Yeltsin made right decision on veto

The powerful combination of Pope John Paul II and the U.S. Senate convinced Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin to veto a bill that would have severely restricted most religions.

The legislation, already okayed by the Russian Parliament, would have designated Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism as ``traditional' religions ``worthy of respect.' The glaring omission, of course, was Roman Catholicism, not to mention the many other forms of Christianity to be found in Russia. Under the legislation, those religions would have faced a row of hurdles in order to operate legally in Russia, including a 15-year waiting period before legal status would be granted to them.

The Pope had penned a personal letter to Yeltsin in late June, calling the legislation ``a real threat' to the Catholic Church in Russia. It failed to advert, he continued, to the Church's ``centuries-long presence and action in Russia.'

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate, by a 91-8 vote, got on the Pope's side of this issue by amending a $13.2 billion foreign aid bill to suspend aid to Russia if the proposed legislation had been signed. Eleven U.S. senators and 15 members of the House of Representatives had also sent their own letter to Yeltsin, warning that the proposed legislation would constitute Russia's ``most severe infringement upon human rights in the post-Soviet era. Core civil liberties -- freedom of conscience, freedom of association and freedom of speech -- are violated under this legislation.'

This week, Yeltsin vetoed the bill. It could not have been an easy decision. He was caught between the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the U.S. Senate and billions in foreign aid on one side, and the Orthodox Church and his own Parliament on the other. In recent years, the Orthodox have been in a tense relationship with Roman Catholics throughout Eastern Europe, recently canceling ecumenical meetings and events, and accusing Catholics of poaching in what is historically their territory.

Their feelings on this issue were clearly signaled when an influential association of conservative Russian Orthodox priests, in response to the papal letter to Yeltsin, charged the Pope with ``interfering in our nation's internal affairs.' It accused him of ``demagogy' and ``a desire to stir up additional tensions' between Yeltsin and Parliament.

When the clouds of foreign aid money and interreligious dust-ups are blown away from the issue, Yeltsin made the correct move in killing the bill. It is wrong for any nation, particularly one with Russia's recent anti-religious past, to place such undue burdens on some sects while designating others as being worthier of state support. On this one, the odd couple of the Vatican and the U.S. Senate were right. So is Yeltsin.

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