Did anyone read the piece in today's Times about the art exhibit at the Sakharov Institute in Moscow that was savaged by Orthodox vandals and has now become the center of a conflict between freedom of expression and freedom of religion in Russian society? Freedom of religion is winning!
Caution! Religion
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/02/international/europe/02RUSS.html?8hpibAnother artist, Anna Alchuk, said in an interview that her work — an arrangement of four medallions she found while moving to a new apartment — was intended to explore the religious belief in personal salvation. She recalled that in Soviet times such a theme would have been strictly forbidden; she wonders whether it still is.
"There are many things written in the Constitution — freedom of speech, freedom of religion — but we've seen how they exist in reality," she said.
Aleksandr B. Chuyev, a member of Parliament and, like Mr. Sakharov, a dissident during the Soviet period, disagreed.
Closely allied with the Orthodox Church, he sponsored the resolution calling on prosecutors to investigate the museum. He defended the men who destroyed the exhibition, saying they had acted within their rights to prevent a crime. Democracy, he said, necessitates respect for the beliefs of others.
"There are acceptable boundaries within which it is possible to express an opinion," he said, "as long as it doesn't affect the rights of Orthodox believers."
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