib of the mosque had changed, and the previous imam-khatib did not properly transmit documents and any instructions regarding reporting, which indicates the absence of deliberate actions by the Religious Organization that resulted in the above violations.”
In the event of the self-disintegration of a religious organization that has actually ceased its activities and for three years has not informed the body that made the decision on its registration about the continuation of its activities (in accordance with Article 8, paragraph 9 of the law), the organization is recognized in court as having ceased its activities. activity and its exclusion from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. From the point of view of civil law, the liquidation (voluntary or forced) of a legal entity is a more or less lengthy process, the main content of which is to identify and satisfy the claims of creditors and to dispose of the property of the liquidated organization. The recognition of an organization as having ceased its activities is a statement of the actual disappearance or abolition of the organization.
Paragraph 2 of Article 14 contains a list of grounds for the liquidation of a religious organization and introduces another concept - “prohibition of activity”, which applies to all religious associations, including those that do not have the status of a legal entity, i.e., religious groups.
Such grounds are:
“violation of public safety and public order;
actions aimed at carrying out extremist activities;
coercion to destroy the family;
encroachment on the personality, rights and freedoms of citizens;
causing damage to the morality and health of citizens established in accordance with the law, including the use of narcotic and psychotropic drugs, hypnosis, and committing depraved and other illegal acts in connection with their religious activities;
inducement to suicide or refusal for religious reasons to provide medical care to persons in a condition dangerous to life and health;
obstruction of compulsory education;
forcing members and followers of a religious association and other persons to alienate their property in favor of the religious association;
preventing a citizen from leaving a religious association with the threat of harm to life, health, property, if there is a danger of its actual execution or the use of force, or other illegal actions;
inducing citizens to refuse to fulfill civil duties established by law and to commit other illegal actions.”
Due to the fact that a religious group is not a legal entity, it cannot be liquidated; the court can only make a decision to ban the activities of the religious group.
In relation to a religious organization, the court may make a decision combining the liquidation of the legal entity and a ban on the activities of the religious association being liquidated. Thus, a religious organization liquidated by a court for operating an illegal group will not be able to continue its activities as a religious group.
Let us pay special attention to the fact that the norm present in the RSFSR Law “On Freedom of Religion”, according to which a religious association was not responsible for violations of the law committed by its individual members, was removed from the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...”. This provision made it almost impossible to impute an offense to the association as a whole. Currently, first, if an offense is committed by specific individuals, their guilt must be established by a court. If there are sufficient grounds to see a cause-and-effect relationship between the illegal actions of these citizens and the instructions or orders they received in a religious association, the case of liquidation of the relevant religious organization and a ban on the activities of the religious association is considered in civil proceedings.
Clause 4 of Art. 14 of the Law defines in accordance with the terminology of the Federal Law “On State Registration of Legal Entities” the procedure for state registration of a religious organization in connection with its liquidation.
Clause 6 of Art. 14 of the Law establishes that the above grounds and the procedure for liquidating a religious organization by court decision also apply to the ban on the activities of a religious group. Paragraph 7 states that the activities of a religious association may be suspended, a religious organization may be liquidated, and the activities of a religious association that is not a religious organization may be prohibited in the manner and on the grounds provided for by the Federal Law “On Combating Extremist Activities.”
In accordance with the provisions of Article 10 of Federal Law No. 114 of July 25, 2002 “On Combating Extremist Activities,” in the event of a religious organization carrying out extremist activities that entailed a violation of human and civil rights and freedoms, causing harm to individuals, the health of citizens, or the environment , public order, public safety, property, legitimate economic interests of individuals and (or) legal entities, society and the state or creating a real threat of causing such harm, the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation and its territorial bodies from the moment of their application to court with with an application for the liquidation of a religious organization and (or) a ban on the activities of a religious association, he has the right, by his decision, to suspend the activities of the religious organization until the court considers the said application.
The Prosecutor's Office may also suspend the activities of a religious group. Since the trial and decision-making in cases of this type can continue for quite a long time, the suspension of the activities of a religious association makes it possible to prevent situations where, having already been brought to trial, it would continue extremist activities until the court makes a decision on its liquidation ( banning its activities). If the court does not satisfy the application for liquidation of a religious organization (for a ban on the activities of a religious association), then it resumes its activities after the court decision enters into legal force.
The application of the provisions of Article 14 to prohibit a religious group is complicated by the lack of clear formal criteria that would allow establishing the fact of the creation and existence of a religious group in the event that the participants of the alleged religious group do not subjectively consider themselves such, if they have not formally established a religious group (see commentary above). to Article 7 of the Law). The court may conclude that an offense was committed by a group of persons and that there are a set of objective signs of a religious association in the collective activities of the group of persons who committed the offense. However, in the absence of self-identification of the guilty persons as members of a religious group, in the absence of a formal decision on the establishment of a religious group and its name, in the absence of a complete list of group members (not necessarily identical to the composition of the group of persons who committed the offense!), the specific content of the court decision to ban religious groups and the mechanism for its execution is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine.
A ban on the activities of a religious group can be practically implemented if, for the implementation of its activities, one of the participants is provided with premises (a religious building has been built or equipped) and other property specifically intended for the activities of the religious group. In this case, the fact of violation of the ban on the activities of a religious group can be reliably established (for example, when the collective performance of religious rituals is resumed in a specially equipped prayer room belonging to one of the group members). In the absence of designated property, it is quite problematic to classify the actions of members of a banned religious group as a continuation of its activities.
The practical consequence of a court decision to ban the activities of a religious group is the impossibility for its members to carry out any activities on behalf of the banned group. But to extend this ban to any joint activity in the profession of faith for members of a banned religious group seems incorrect. For example, any joint prayer by members of a banned religious group should not automatically be considered a violation of the ban. (See commentary on v. 7: any collective practice of religious rites cannot be regarded as the actual emergence (or resumption) of a religious group.)
However, it should be taken into account that Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 11 of June 28, 2011 “On judicial practice in criminal cases involving extremist crimes” indicates that
“To recognize an organized group as an extremist community, a preliminary court decision on the ban or liquidation of a public or religious association or other organization in connection with the implementation of extremist activities is not required.”
The resolution defines the extremist community as
“a stable group of persons who have united in advance to prepare or commit one or more crimes of an extremist nature, characterized by the presence of an organizer (leader), stability of the composition, and coordination of the actions of its participants in order to realize common criminal intentions.”
Thus, difficulties with the question of whether a religious group was created and, accordingly, whether it is possible to ban its activities do not prevent the suppression of the activities of extremist communities.
According to the Constitution, Russia has the status of a secular state, which means that no religion can be recognized as the main or state religion. All citizens are free in their religion and, if desired, can be participants or founders of associations of a religious nature (not to be confused with). Today we will tell you about the situation and administrative and legal status of religious associations and its signs.
Characteristics of religious associations
Concept and regulation
A religious association is an association of citizens and persons permanently residing in Russia, on a voluntary basis, for the purpose of common religion and rituals, dissemination and teaching the faith to its followers. Being a legal entity, a religious organization is part of the group of non-profit unitary organizations (not to be confused with and on).
The legal status of associations based on religion is determined by the Federal Law (federal law) “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” (from 1997), the Civil Code, partly by the Constitution and No. 129-FZ (on the procedure for registering individuals and creating legal entities).
Read below about public, traditional organizations and religious associations in the Russian Federation (Russian Federation), as well as their other types and forms.
This video will tell you about what a religious association is:
Forms and types
The Federal Law states that associations of a religious nature can take only two forms:
- religious group- free association for the profession of faith without state registration;
- religious organization- free association for voluntary confession, dissemination of faith with the acquisition of legal capacity as a legal entity.
The legislative classification is not limited to this. Depending on the field of activity (territorial), a legal entity is divided into:
- local organizations— all participants live in the same rural or urban settlement (same locality);
- centralized organizations— an association of three local religious organizations.
When compared with other non-profit institutions, it is easy to see that a centralized organization is similar to an association. In most cases, the purpose of its creation is to coordinate the activities of local organizations. They can also be created within just one subject of the Russian Federation, while centralized ones can include associations that operate on the territory of two, three or more subjects of the Russian Federation.
It is interesting that both centralized organizations can be created by local ones, and local ones can be created by centralized ones. For example, three or more local associations may establish a centralized religious organization. Also, an existing centralized association can establish local organizations, for example, on the territory of new subjects of the Russian Federation for a religious association.
Activity
A religious association can carry out almost any activity, which is not prohibited by Russian legislation. Initially, this is a confession of faith, the performance of rituals, various ceremonies and the religious education of the participants. Organizations also have the right:
- maintain and establish religious buildings and objects;
- produce and transmit religious literature, as well as video and audio materials;
- establish organizations producing materials and objects of a religious nature;
- establish educational organizations and media;
- carry out missionary activities;
- carry out direct charitable activities;
- create charitable institutions;
- conduct business activities;
- create commercial and non-profit legal entities.
The activities of not all religious groups are not restricted or welcomed. The legislation of the Russian Federation prohibits the activities of organizations that are recognized as extremist or destructive. According to Federal laws, such organizations are subject to suspension or liquidation.
Also, an organization of a religious nature cannot influence government bodies, take any part in elections or support any political party, assist it financially or in any other way. This prohibition applies to the organization as a whole and does not apply to its participants.
Read below about members of religious associations and their rights under the laws on religious activities.
The video below will tell you about the legal experience of religious associations:
Organization members
An individual with a permanent place of residence on the territory of the Russian Federation on legal grounds has the right to become a participant in a religious association. The only exception is the following circle of persons who can neither belong to nor establish religious organizations:
- individuals, not citizens of Russia, whose stay on the territory of the state is considered undesirable;
- persons included in the list in accordance with No. 114-FZ, No. 35-FZ and No. 115-FZ (extremist activities, financing of terrorism and laundering of proceeds from crime).
All participants have equal rights. That is, all participants can take equal part in the management of the organization, have one vote each in voting and can be elected as an executive body. The presence of a collegial executive body with a head in the form of a sole executive body of the association is mandatory.
Participants also distribute responsibilities evenly: everyone is required to pay equal contributions, participate in the activities of the organization, and not violate its charter and internal rules.
Interestingly, members of a legal entity conducting religious activities do not receive the right to distribute any income. Moreover, even profits from commercial organizations created by a religious association cannot be distributed. According to the law, any business activity can be carried out only to achieve the goals in the charter.
Members of the association are exempt from liability for the obligations of a religious institution. Corporate relations within the organization are organizational with the absence of a property nature.
Establishment of a subject
A religious organization can be opened by an association of individuals (at least 10) who have received full legal capacity and permanently reside within the state. This rule is relevant for a local association. The main constituent document is the charter. In addition, in order to register as a legal entity, participants must present the following documents and information to the state registration authority:
- registration application;
- a list of individual founders with basic information about them;
- minutes of the founding meeting;
- information about the organization’s religion and attitude towards health, education, marriage, as well as existing restrictions on civil responsibilities and the rights of its participants;
- information about the governing body, in particular about its location for communication with the association;
- a document serving as proof of payment of the state fee.
The founders' application is considered for no longer than a month. There are cases when, in order to conduct a special examination (religious studies) by a state body, the period for reviewing documents is extended to six months. The inexpediency of creation as a reason for refusal of registration is unacceptable. But there are other reasons according to which refusal to establish a legal entity is possible:
- if the activities and goals of the organization contradict the Constitution;
- the association is not recognized as religious;
- documents are drawn up incorrectly or contain false information;
- if an organization with this name exists;
- if the founders are incompetent.
The creation and registration of a centralized association is carried out identically to a local organization. The only difference: to establish a centralized association, there must be at least three local corresponding religions.
Foreign religious associations can undergo the state registration process only if there is a petition from a Russian organization of the corresponding religion. According to the law, such institutions receive the status of representative offices without the right to carry out religious or missionary activities.
Property and charter
The main document defining the activities and internal corporate relations is the charter. It states:
- basic information about the religious association;
- tasks, forms and goals of activity;
- the procedure for establishing management bodies, their competence;
- organization structure;
- sources of property, funds;
- distribution of property in the event of liquidation of the association;
- other information relating to the activities of such a legal entity.
Groups that operate without obtaining a legal entity use the property of the members. At the same time, participants do not lose ownership rights to the property used by the group and can withdraw it upon request.
- In religious organizations, the situation is equally opposite: the ownership of any property that participants transfer to the association passes to the organization. Both founders and participants are deprived of property rights to the monetary, tangible or intangible assets of the association, except for the rights of management and use.
- If a participant decides to leave the institution, he cannot demand the return of property transferred by him to the religious association. From state and municipal property, property of a religious nature is transferred into the ownership of such organizations free of charge.
- The only people who have the right to sell, lease or otherwise deal with the property of the association are the management bodies authorized by the charter. During liquidation, the property, in the absence of creditor claims, is sold in accordance with the purposes in the charter. Also, if it is specified in the document, it can be distributed among the participants.
This video will tell you about the forms of religious associations:
Religion, literally translated from Latin, means piety, conscientiousness, and reverence for God. Its ideas are brought to the masses through major religious organizations. Their concept, essence and types will be discussed within the framework of this article.
The concept of religious organizations
The Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” says that our state is secular and it is completely separated from these economic entities.
A religious organization is an association of various individuals on a voluntary basis who are permanently and legally located on the territory of the Russian Federation, created for joint confession, as well as the dissemination of their faith after registration as a legal entity.
State intervention in the activities of the economic entities in question
It is assumed that the state does not entrust these economic entities with the performance of the functions of executive authorities, cannot interfere in their activities if it does not contradict current legislation, cannot create religious associations in various government institutions and military units, and also cannot introduce religious subjects. orientation in any educational institutions, except private ones.
However, it can provide assistance in restoration, in the transfer of buildings and structures with land plots and property related to them, to religious associations, as well as contribute to the protection of various architectural and historical monuments and their maintenance. In addition, the state can provide them with various benefits.
Thus, a religious organization is a legal entity that may receive some assistance from the state, but it is of a limited nature, and any other assistance other than those listed above is illegal.
Responsibilities of the subjects in question
Religious associations must observe the principle of separation from the state, not assuming the functions of state bodies, and not take part in various election campaigns.
For systematic and gross violations of the law and the purposes for which these organizations are created, a religious organization can be liquidated by a court decision.
When presenting the article, not only the first, but also the last subjects were repeatedly mentioned. And if we have a little understanding of the first one, we still have to get acquainted with the second concept.
So, a religious association is essentially the same religious organization, but the latter is one of the types of the former. That is, the association is the whole, and the organization is the part. The second type may be religious groups.
The latter differ from organizations in that they are not legal entities. Religious groups were introduced with the purpose of limiting the creation in our country of new movements and sects that have never been represented in our state.
Consequently, if we discard the latter, then religious organizations and associations are one and the same.
The Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience...” chose a territorial criterion for classifying the subjects under consideration. According to him, the latter are divided into centralized and local.
The following of the first type function in our country: the Russian Orthodox Church, the Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith, the Russian Union of Seventh-day Adventists and others.
A local religious organization is one that has at least 10 adult participants living in geographically nearby areas, which allows them to meet periodically to carry out relevant ceremonies and rituals. This type includes parishes, monasteries, communities of mercy and brotherhoods of the Russian Orthodox Church. Founders of local organizations can only be citizens of Russia, and participants can be any legally and permanently residing persons. They may contain such governing bodies that do not provide for the sole intervention of the founder in his affairs. Foreigners can join these bodies.
A centralized religious organization can be established by three local ones of the same religion. They can be characterized as centers of a particular religion and local religious organizations. They coordinate the activities of the latter.
Some researchers believe that the territorial attribute does not entirely apply to centralized organizations, since they may include local economic entities located both in the same and in different subjects of the federation. They propose to distinguish types of religious organizations by founders, and for this they propose to create religious organizations that can be created centrally. But for this it is necessary to change the legislation in terms of wording. In their opinion, it should look like this: “A religious organization is a non-profit economic entity created by individuals or legal entities...” (then it is proposed to keep the existing text).
Activities of local economic entities in the field of religion
It must exist in a certain territory for at least 15 years. Confirmation of this is issued by local authorities. In addition to the latter, it may be in the nature of confirmation of entry into the structure of a centralized economic entity of the same religion.
Its name must indicate faith. The activities of the religious organization are confirmed every year. Like any legal entity, its activities are based on the Charter, approved by the founders or centralized to which it belongs.
State registration can take from 1 month to six months. A longer period may be determined if a decision is made on the need to conduct a religious examination.
This organization can:
- independently produce or purchase various religious items both in the country and abroad;
- establish charitable organizations to carry out relevant activities;
- create other enterprises;
- conduct business activities.
Its ownership may include various fixed assets, cash, property, including abroad. For those of it that are intended for religious services, recovery for creditor claims cannot be imposed.
This organization can be liquidated, but cannot be reorganized.
Liquidation is carried out by decision of the founders or a body authorized by the Charter, as well as by a court decision in case of violation of the law. However, local government bodies, the prosecutor's office and state registration can make submissions to the court about the implementation of this action in relation to a legal entity. The liquidation procedure generally coincides with that of other legal entities.
The main differences in the activities of a centralized economic entity
The latter, when its structures operate on the territory of our country for at least 50 years before the time of application to the registration authorities with an application for state registration, can use the word Russia, as well as derivatives from it, in its name.
The centralization of an organization does not mean its mandatory location in any administrative center. The main condition for its creation is that the founders be at least three local religious economic entities, and it can be located anywhere.
Russian Orthodox Church
Let us consider the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church as an Orthodox religious organization of a centralized type. It includes all local economic entities of a given religion. Its jurisdiction extends not only to Orthodox Christians in the Russian Federation, but also to those living in the territory of the former USSR, as well as Japan and other countries that voluntarily join it.
The highest governing bodies are the Bishops' and Local Councils, the Holy Synod, headed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'.
It has its own executive (Supreme Church Council) and judicial body, which hears church cases in closed sessions.
Local churches are dioceses, which are headed by bishops. Several dioceses may constitute metropolises, as well as Metropolitan districts and Exarchates (on a national-regional basis). The Moscow Patriarchate includes autonomous and self-governing churches.
Finally
Thus, a religious organization is the main part of such an association, which has the status of a legal entity. It can be local (when located in a certain nearby territory) or centralized (formed by at least three local ones). Their activities are similar to those of other legal entities. The organizational and managerial structure is in many ways similar to secular institutions, and in such centralized organizations as the Russian Orthodox Church it even resembles the state one. In some cases, the state may provide assistance in the activities of the economic entities in question, but basically its activities in religion and religious organizations are delimited.
Slide 1
Religion in the modern world. Religious associations and organizations in the Russian FederationSlide 2
Lesson plan 1. Religion as a form of culture 2. The role of religion in the life of society 3. World religions 4. Freedom of conscience 5. Religious organizations and associations in the Russian Federation
Slide 3
One of the oldest forms of culture is RELIGION. Religion is a worldview and attitude, as well as corresponding behavior, based on belief in the existence of God or gods, the supernatural. During the existence of mankind there have been many religions. Known: PANTHEISM (Greek - universal) - identification of God with the whole world, deification of nature. POLITEISM (Greek - many) - polytheism (ancient Greece, Rome, ancient Slavs, India) MONOTHEISM (Greek - one) monotheism, a religious system that recognizes one God. ATHEISM (Greek - denial) - denial of the existence of God. Distinctive features of religion beliefs rituals Ethos (moral position) View of the world Symbol system
Slide 4
Religion has come a long and difficult path in its development. TOTEMISM - worship of a clan, tribe, animal, plant, object considered an ancestor. ANIMISM - belief in the existence of souls, spirits FETISCHISM - belief in the supernatural properties of special objects MAGIC - belief in the effectiveness of rites, rituals National religions: Judaism Hinduism Confucianism Shintoism World religions Buddhism Christianity Islam Hinayana Tantrism Lamaism Mahayana Orthodoxy Catholicism Protestantism Sunnism Shi'ism Kharijism
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Table. Modern religions (practical work) Name of religion Key points 1 Buddhism: Tantrism Lamaism 2 Christianity: Orthodoxy Catholicism Protestantism 3 Islam: Sunnism Shiism
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Religion Structure Functions - Religious consciousness - Religious cult - Religious organizations - Worldview - Regulatory - Therapeutic - Communicative - Culture-translating - Integrating - Legitimizing
Slide 10
The role of religion in the life of society Religion is one of the ways to find answers to philosophical questions: “Is there a soul?” , “What underlies human actions?”, “What is the difference between good and evil?” Some argue that additional strength was given to a person by the confidence that he is not alone, that he has divine patrons who come to him in difficult times. Others believe that there are many unknown things left in the world, the secrets of which man longs to reveal, but cannot do so, and when there are no scientific answers to questions, they are found in religious ideas. People's belonging to the same religious faith and their joint performance of religious rites united them into one whole. A common religion and joint religious activity were a powerful unifying factor that contributed to national consolidation. By preaching moral commandments, religion had a tremendous influence on the development of spiritual culture - sacred books (Vedas, Bible, Koran) - sources of wisdom and kindness. Architecture, music, painting, literacy; a powerful source of patriotism (Sergius of Radonezh, Great Patriotic War)
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According to the directory “Religious Associations of the Russian Federation,” the Russian Orthodox Church accounts for more than half of the religious communities (6,709 out of 12 thousand), uniting approximately 75% of believers in Russia. There are 2,349 Muslim communities, comprising 18% of Russian believers. The religious life of adherents of Islam is managed by 43 spiritual administrations of Muslims. In addition, there are 113 Buddhist communities in Russia (Kalmykia, Tyva, Moscow, Krasnodar, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Anapa, etc.) Organizations of other faiths are registered in Russia: the Roman Catholic Church, Old Believers, Evangelical Christians, Baptists, Christians of the Evangelical faith -Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, Jews, Lutherans, etc. State registration of religious organizations is carried out by justice authorities on the basis of submitted documents. The state reserves the right to refuse registration of a religious organization. In Art. 12 of the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” specifies as grounds for refusal the contradiction of the goals and objectives of a religious organization with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Russian legislation; non-compliance of the charter and other documents with legal requirements or unreliability of the information contained. (In 1996, a criminal case was opened in Moscow against the Aum Shinrikyo branch on charges of antisocial activities)
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Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 14) Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” of 1997 The state grants its citizens the right to profess, individually or together with others, any religion or not to profess any, to freely choose, change, have and disseminate religious and other beliefs and act in accordance with them. A religious association in Russia is recognized as a voluntary association of citizens and other persons permanently and legally residing in the country, formed for the purpose of jointly professing and spreading the faith. Religious associations Religious group Religious organization Sect Church Voluntary association of citizens permanently and legally residing in the territory of our country operates without state registration
The Constitution of the Russian Federation states that the Russian Federation is a secular state in which the church is separated from the state. But relations between religious organizations and the state are regulated by law and are based on legal principles.
Religious associations
In 1997, the law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations” was adopted, which regulates the right of citizens to profess any religion, including not to profess any, the right to change and spread religious beliefs.
This law also prohibits the involvement of children in religious associations against their will or without parental consent. Over half of the religious communities in the Russian Federation belong to the Russian Orthodox Church - this is about 75% of Russian believers. 18% of Russian believers belong to Muslim communities, and in total there are 43 spiritual administrations of Muslims in Russia. Also in our country there are 113 Buddhist communities whose central administration has been in operation since 1946. Other religious organizations in the Russian Federation include: Old Believers, the Roman Catholic Church, Baptist Christians, and Evangelical Christians.
Definition of a religious association
In the Russian Federation, a religious association is understood as a voluntary association of citizens and other persons who legally reside on the territory of the Russian Federation, which was formed for the purpose of jointly professing faith, as well as its dissemination. The following are considered signs of a religious association:
Religion;
Teaching religion, religious education;
Performing services, rituals, and ceremonies.
Religious groups and organizations are considered forms of religious associations. But the creation of such associations is prohibited within state authorities and in government institutions.
To create a religious group or organization, state registration is required, which is carried out as a legal entity. Such registration is carried out by the justice authorities.
To do this, certain documents are required; the list of documents varies depending on the type of organization being registered. You can register a local or centralized organization.
Local and central organizations
Local religious registration includes at least ten participants who have reached the age of majority. And the charter of such an organization must necessarily indicate: name, type of religious organization, location, religion, goals and main forms of activity of the organization, procedure for creation and termination, governing bodies of the organization and its structure.
Centralized a religious organization must include at least three local organizations.
The danger of totalitarian sects
Many non-traditional religious organizations that have emerged more recently represent a rigid hierarchical system with an authoritarian leader.
For such communities, the cult of the leader is inherent, which is created using psychological methods of influence and skillful manipulation.
There are known cases when such communities led people to inappropriate behavior and to the destruction of their own lives and public order. Many people who fall under the influence of such organizations give up school, work, family and devote themselves entirely to worshiping the leader of the community.
Topic 16. Social and individual consciousness
Individual consciousness is the consciousness of the individual, the formation of which occurs due to its socialization. Social consciousness is the highest form of reflection of reality, which does not exist without social interaction.
Social and individual consciousness
Social and individual consciousness have their similarities and differences. So the similarities include the following factors:
Reflection of social life;
Socio-historical practice as a basis;
General view of existence in images, concepts and norms;
The overall goal is to satisfy human needs;
Expressed using language.
At the same time, individual and social consciousness have a number of differences. Thus, public knowledge is more voluminous than individual knowledge. It includes successive knowledge and norms.
Social and individual consciousness can contain contradictions and create conflict with each other. The enrichment of public consciousness often occurs thanks to the individual consciousness of certain individuals, for example: N. Tesla, C. Darwin.
Individual consciousness has greater mobility than public consciousness. At the same time, individual consciousness disappears at the moment of death of its carrier, in contrast to social consciousness, which has the peculiarity of passing from generation to generation.
Socialization of the individual
The process of assimilation and development by an individual of social experience and cultural norms is called socialization. Socialization is necessary for a person to feel comfortable in society.
The socialization process begins at three months of age and lasts throughout life. During this time, a person can “try on” a large number of social roles.
Socialization occurs in three stages. The first stage is the socialization of a preschool child, the second is the period of the child’s education at school, the third is the socialization of an adult individual (student, parent, employee, grandfather).
Socialization is often divided into three main categories:
1. Socialization in the field of communication. Includes the development of communication skills in society, creating a circle of friends and acquaintances, and choosing an environment.
2. Socialization in the field of activity. It implies an expansion of the individual’s activities, the acquisition of new skills, and the identification of the most important ones for oneself.
3. Socialization in the sphere of consciousness. The process as a result of which one’s own “I” is understood, as well as the choice of the most acceptable social role.
Topic 17. Political consciousness and political ideology
One of the forms of social consciousness is political consciousness. Political consciousness is directly related to the thoughts and experiences of a participant in the political process.
Political consciousness
The subjective internal attitude of people to objective political conditions, functions and roles in political life is usually called political consciousness. The reflection of political phenomena in people’s thought processes, experiences and feelings is political consciousness.
This type of consciousness is based on the negative or positive meaning of political relations. Moreover, the political consciousness of each person is formed in completely different ways and in a certain way reflects objective political processes.
Reflection occurs at two levels: everyday-practical or ideological-theoretical.
Political ideology
The interests of different social groups are reflected in political ideology. Such an ideology contains the views of a particular group on the actions of power, on power itself, on political life and on the use of power in their own interests.
With the help of political ideology, one can determine what state power should be and what policies should be pursued by it. In other words, political ideology is a system of ideas and concepts that reflect the view of the political life of a certain subject.
Political ideology functions in the minds of citizens and it is it that ultimately determines the political behavior of citizens. And the strength of an ideology can be determined by the degree of its assimilation by citizens and the extent of its implementation.
Political psychology
One of the main elements of political consciousness is psychological psychology. This concept refers to political feelings, moods and emotions, and other psychological components of the political life of society.
Political psychology is formed in everyday life; it is formed in the process of interaction of citizens with various institutions of power. This happens at the level of ordinary consciousness.
We can talk about political psychology as a practical type of consciousness. This type of consciousness is an unsystematized and sometimes contradictory set of views and subconscious elements.
The relatively stable parts of political psychology include morals, common sense, and mentality. Emotions, moods, expectations and experiences are usually considered more changeable.
All of the listed components of political psychology have a direct impact on human political behavior.
The following types of political psychology are distinguished: personality psychology (for example, the personality of a leader), small group psychology and psychology of large social groups and communities. They also highlight the political psychology of the masses and mass sentiments.