Today Internet “is the only means of communication in which journalists can speak of issues regarding religious freedom”, said Alexander Soldatov, director of the Internet project “Portal-Credo.ru”. He was speaking at the international conference on “Russia beyond myths and stereotypes: moral values, media and religion”, recently held in Moscow by the UCIP, the International Catholic Press Union, in collaboration with the archdiocese of the Russian capital. “The key problem – he added – is that of funding”. According to Soldatov, few Internet portals are not funded by the government or by religious organizations and hence really independent. Describing the project “Portal-Credo.ru”, he underlined the importance of expressing at least two points of view on the questions treated and keeping facts rigorously separated from opinions. Freedom of expression was also spoken of by Aleksey Simonov, president of the Glasnost Defence Foundation. Natalia Borovskaya, professor of fine arts, speaking of whether it is possible to give the education of the young generations a Christian stamp, declared she “considered it her own task to turn education into a space for Christ”, explaining to her students that “the fine arts are a discipline inseparably linked to Christian art”. So, according to Borovskaya, without knowledge of the Bible and of Christian values, it is impossible to achieve a proper education.
