Three pieces of legislation currently being considered by the Russian parliament pose “definite challenges to religious freedom in Russia,” said John Graz of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s religious liberty department during an interview with Radio Free Europe.

“One bill concerns the identification of ‘traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ religions in Russia which legalizes discrimination between religious groups,” explained Graz in the April 9 interview. “We believe that the government should not deal with such an issue that may lead the state to discriminate between faith communities.” The Adventist Church has always believed that all religions should be equal before the law, he said.

“The other two bills deal with religious extremists,” Graz continued. “We are opposed to the drafts on religious extremists. Our position is that you do not need to identify ‘religious’ extremists, but to deal with all extremists in the same way.”

Asked about relations between the Adventist Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, Graz said that in general good relations were cultivated, but that the Adventist Church regretted the intolerance of some local priests outside Moscow.

The Adventist Church’s Euro-Asia Division includes Russia, the Ukraine and other former republics of the Soviet Union and has a membership of 140,000 meeting in 1,750 churches.