Russia’s Religious Toleration Deception
By L. A. S.
Not long ago the papers had much to say about an edict for religious toleration having been issued by the czar of Russia. According to an English writer, Mr. R. E. C. Long, who is mentioned as a “noted student of Russian affairs,” no such thing as religious tolerance has been contemplated by the Russian government, and in the translation of that part of the czar’s manifesto relating to this subject a deliberate deception was practiced upon the world. What the manifesto did say, says Mr. Long in the London Fortnightly Review, was that the Russian laws regarding religion were good enough for the empire, and would under no circumstances be departed from. The manifesto was, he says, a defiant declaration to Russia and to all the world on this point, and is quite capable of meaning that dissenters and heretics will be even more rigorously dealt with than has been done heretofore. Mr. Long does not believe that the manifesto was drawn up by the czar, for the reason that “a more Jesuitical intellect was needed to compile a paragraph which, without visible inconsistency, at once speaks of tolerance as a virtue and declares that intolerance is the future policy of the state.” The manifesto declares that there will be “undeviating observance” of existing laws; and as the Russian laws take full cognizance of questions of religious belief, the trial and punishment of heretics in Russia is always strictly according to law. “The essence of religious persecution in Russia is its perfect legality.” Religious toleration is therefore wholly incompatible with the declaration that the laws will remain unchanged. Religious freedom is gaining no ground in that quarter of the world. L. A. S.