Putin Introduces Bill to Prohibit Canonical Religious Texts Being Designated 'Extremist'

THE MOSCOW TIMES: President Vladimir Putin has introduced a bill at the State Duma that would prohibit the canonical texts of Christianity, Islam, Judaism or Buddhism from being designated “extremist,” a news report said.

“The Bible, Quran, Tanakh and Kanjur, their content and quotations from them may not be deemed extremist materials,” the bill states, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported Wednesday.

The bill follows an outcry by Russia's Muslim population against a ruling made by a Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk city court in August that deemed a book containing quotes and commentary on verses from the Quran “extremist” and banned it from local distribution. » | The Moscow Times | Thursday, October 15, 2015