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The Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations(Russian: Закон О Свободе Совести и О Религиозных Объединениях, Zakon O Svobode Sovesti i O Religioznykh Ob"yedineniyakh), also known as the 1997 Law (Russian: Закон 1997 года, Zakon 1997 goda) is a Russian law passed and signed by President Boris Yeltsin on September 26, 1997 and was used to redefine the boundaries of religious associations within the Russian Federation.

The law redefined the state's previous relationship with the freedom of religion, as Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev had defined in on the law passed on October 25th, 1990, commonly known as the 1990 Law (Russian: «Закон 1990 года» or «О свободе вероисповеданий»). Before the fall of Communism, two significant laws were signed by Gorbachev significantly opening the practice of religion in Russia, which before had been under a strict policy of state atheism. A large supporter of the law, the Russian Orthodox Church, and more specifically Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow, believed that a new law was needed to preserve traditional Russian identity against what they considered the corruption of Orthodoxy and indoctrination of totalitarian cults.

The law created considerable controversy after its signing and has such been under great debate as to the effects of the law on non-Russian religious associations. Many scholars view the law as a breach on freedom of religion in Russia and point to it limitations on non-Russian heritage religious associations.

General Overview
The law both redeclared the state's commitment of separation of church and state and redefined which religious associations could participate in religious activities. It did this by categorizing religious traditions in three categories: religious associations, religious organizations, and religious groups. In creating these categories through the process of state registration, the law articulated which religious traditions would receive legal protection and privileges and which would not receive such benefits. The process of registration required a minimum fifteen year registration moratorium on all newly registered associations which included the loss of religious activity, such as public worship, the owning of property, and the distribution of religious materials. It also restricted the usage of the terms, “Russian", "Russia", and its derivatives to associations of no fewer than fifty years at the time of its application. The Preamble of the law declared a number of contradictory clauses, which created confusion and controversy over the true meaning of the law. The questioned phrases included "assuming that the Russian federation is a secular state; recognizing the special role of Orthodoxy in the history of Russia and in the establishment and development of its spirituality and culture; respecting Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and other religions, constituting an integral part of the historical heritage of the peoples of Russia..." The preamble sets up the definition of the rest of the law, by establishing a hierarchical system of categorization that privileges the Russian Orthodox Church and indigenous Russian religious organizations.

Background and Historical Development
To fully understand the reasons leading up to the passing of the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Association, it is important to keep in mind the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the numerous crises of Post-Soviet Russia. The laws signed by Gorbachev granted the most liberal policies of freedom of religion that Russia had ever seen. Such flexibility allowed a number of foreign religious missionary associations to enter and begin proselytization, encroaching on indigenous Russian Orthodox Church space and believers. In 1993, a series of local laws were imposed, with heavy influence of the Orthodox church, to monitor and restrict religious speech and materials of non-Russian religious organizations. In fact, "more than one third of Russia's 89 provincial governments enacted or considered laws or executive orders shrinking the rights of foreign religious organizations and religious minorities".

Organization
The 1997 Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organization Law contains a Preamble and twenty-seven articles that are divided into four chapters: i) General Provisions (arts. 1-5); (ii) Religious Associations (arts. 6-14); (iii) Rights and Conditions for the Activity of Religious Organizations (arts. 15-24); (iv) Supervision and Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law (arts. 25-27).

Definitions
Written in the law was the upholding of separation of church and state, as well as that there shall be no state religion. With that in mind, the following definitions and regulations are given:

Religious Associations
whole denominations

Religious Organizations
at the level of individual church congregations

Religious Groups
Religious Groups are defined as groups without legal status, such as a bible study group.

Regulations

 * Organizations may only be founded by Russian citizens
 * this ostensibly provided for national security.


 * All associations must have a religious purpose, including:
 * a creed,
 * regular worship services,
 * the conducting of religious education.
 * aimed at para-church organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ and the Salvation Army.


 * No organization may function until they have been registered with the government for 15 years, unless it affiliates with an existing association. During the wait, the following is forbidden:
 * public worship services,
 * distribution of literature and materials,
 * the hiring of foreign clergy.
 * this discouraged independent-style and evangelical churches such as Baptists.


 * A religious group may be liquidated by the government for any of the following reasons:
 * creating an armed militia unit,
 * threatening the integrity of the Russian Federation,
 * infringing on the health of its citizens,
 * restricting its members from leaving the religion,
 * encouraging its members to disobey civic duties.

Effects
Religion under the new law became nearly as regulated as it had been in Soviet times, though without the official communist hostility. It did accomplish some expulsion of Western religious work, though it left room for some foreign churches to legitimately register. There had been on the order of 16,000 registered organizations before the passage of the law, and by 2004 there were 22,000. By regulating on grounds common among new, foreign organizations, it made it difficult for them to take root, and it succeeded in promoting and securing a privileged place for the Russian Orthodox Church.