A two-day international scientific conference "The religious situation in the North-West: Religion in the Post-secular World" was held in St. Petersburg. Leading theologians, religious scholars, philosophers and religious figures from Russia, Serbia, Finland, Poland and Armenia gathered at the same venue.
“The conference is a value in terms of interfaith dialogue and the fullness of the scientific picture. “This reflects the opinion of sociologists, theologians, philosophers and there is an opportunity to hear the position of those who hold those or other religious beliefs” – said Vladimir Ivanov, the head of the department for relations with religious associations of the St. Petersburg government.
The Conference is aimed at discussion of the dynamics of the relationship of traditional religions, government agencies and civil society institutions, discussion of the current state of the religious situation in the North-West, the issues of countering extremism.
Archpriest Alexander Pelin, the chairman of the department for relations between the church and society of the St. Petersburg diocese said: “The conference is devoted to the development of interfaith dialogue, contemporary challenges and risks, which we see as experts and clergymen. As a result, we will be able to understand better where we are moving together and what kind of society we are building.” He added that in the 1990s, Russian society was often oriented toward the West, where various methods and social technologies came from.
The rector of the St. Petersburg Cathedral Mosque, Mufti Ravil Pancheev emphasized: “St. Petersburg was originally built as a multi-religious city, it remains so today. We have accumulated a unique experience of friendship and interaction between various confessions, which we, in particular, share with other regions.”
From the Spiritual Assembly of Muslims of Russia took part in the conference, the mufti of the Muslim Spiritual Administration of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tagir-Khazrat Samatov.
The conference concluded with a collective monograph, where the key results of scientific discussions to be collected and published. The document is included in the scientometric database - Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI).
The conference concluded with a collective monograph will be published, where the key results of scientific discussions will be collected. The document is included in the scientometric database - Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI).
Thus, following the last year’s conference in the head of a collective monograph devoted to the radicalization of the religious situation in the Middle East, Ravil Pancheev points out: “It is often said that orthodox Islam is at the core of the ISIS (banned in the Russian Federation). This is not true. From orthodox Islam, all this is very far away. This is heresy - let's call a spade a spade.”
