Its proponents doubtless felt that their best chance of passage was an immediate vote before public opposition had an opportunity to crystallize further. Some organizations have been privately assured that the fact that their faiths existed and owned church property prior to the 1917 Russian Revolution would be considered proof of existence for more than 15 years, even if they had no open churches 15 years ago. However, this optimistic interpretation is at odds with many public statements of draftsmen and the entire tenor of the legislation. There has already been a threat from Ukraine to ban the Russian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate, if Ukrainian citizens living on the territory of Russia are denied the right to set up their own Ukrainian Orthodox churches. It is staggering to imagine local governments or even the Russian Ministry of Justice attempting to deal with reregistration of over 14,000 religious organizations by 31 December 1999, with annual reregistration of most of the organizations.
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Lauren B. Homer is president of Law and Liberty Trust.