Building places of worship in Moscow still a struggle

Moscow's Emmanuel Pentecostal Church had its building plans rejected in 2000 as officials cited popular opposition, reports Geraldine Fagan, Forum 18 News Service. In June 2005 a city construction official ordered a swift resolution to their building problems. Yet, as church administrator Bakur Azaryan told Forum 18 News Service, within a week of their acceptance of a new building plot this summer, the plot was hastily withdrawn: "they said it had already been sold, so we understood that they either don't want to solve the issue or are dragging out time." Muslims have complained of eleven cases of building obstruction in Moscow Region. However, the Russian-American Christian University has told Forum 18 of progress on its building after earlier opposition, while the city's Hare Krishna community appears finally to have a plot for a new temple. City officials often cite alleged opposition by local residents to obstruct non-Orthodox communities from building places of worship. Back in 2000, Moscow's then chief architect wrote: "Going by experience, the staunch objection of residents, the location of prayer houses of other confessions (..) in the vicinity of Orthodox Churches is impossible."

A number of Moscow religious organisations continue to find construction of worship buildings in the Russian capital either impossible or permitted only after years of bureaucratic wrangling, Forum 18 News Service has found. Officials often cite alleged opposition by local residents or insist that non-Orthodox communities cannot build places of worship in districts where Orthodox churches are being built or planned.

Article 22 of the 1997 Religion Law grants religious organisations the right to use plots of land provided by the state and transferred to them free of charge.

In what Russia's Ombudsman for Human Rights has called "a scandalous case", plans by Moscow's Molokan community to build a prayer house have met persistent obstruction (see F18News 29 November 2007

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[01/03/2008]

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