Inna Zagrebina From Ignorance to Alleged Extremism: the Problems of Religious Expertise in Russia Inna Zagrebina - Lawyer; Chairman of Board, Guild of Experts on Religion and Law; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal "Juridical Studies in Religion", innasclj@yandex.ru The problem of religious expertise in the questions concerning the supposed extremism of some materials is very topical in today's Russia. Despite the fact that this type of expertise is gaining more and more importance, religious expertise is still lacking theoretical foundations and till nowadays remains beyond the scope of scientific research. Still unexplored are the questions of conditions and special methods of such expertise, the subject of expertise, the status of expert during expertise, the limits of application of special knowledge and so on. Keywords: extremism, religious discrimination, freedom of conscience and freedom of belief, religious expertise, expert, findings of religious expertise. The TERRITORY of the Russian Federation has historically been home to many peoples with their own traditions and beliefs, and, as a result, the religious factor has always had a noticeable impact on social processes. The existence of numerous religious associations requires legal support for their functioning and coordination of interests in order to prevent illegal actions. As elsewhere in the world, Russia faces an acute dilemma about the relationship between freedom of religion and its legal restrictions., page 159what actions related to religious expression should be considered "illegal" or"extremist"? In such terms, the Institute of religious studies expertise is one of the necessary means of regulating relations between the state and religious organizations in Russia; conducting such religious studies examinations for the recognition of materials as extremist is a central problem. We will address this problem after considering a few concrete examples. A few examples from Russian judicial practice Examp ... Read more