“The move comes after the protest by a part of the vast Russian Muslim community over the decision of a court of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the Far East, which had deemed verses of the Koran ‘extremist’, forbidding its distribution.”
What, then, must one do when confronted with a worldwide movement that quotes verses of the Qur’an to justify acts of violence and supremacism? Apparently the official Russian line is now in line with the American one: ignore the real root cause and search frantically for an alternative explanation of the phenomenon that is remotely plausible.
“Putin proposes ‘immunity’ for sacred texts: they cannot be judged extremist,” by Nina Achmatova, Asia News, October 19, 2015 (thanks to C. Cantoni):
Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The Orthodox Church and other traditional religions in Russia (in addition to Christianity are Judaism, Islam and Buddhism) have welcomed the proposal made by President Vladimir Putin in the Duma to amend the law on religious freedom and delete possible accusations of extremism being used against the sacred texts of the four religions.
“It is undoubtedly very important that the status of the tradition is confirmed not only by speeches and public interventions, but also at a legislative level,” Roman Bogdasarov, secretary of the Inter-religious Council of Russia and vice president Moscow Patriarchate’s department for relations between the Church and society told Interfax-Religion.
He believes, “the immunity of sacred scriptures of traditional religions at this time is very important in the light of provocations being made by including representatives of public authorities”.
The move comes after the protest by a part of the vast Russian Muslim community over the decision of a court of the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the Far East, which had deemed verses of the Koran “extremist”, forbidding its distribution.
The loudest criticism was from Ramzan Kadyrov, the controversial leader of Chechnya, the Muslim majority Russian republic. Kadyrov was among the first to welcome Putin’s initiative, speaking of a “historic step” towards the consolidation of the community. Putin, the Chechen leader wrote on Instagram, “showed that the attempts of the West and the fifth column in Russia to cause conflict among peoples and religions are destined to fail.”
The Kremlin proposal was also welcomed by the Muslim community, in the words of the Mufti of Russia Ravil Gainutdin, and by Buddhists. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia instead spoke of an “insufficient legislative initiative”. “This is certainly a step in the fight against recent absurdity,” said the spokesman Borukh Gorin, who is also calling for more experts in theology of every religion to act as representatives of different religious communities. Gorin has warned that each religion is founded on more than one sacred text and that so this way you avoid that “if someone wants to they will be able to find extremism in any theological text from the Middle Ages”….
We hear this alleged quite often. But when does it actually happen?

Linde Barrera says
I think the court of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk got it right. Why can’t the clergy of each of Russia’s religions meet ‘n greet to delete the texts that urge violence, or at least put them in brackets and state “THIS NO LONGER APPLIES” ??? ?
katherine says
Good suggestion there – that damned unholy book’s verses need to be highlighted with reds and blues to advice the reader to differentiate doctrinal commands from the religious statements – with footnotes and indexes to directly link with Abrogations in other passages. That will still leave us with the main culprit of the world’s present misery – the Hadiths – because the main body of laws in Political Islam is ensconced in these addenda to the Koran.
These hadiths should be collated and categorized according to schools of interpretation, with info on which Tribal and Customary laws they were derived from. Then perhaps, will the proletariat see through the massive political deception that has gripped the Muslim world for 1400 years.
Could someone please carry out these 2 projects for the common man ( and the blithering-idiot politicians ) ?
President Putin is very disappointing to even suggest that the teachings of a Devil-Cult be sacrosanct – protected from criticism. This sounds like the agenda of the OIC and the cowed UN. Who has been advising him on this matter – CAIR ?
BommelBen says
QURAN AND LOGIC
The Qur’an states that the earth is flat. Did the all-knowing Allah not know that it is round? Most probably not. So did He give a wrong revelation to Mohammed? Why should He do that? Why would He lie to Mohammed? Of course He did not. So this leaves but two possibilities: Mohammed misunderstood Him or there was no revelation and Mohammed made it up himself. In both case there is just one conclusion: The Qur’an is not a perfect rendering of Allah’s words.
mach37 says
For encyclopedic analysis that “spread out” means “flat as a carpet” as used in the Koran, just go to http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Flat_Earth_and_the_Quran
There is all the proof one needs that the author of the Koran believed in a flat Earth. This belief is supported by a number of current Imams, per that web page.
Dr. Divinity says
As stated many times….just a figment of mohammed’s immigration…after either smoking or using.
mortimer says
Agreeing substantially with Linde.
She writes: “Why can’t the clergy of each of Russia’s religions…delete the texts that urge violence, or at least put them in brackets and state “THIS NO LONGER APPLIES”
This was actually done by Al Azhar University with the ’10 clear suckling’s that must be done by a woman so that a Muslim man becomes her ‘kin’…and be permitted to socialize with her unchaperoned.
Some Islamic jurists have written: “We do not act on this” (i.e. do not breastfeed adult males). This was due to the revulsion of most Muslims to Mohammed’s clear and CANONICAL command to do so!
HOWEVER, this certainly cannot be done in the case of JIHAD…which is considered the MOST IMPORTANT action in Islam, even more important than prayer!
If the 164 violent JIHAD VERSES in the Koran fall… the whole of Islam falls with them.
gabi says
The Muslim clergy will never cut the Koran into pieces: these are good, these are not good. I don’t know if Buddhists have texts which urge violence; the Judaism has a lot of violent texts in Old Testament and Torah, but Christians don’t have in New Testament – not a word! So, why would Christians modify their sacred texts? Only because this is wanted by some people? This is a direct attack on sacred Christian texts and on Christianity itself! This is the global religion, a mix of everything and nothing! I’m Christian and believe me, I WILL NOT CUT A SINGLE LETTER FROM CHRIST’S WORDS AND NEW TESTAMENT!! Putin is a viper and his proposal is a huge trap: he speaks about Islam but the target is Christianity, he will create a precedent. Now we see the wolf between sheep. God have mercy of us all!
Angemon says
Let’s see if I can follow: a religious text that mandates someone to fight others on the account of their religion is not “extremist”, however, a person who fights others on the account of their religion because they read a religious text telling them to fight others on the account of their religion is deemed an “extremist”?
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, MAD World we live in…
EYESOPEN says
Looks to me like either Putin is showing his true colors – or he will reneg on the agreement the first chance he gets. But that’s OK, since Mad Mo did the same.
Blitz2b says
In a nation with scores of millions of Muslims, how does a political leader deal with political correctness other than being politically correct?
Islam is one proverbial “hornet’s nest” that no politician is prepared to poke at. The ones who do are almost instantly labeled “bigot”, “xenophobe” and “islamophobe”. Which would mean a certain death of one’s political carrier.
What is happening with political pundits who are truth tellers of Islam like Carson, Wilders, and the Czech President Milo is pathetic, as they are being portrayed as bigots by our very own brainwashed leftists liberal idiots.
Such will be the end of the great western civilization as the liberals tell us we are no better than any other civilization, and our values that promote justice and freedom
are no better than the brutal one that Islamic tradition imposes on it’s ” subjects”.
In granting Islamic texts special “immunity”, Putin finds common ground with Obama. Maybe now Obama will be willing to sit down and talk with him.
peter Hyatt says
I thought Putin was the one exception.
I thought he did not fear threats from muslims.
I am disappointed.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
I had the same thought. There is nothing but disappointment when it comes to matters involving Moslems. Check that, there is also shock, surprise, pain and horror upon a Jihad mass murder operation taking place, and there is the pervasive dread of such maybe taking place, and there is the disappointment and Infidel elites. That’s a small range of emotions. Notice that they are all negative ones.
Peggy says
Maybe this fight is not worth fighting yet. He has left the verses but will probably hit back hard if anyone tries to carry out a terrorist attack on Russia.
At the same time he is hitting them hard in the ME. So to me it looks like one step at a time. If he was to fight on all front at once the outcome might not be what he wants.
I am trying to understand what he is up to and hope this is it but who knows.
Evgeny Marusik says
After 70 years of destroying any religions in the USSR most people from traditional Muslim territories like Tatarstan or Bashkiria are only nominally Muslims and don’t know much of Islam except for some outer rituals. On the other hand, if they feel their religion is attacked, this can lead to their radicalization. I don’t say it all peaceful and nice, I guess in Chechenia they are already implementing sharia, but like with everything Russia lags 20-30 years behind the West in the issue of islamization as well, and my only hope is that Putin or any next Russia’s dictator will not allow rising of any power except his own.
David says
Well said Peggy! Lets hope you’re right on this. If not, it looks like there is no hope humanly speaking.
But we are fools anyway to place our hope in the frail arm of mortal, human flesh … There is One who never fails, whose ways are inscrutable, but yet full of mercy to those that fear Hi, and He in due time will avenge upon all evil doers no matter what their creed is …
Raja says
Peggy,
You are right.
Let us hope this surrender is a strategy of one step at a time. Anyhow politicians are best mangers of contradictions…
Vivienne Havalant (Leijonhufvud) says
Good point but will this deal with the problem of the Third Caliphate and the spread of ISLAM (Wahhabi) through out the world driven by SAUDI ARABIA?
Vivienne Havalant (Leijonhufvud) says
I am too, unless this is a ruse in Russian roulette and Chess Putin is playing?
nacazo says
From some actions in Syria, you would have thought Putin understood the threat. From this item, we see he’s as clueless as any of the islamic experts obama, cameron, hollande, etc
Peggy says
Not sure about that. There are no rapes of girls in Russia by Muslims and being covered up. This tells me that he is nothing like Cameron. Maybe he will give them the verses but they won’t be able to do anything with them.
Mirren10 says
How do you know that ?
خَليفة says
Don’t tell me Putin want to be the Caliph. He is kind of a suprematist, after all.
Francis Merde says
Totally called it. First the “Islam is a great world religion” speech. Now this. Welcome to 14 years of making an absolute ass of yourself and turning your own country into an international laughingstock.
Papa Whiskey says
How did that cleric end up with Johnny Carson’s old headgear? ; – )
Joseph says
Thanks for the laugh PW and the clarification in my mind. I was stumped as to where I saw that outfit before.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
You guys thought Ed and Johnny were kidding. No, they were sardonically predicting the fate of the world.
el cid says
Does someone have the resources and time to pull a CAIR on Islamic Fundamentalism?
in Canada, someone should bring a major Mosque to the Human Rights Council on grounds of hate mongering using the Koran We should get the book banned in Canada!.
gravenimage says
If the Qur’an *were* banned in Canada, el cid, it would only be law abiding Infidels who would refrain from reading it–supremacist Muslims would just flout the law.
And any non-Muslims who wanted to learn about the threat Islam presents to us would be out of luck.
Really, if such a law passed, it would just give dhimmi Canadian authorities another excuse to go after Anti-Jihadists like Mark Steyn.
Raja says
El Cid,
We must have resources to take on the “relgious” mafia and the governments that harbor the Islamic mafia but to suggest banning would be a big mistake.
Evils must be exposed and as such they should not be patronized or even monopolized by few for more subjugation. The banning idea will spell disaster for otherwise open democracies SO FAR. anyway the world is too far to come to the “banning idea”
vlparker says
So, Mr. Macho turns out to be a wuss after all.
Frans Mikkelsen says
It goes to show that there is a limit as to how far a truth-loving Christian soul can pin his hope on the Russian state.
somehistory says
Such a loving look is being passed between these two.
Yet again, the beast advances.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Robert, where did you get the photo that accompanies this article? From a comedy show on Russian TV? Not only is the cleric wearing eyeglasses (a bida that the Prophet would never countenance), but he is carrying a sacred shilelagh and is wearing ridiculous headgear that reminds Papa Whiskey and me of
http://www.screeninsults.com/images/the-tonight-show-starring-johnny-carson-carnac-the-magnificent.jpg
Fritz66 says
Russia has a lot of Muslims.If he forbbid something then thousands of muslims will join terrorist groups.
After the Perestroika in some USSR states muslims killed russians in their homes…1Million gone to Russia.
I also heard from germans from Kasachstan that they even forced the germans to leave.They sayed:What do you want here?Go to germany.
Also they told me that they muslims robbed there girls(its there culture),specially blond girls had a high risk…
duh_wami says
Islam is a large pseudo religion, but it;s not great because it;s pseudo…
A story from the abyss..And Allah said…’Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest god of all’? The mirror answered, Sorry, it ain’t you babe, its a mortal named Robert Spencer. Robert Spencer, ? What?? Allah was shocked, and so would be Robert Spencer if he knew about it.
mortimer says
What are you smoking?
Mirren10 says
duh_swami isn’t smoking anything, he just has a wicked sense of humour.
Vivienne Havalant (Leijonhufvud) says
duh-Swami Great humor, 😀
gravenimage says
Putin proposes “immunity” for sacred texts: they can’t be judged “extremist”
…………………..
I’m afraid this does not surprise. Some here have hoped that since there is not the same enshrining of “political correctness” in places like Russia and China, that non-Western countries will have no problem straight-forwardly fighting Jihad.
But the sad truth is that you get almost as much enabling of Islam in Russia as you do in the West.
Wellington says
In short, Putin is part of the problem too. And for all those who extoll this dictatorial bastard as someone who is standing up for good things, like Christianity and the West, reconsider big time.
Putin is for Putin and an authoritarian Russia and he’ll use anything at his disposal (e.g., the Russian Orthodox Church) to advance said interests. This is the limit of his thinking. And one either knows this or should know it. Doubt me? Well then, just look at all the cozy deals this SOB has made with Iran. He’s a tactician and not a strategist.
Please, no more nonsense about Putin recognizing the Islamic danger. He doesn’t. He recognizes the danger to Putin first and foremost and proceeds accordingly, especially if it fits in with his antipathy towards the West, and in particular America.
Angemon says
Wellington posted:
“In short, Putin is part of the problem too. And for all those who extoll this dictatorial bastard as someone who is standing up for good things, like Christianity and the West, reconsider big time.
Putin is for Putin and an authoritarian Russia and he’ll use anything at his disposal (e.g., the Russian Orthodox Church) to advance said interests. This is the limit of his thinking. And one either knows this or should know it. Doubt me? Well then, just look at all the cozy deals this SOB has made with Iran. He’s a tactician and not a strategist.”
Indeed – I suspect that “wooooosh” sound we heard were Putin’s supporters backpedaling by.
gravenimage says
Absolutely, Wellington. Putin is no great savior of Infidels, or model for fighting Jihad–anything but.
Arthur says
Missing caption: “Hello, little man. Would you like to go for a ride on my magic carpet?”
Kepha says
Wellington, one of these days, I’ll take my nose out of my grading and other pedagogical functions and beat YOU to the punch (re your 1936 hrs comment re Putin). Sure, I respect him for being a patriot and looking out for his country’s interests, but I don’t really like him.
I’ll dissent farther. Putin’s Russia, China, and SD Europe all end up with crazy things like this because they don’t have a First Amendment that is enforced. There are scads of people out there who pretend that they’re all for civil liberties, but would ban the Bible as well as the Qur’an (but by all means, leave alone the hate-filled fulminations of Marx, Lenin, Mao, Ernesto Guevara Serna y Lynch, the vicious Franz Fanon, all those decriers of “the fascist insect” , all those anti-male feminazis, and, of course, the let’s-call-heteros-breeders in the [un-]gay community). Yes, Uncle Kepha thinks that Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk got it horribly wrong.
It’s clear that the Left’s “free speech” campaigns cover only Marxists and perverts. We on the right, rather than playing the “ban the enemy” game once we have a moment of power, ought to be suing the bajayzas out of lots of universities, schools, government agencies, and leading impeachment campaigns against a lot of morally corrupt judges. We should even take to the streets in non-violent protest while we can.
As a seminarian, I read translations of some of the Ugaritic texts back in my young manhood, even though they were from the people on whom God ordered a permanent ban. The purpose of my very Evangelical institution was to show something of the wider context of ancient Middle Eastern literature. None of us ever became a devotee of Ba’al or Ashtoreth as a result. And we won’t fall for Mo’s turgid repetitiveness masquerading as “prophecy”, either. Nor did I find Mao at all attractive back when I was studying Sinology.
No, let people read the little red book, the Qur’an, the fulminations of the Kims of Pyongyang, and even _Mein Kampf_. Printed horrors like the above-mentioned, or the vastly over-rated silliness of H.L. Mencken or G. B. Shaw are a small price to pay to allow much far better writing to be made available to the public.
EYESOPEN says
You are absolutely right Kepha. Your last paragraph says it all.
Mazo says
Morons, Putin follows Eurasianist ideology and multi-ethnic ideology, Russia is composed of many different ethnic groups and religions.
The current Defence Minister of Russia is Sergei Shoigu. His father was a Mongoloid Tuvan Buddhist and his mother was a white Russian.
I laugh at all those dumb “white nationalists” in the west who think Putin is some kind of white racial nationalist champion. Putin appointed a mixed race Mongoloid hybrid as his Defence Minister.
There are violent Russian neo-nazi skinhead gangs (who oppose Putin’s policy of bringing in Central Asian migrant workers into Russia), but there are also tons of Chechen, Dagestani and Central Asian Tajik gangsters too in Russian cities. Putin generally left them all alone and lets them stab each other all they want in turf wars, plenty of skinheads were also getting shanked by Muslim gangs. Many “white nationalists” got the false impression that Russia followed “race realist” policies because of the skinhead gangs running loose. The skinheads are not affilated with Putin or the Russian government.
The role Central Asians and Chechens-Dagestanis play in Russia’s economy and mafia is critical to Putin and he needs their support so he continues to allow them to migrate into Russian cities like Moscow.
Because Russia has many different ethnicities (Muslims like Tatars, Bashkirs, Dagestanis, Chechens), Jews, and Buddhists like Kalmyk and Buryat Mongols.
Putin has been promoting cultural Russian nationalism and downplaying ethnic issues. He promotes the idea that all ethniciites in Russia are Russians and is building more mosques in Tatarstan and reaching out to the Muslim community and promoting a common anti-western front. He seeks to divert anger towards the west and turn Russia into a melting pot with his policies.
خَليفة says
Putin is for Putin. He knows his country needs money, and like a typical desperado will do what ever it takes – like selling weapons to middle east countries and taking a gamble in an attempt to have more control over middle east oil – or at least have a bigger say.
“What to call Russian president when he drink too much?” – Vladimir Pewkin
Kepha says
What has Jihad Watch to do with “white nationalism” (at least of the more extreme kinds)?
I don’t think that many people on this forum are “white nationalists”. A lot of us here are white or mostly so, and neither make bones about it nor apologize for it; but that doesn’t mean we’re out to denigrate, exclude, or belittle non-white people because of their origins. Conversely, there are probably a lot of us here who are very wary of anyone’s racism.
Some of our posters here have identified themselves as “non-white”. A goodly chunk of my own family goes back to the Middle and Far East.
Further, while we criticize Islam, we recognize that a good many Muslims are “white”–Turks, Bosniaks, Shqip, Kavkaz Mountain Peoples, lots of Southwest and Central Asians, Amazigh, Arabs, a surprising number of Pakistanis, etc. Why, even some Uyghur are Tatar people from China are more “white” than “Asian” (in the American rather than British sense) in appearance. Conversely, we see a good many people who are bearing the brunt of Islamic terrorism and fighting against it are not “white”.
The points for which Putin has drawn admiration from some of our readers are his clear patriotism (something very lacking in most current Western leadership), his apparent reconciliation with the Eastern Orthodox Church (if not with God), and his willingness to fight rather than capitulate to militant Islam.
And, speaking as an American “Evangelical Taliban” (as we have been calumnied), were i to be the head of ICE at a time when Europe succumbs to radical Islam and called on to determine who gets screened in or out in American refugee admissions, I’d probably find it a lot easier to screen in a lot of immigrant stock non-white European Christians than I would members of the European cultural elite who might look a lot more like my mother (God rest her).
Angemon says
Kepha posted:
“I don’t think that many people on this forum are “white nationalists”.”
Every once in a while one shows up. They don’t really last long or get any traction.
Mazo says
There are many “white nationalists” in western countries masturbating to their fantasy that Russia is going to save the “white race” in multicultural western countries and apparently they don’t realize that it is legal in Russia for white Russian women to miscegenate with Central Asian and Siberian Mongoloids and there are no racial laws at all in place in Russia.
Actual Russian Neo-Nazis in fact want Putin to get the hell out of Chechnya and Dagestan, grant them independence, and totally shut off all immigration from those regions to Moscow and other Slavic cities. They said so themselves, they fear that Putin keeping Chechnya and Dagestan in Russia will mean the end of the slavic race.
mach37 says
Putin should have put on one of those party hats, like the other guy was wearing, to show his empathy with those who want to go back to the 7th century customs. Muslims must not have mirrors, or they are simply blind to how ridiculous they look in those costumes.
Kepha says
The man on the right looks strangely like The Great Wuzuzini, Linguine, or Pepperoni, or whatever that traveling show carney with the supposed crystal ball called himself back in my early childhood (heck, I think we could still find the same kind of circus sideshow in certain parts of the country even when I was a pre-teen).