Anti-Cult Movement and Religious Freedom for Religious Minorities in the Russian Arctic

• Published in: Religions
• Main Authors: Beliakova, Nadezhda, Kliueva, Vera
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2023
• Subjects: anti-cult movement; Russia; religious freedom; legal regulation of religions; missionary activities; indigenous people; Russian Arctic; ddc:900; Arctic
• Online Access: https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0070-pub-29823761; https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2982376; https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/2982376/2982377

Beliakova N, Kliueva V. Anti-Cult Movement and Religious Freedom for Religious Minorities in the Russian Arctic. Religions . 2023;14(8): 1062. In this article, using the example of the Russian Arctic, we analyze how the anti-cult movement creates the conditions for the discrimination and suppression of religious minorities. The anti-cultist (anti-sectarian) fears and phobias of the Russian establishment are closely bound to the fears of missionary activity. The change in legislation regulating missionary activity deliberately limits the activities of those religious communities, which, at the suggestion of the anti-cultists, are labeled in Russian society as “sectarian” and/or “foreign”.