Secular state and civil society: search for common contacts

The character of the person is revealed and the question of restricting one's freedom of conscience may be raised only when the person manifests his convictions and commits some related acts. The restriction may be imposed, inter alia, through the morals, as, according to the Latin proverb, “Laws without morals are useless” (“quid leges sine moribus vanae pro- ficumt”). The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms contains a provision on the limitation of freedom to manifest a religion or convictions for the protection of moral (Art. 9): “2. Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations. are necessary. for the protection of. moral.” (Gomien, 1995: 68). Similar provisions have also been introduced in the legislation of Russia: “The right of a human and citizen to the freedom of conscience and religion may be limited. for the protection. of moral,.” (part 2 Art. 3 of the Federal law “On freedom of conscience and religious associations” (The Federal law, 1997)).

In this context, the efforts of the religious associations to revive the morality and ensure dignity of personality should be highly appreciated. This was, same-sex marriages and organization of gay parade were harshly condemned by the Head of the Presidium of the Muslim Spiritual Board of the European part of Russia, Grand Mufti of Russia R. Gaynetdin in his interview to Russia-24 TV channel See: Information programme “Interview with Maria Bondareva” (Russia-24 TV channel), 04.03.2018..

Conclusion

Therefore, the conclusions made in the present research may be formulated as follows:

1. A secular state creates proper conditions for the successful development of the civil society and its institutions. The state of this type does not oppose itself to the civil society; on the opposite, it remains neutral, granting the church the right of independent institutional activity within the reasonable limitations set by the legislation. It satisfies the needs of its citizens for religion, provides a true freedom of conscience to facilitate the full-scale spiritual and moral development of individuals.

2. The secular state and civil society ideals have not yet established in the individual and public opinion. At the present moment, there is a tendency for two extremes. On one hand, considering the huge historical contribution it made into the development of our country, the church in the conscience of Russians is perceived as an integral element of the state and civil society. On the other hand, there is an effect of the atheistic past, which enhances the anti-clerical sentiments.

3. Secularity does not contradict, but assumes the existence of certain forms of cooperation between the state, religious associations and other civil society, such as the institutions of education, culture, and healthcare, in order to solve a wide range of various problems. The church has always been defending morals and righteousness, enforcing the institution of the family, helping those in need, safeguarding of peace and tranquillity in the world. Its mission is concordant with the main idea of the civil society, which is to develop integrity and stability of the social system.

4. The citizens' attitude to religion, the degree of trust to religious associations as the most stable and reliable institutions of the society, determines the level of integration of the religious factor into all spheres of social life. And if in some of them the presence of religion is acceptable and even reasonable, there are some areas where it should be minimized, such as politics, administrative activity and ideology. As the religious factor cannot be completely excluded, the state shall establish some limitations for cooperation with religious associations. However, the legislation regulating the state-church interaction has not been developed yet. There are some terminology issues as well as problems with the specification of the legal regulation of such relationships, which creates new prerequisites to the clericalization of the governmental structures and the society as a whole.

5. In the secularity system, religious associations cooperate both with the government machine and other institutions of the civil society (educational institutions, political parties etc.). It expands the borders for the exercise of the freedom of conscience. It is proven by the introduction of such discipline as Fundamentals of Spiritual and Moral Culture of the Peoples of Russia into public school curricula. If several years ago (before 2013) religious subjects could be only taught selectively, today the state provides a new opportunity for the citizens interested in religion to develop their world outlook.

6. The borders of the secular and religious influence are quite flexible now. The state is currently refraining from fixing them, leaving this issue to the discretion of the civil society, which inclines to cooperate with it through their institutions. Acting as such institution, religious associations are in charge of making up the bridges, connecting the state, the society and individuals, which they have been successfully doing lately. Quite often the state and religious associations attempt to solve some vibrant issues with joint efforts. It increases the presence of the religious factor in the activity of the civil society institutions (such as state educational institutions). It may be suggested that the religious associations have not yet exhausted their potential. On the opposite, the tendency for strengthening and expanding the existing connections will remain in the future.

***

Considering the complexity and versatility of the studied problems, the author is aware of the disputable nature of some judgements expressed in the article, and does not claim a monopoly of absolute truth. She also takes the versatility of the research object into consideration and does not aspire to settle all the range of the related questions. The present article is an attempt to review only the issues that appear to the author to be the most significant issues of secularity development in today's state of Russia.

The author expresses her sincere gratitude to the Honoured Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Honoured Lawyer of the Penza Oblast, Candidate of Law, Docent, Head of the Department of Justice of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education “Penza State University” Viktor Alexandrovich Terekhin for the remarks and recommendations appreciated and considered by the author in the process of preparation of the present article.

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