ABSTRACT
Once the experience of the 1997 law On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations had demonstrated that an Orthodox-centred policy model would not be instituted through the rule of law, the anti-pluralists switched to a non-legal tool with even longer reach than bureaucrats' ‘telephone law’. By popularizing particular terms in media discourse — ‘totalitarian sect’, ‘spiritual security’, ‘canonical territory’ and ‘traditional religions’ — they propagated public animosity towards non-establishment faiths, particularly Catholics and Protestants. Despite not entering federal law, the concepts also won broad acceptance among state representatives.
