The concept and place of freedom of conscience and freedom of religion in the system of constitutional human and civil rights and freedoms in modern Russia

the purpose of the research in this article is to determine the conceptual foundations and the place of freedom of conscience and freedom of religion in the system of constitutional rights and freedoms in the Russian Federation. The tasks include a comprehensive analysis of constitutional norms and current legislation, identifying their contradictions and gaps. Based on the study of statistical data, law enforcement practice and the results of a sociological survey, the author comes to the conclusion that there is an ambiguous perception of the current legal regulation in this area in society. The main focus of the article is on criticism of the duplication and meaningful overlap of the concepts of "freedom of conscience" and "freedom of religion" in legislation. It is proved that the historically atheistic sound of the term "freedom of conscience" does not fully reflect the multi-confessional nature of Russian society. As a solution, it is proposed to exclude the concept of "freedom of conscience" from the text of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, leaving and revealing the term "freedom of religion", as well as to supplement article 28 with a part specifying permissible restrictions on this freedom. The practical significance of the work lies in the development of specific proposals for improving constitutional legislation aimed at strengthening the moral content of the relevant norms and their greater compliance with the historical and cultural characteristics of Russia.

freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, constitutional rights, secular state, legal regulation, religious associations