An occasionally notorious but very talented and successful Russian designer Artemy Lebedev announced a contest to create a special sign that would alert the believers of a potential offence to their feelings.
The announcement came after Lebedev published a blog post in his LiveJournal titled "F**k God", and the Orthodox believers threatened to take him to court for blasphemy.
The bill against the offence of religious feelings was linked by the Russian Government to Pussy Riot case. Arguably, it was the punk prayer that left such indelible impact in the hearts of believers that they decided to fight for protection of their feelings.
It should be noted that very seldom does anyone file a court suit against the offence. Normally such suits are initiated by public figures as defamation cases. The bill against the offenders of religious feelings, should it be adopted, will be the first law that protects a social group on very specific grounds. However, many more people, including foreigners, disabled, and sexual minorities, will not yet be protected by law in the same way as the religious groups.
Author: Julia Shuvalova