Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Intertwining Of Religion And Nation: The Russian Administration’S Approach To Religious Life And National Identity, Beth Admiraal

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "The relationship between religion and nation that is promoted by a state will have tremendous effects on religious minority groups. For religious minorities in Russia, the forms that are most utilized by the state are exclusion and strong internalism. The former leads the state to cherry-pick troublesome religious groups for exclusion, for failing to be ‘Russian’ enough, leading to serious impairment for religious groups that are singled out by the state as threats to the nation. With regards to the latter formulation, the Russian Orthodox Church is the basis for a strong internalist mechanism, determining who is in and …