In stories about the construction of Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) churches throughout the country and resistance to the construction of mosques or even their demolition, the ruling circles repeatedly demonstrate their true attitude not only toward Russian civil society, but also toward the Muslim community and its ideology.
For example, in Ekaterinburg, the ROC lobby, which continues to push for the construction of a church in a park despite the fact that the majority of those polled are against it, has resorted to intimidating society by claiming that churches must be built to prevent the appearance of mosques. In particular, Alexander Kolesnikov, chairman of the Ekaterinburg City Duma’s urban planning committee, said: «If there’s no church, there will be mosques. If you want to have Switzerland, you will have it.»
In thousands of comments on his absurd statement, Russians have bitterly joked that they would be happy to «have Switzerland,» but everyone understands perfectly well that this is impossible for anyone except the privileged officials of the current regime, who are turning Russia into a backward, deteriorating country while moving their families and their plundered wealth to Switzerland, England, France, and so on. But we are interested in something else.
Until now, many naive Muslims have believed that if the secular society in Russian cities, where Muslims live as a diaspora, does not allow the ROC to build its churches wherever it wants, then it will not allow the construction of mosques either. Therefore, if we want mosques to be built, it is in our interest that the ROC have this opportunity.
But this logic does not work. First, as we have seen in the recent history of Kaliningrad and countless similar stories, it is usually the ROC that opposes the construction of mosques. Secondly, as we can see, their ideology is not «let’s build both churches and mosques», but rather «we must build churches so that mosques don’t appear».
So why should we sympathize with them in such a case? On the contrary, if many years of experience show that it is impossible to reach an agreement with the ROC under any circumstances (as long as it dominates the country), constructive dialogue is often possible with those who resist its dominance. Yes, in most cases these civil forces will oppose the construction of large mosques with minarets, etc. in Russian cities, especially in residential areas. Well, they are not allowed to be built now either. On the other hand, many of them are at least not opposed to Muslims, like Protestants or Jehovah’s Witnesses, gathering in their homes and private spaces, or having the opportunity to open their own compact cultural centers, as is done in Europe.
Of course, ideally, Muslims, as representatives of Russia’s native religion, would like to see mosques built in their cities alongside ROC churches. However, if the supporters of the latter are opposed to this, it may be worthwhile to enter into dialogue with their opponents and work together for the triumph of the secular state and religious freedom, which is more beneficial to us in Russia than the clericalism of the ROC.