State Support of Religious Associations in the Modern Secular State: Foreign Experience of Legal Regulation and Law Enforcement
The article presents the results of an analysis of foreign experience of the legal regulation and the implementation of state support of religious associations in modern secular states in the context of variability of forms and measures of such support, which allow their systematization. The choice of the topic of the article is due to the existence of a complex contradiction in the relationship between the traditional understanding of the secular state characteristic and the practice of providing state support for individual religious denominations, the legally unequal availability of access to support, as well as the risk of actual state interference in the administration of church (denomination) affairs when implementing certain measures of state support. The aim of the research was to substantiate the optimal approach to the definition, legal regulation and implementation of forms and measures of state-confessional support in the modern secular state, prioritizing freedom of conscience and religion and minimizing human rights risks. In order to achieve it, the authors carried out a legalistic analysis of the focused law-making and law-enforcement practices of several foreign countries, which recognize themselves as secular but are distinguished by historical traditions, national, political, social and confessional features; emphasis was placed on systematizing the forms and measures of such support, as well as the most debating aspects of the issue. Also, the following methods of scientific knowledge were used in the research: universal (dialectical, formal logic, systemic, analysis, synthesis, classification) and specific (interpretation of law, comparative law, statistical). The research justifies that the secular nature of the state does not exclude the use of certain forms of support for various confessional communities. However, such support measures should ideally be aimed at ensuring the freedom of conscience and religion of citizens and their associations, rather than the artificial priority of a particular denomination. At the same time, it is necessary to observe the balance of public, collective and individual interests of subjects of confessional relations. The research is based on actual data on the provision of direct and indirect state support to religious associations. However, there are their derivative, alternative, authentic versions, the essence, secular and legal content of which are not always clearly positive. In this regard, an alternative classification of forms and measures of state-confessional support has been carried out - according to the legal content, the results of which allowed assessing the degree of their human rights risk, highlighting permissible and optimal combinations in this aspect. Considering that most of the forms and measures that have been studied are also implemented in Russia, the conclusions and recommendations, presented on the basis of foreign experience, can serve as a basis for an appropriate legislative and law enforcement optimization in the modern Russian state.