Religion Clause
March 28, 2009 Saturday 9:00 PM EST

Proposed Armenian Religion Law Passses First Reading

by Howard Friedman

Mar. 28, 2009 (Religion Clause delivered by Newstex) —
Forum 18reported earlier this week on proposed amendments to Armenias
Religion Law and a proposed new Armenian Criminal Code provision
containing fairly broad restrictions on proselytizing. The proposed
laws passed their first reading in Parliament March 19, but further
action will be delayed while the laws are reviewed by the Council of
Europe’s Venice Commissionand the OSCE. The new Religion Law will
require 500 adult citizens as members to register a religious
community. (This is down from 1000 that appeared in the first draft of
the proposal, but is an increase over the 200 that is found in current
law.) The proposed law also recognizes "the exclusive mission of the
Armenian Apostolic Holy Church as the National Church in the spiritual
life of the Armenian people¦" This is similar to language in 2005
amendments to the countrys Constitution. Religions that "exercise or
try to exercise control over members’ personal life, awareness,
health, and ownership" are banned by another provision in the draft
law.