I was cordial with protestants...

I was cordial with protestants, but where this rumour that I wanted to adopt Protestantism came from, I don’t know. *For many, it is a puzzle what your real position on the new law on freedom of conscience of 1997 is? Some consider you as its author and some recall that you have frequently criticized the law itself. As long as I am a state employee, I cannot discuss the whole truth about this law.

I participated in the writing of this law as one of fifteen members of the working group and I had very little influence. Then the law was presented to the Duma where work on it went forward. I can consider myself a coauthor of what resulted from this work. But the demonization of the law was necessary to those circles and forces who figured on being able to make a name and money for themselves on the basis of the negative events that arose around the country.

Actually, the law upheld the principles of a secular state and maintained the situation. Was Your Religious Quest Provoked by Your Displeasure with Formal Orthodoxy? While I was working in the state apparatus, I began to see more clearly how various activities within the church or politics affect the life of the people. Some people try to interpret Christianity so as to justify the irresponsibility of the government, giving it an image of divine ordination.

There are similar examples in the history of the Islamic world: khans, Turkish sultans, and palace intrigues of the Sublime Porte. In the Koran, viewing the government as “God’s anointed” is strictly forbidden. It is said that if someone usurps power and a Muslim tolerates this, then he is an accessory to this sin. In the Ottoman empire, there was a stagnation of Muslim culture–the cult of the military, violence, and slavery. Islam degenerated there. The Revelation itself is a different matter.

What has been the reaction of your new Muslim brethren to your decision? My interview with the journal Musulmane provoked lively interest, so much so that it was necessary to put out another printing. What has been the reaction on the part of your leadership in the Duma? Some naturally will be unhappy, but I don’t care to please everyone. I think that nothing will change in my work in the duma. I do not intend to criticize Christianity. When I was within Orthodoxy, I criticized it rather harshly.

Now I don’t. Islam, as it is presented in the Quran, is the most democratic religion because it contains prohibition of tyranny.