It also imposes new curbs on religious activity by foreign groups. Ackerman said thousands of churches, schools and religious institutions amounting to more than two thirds of those registered today would lose their current legal status and would have to cease normal operations. Supporters of the bill, who include Russia's most senior Orthodox clergyman Patriarch Alexiy, say it will help halt the division of Russians along religious lines. They also say it will protect people against destructive cults like Japan's doomsday sect Aum Shinri Kyo, which had many followers in Russia. The Orthodox Church has been alarmed by the post-Soviet explosion of religious sects, which have fed on Russians' poverty, spiritual hunger or desire for the new and exotic.
Critics say the bill goes much further than that and contravenes Russia's constitution.
They point out that 15 years ago religious groups were still tightly controlled by the officially atheist Communist state. An influential U.S. senator has asked Russian President Boris Yeltsin to veto a new law that the senator says threatens religious freedom. A spokesman for Lugar says the senator appealed to Yeltsin in a letter sent to Moscow today. There was no immediate word on whether Yeltsin is yet aware of the letter. Lugar called on Yeltsin to veto a law on religious association which has been approved by both chambers of the Russian parliament.