On January 15th, the European University will host the international conference “Religious Freedom and Secularity in Modern Russia”, a joint event of the European University and the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in St. Petersburg. Russian and Dutch experts will discuss historical and current aspects of relations between the state and the church, issues of freedom of religion and religious tolerance.
The working language of the conference is English.
Participation is free, registration is required (for registration send a letter to the conference coordinator Julia Senina: jsenina@eu.spb.ru).
Conference Program
Religious Freedom and Secularity in Russia
European University at Saint Petersburg, January 15, 2020
6/1 Gagarinskaya street (entrance from Shpalernaya street)
Golden Hall (room 429)
09:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:15 Welcome and Opening Remarks
Dr. Alexander Panchenko, Director of the Center for Anthropology of Religion, European University at St. Petersburg
Mr. Lionel Veer, Consul General of the Netherlands in St. Petersburg
10:15 – 12:00 Session 1:
Mr. Jos Douma, Special Envoy FoRB, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Policy of the Dutch government on the freedom of religion.
Dr. T. Staalduine: Tolerance in practice: Freedom of religion for the Dutch Church in St. Petersburg 1702-1927.
Dr. Hans van Koningsbrugge: State and Church in the early modern Netherlands and Muscovy: A comparison.
Dr. Katja Tolstaja: Religious freedom & Invented Saints: The Cases of fr Arseny (Strel’tsov) and fr Pavel (Troitskii).
N.A. Kraft van Ermel MA: Moscow’s, Constantinople’s and Kiev’s plaything: Historical perspectives on the 2018-2019 Russo-Constantinopolitan Ukrainian religious conflict.
12:00 – 12:30 Q&A – discussion
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch break
13:30 – 15:20 Session 2:
Dr. Dmitry Dubrovskiy: Academic expertise on religious minorities in Russia.
Dr. Alexander Panchenko: Religion, money, and conspiracy theories in Post-Soviet Russia: The case of scientology.
Dr. Alexander Agadjanian: The Russian tradition of (in)tolerance to religious others. Some reflections.
Mr. Grigory Mikhnov-Vajtenko: Violation of Religious Freedom in modern Russia.
15:20 – 15:40 Q&A – discussion
15:40 – 16:00 Closing Remarks