Legislative activity of deputies from liberal political parties on religious issues in the State Duma of the Russian empire (1906-1917)

The problems of the relationship of the Orthodox Church and other religious organizations with the state, as well as the determination of their place and role in the political system of the empire, were among the most urgent in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The purpose of the article is to review the legislative activities of representatives of the Constitutional Democratic Party, the “Union of October 17”, and other liberal organizations in the State Duma of the Russian Empire, which aims to transform the relations between the state and church organizations. When writing the article, the author used problem-chronological, historical-retrospective and historical-comparative research methods. The topic of the article is currently relevant due to insufficient study of the legislative activities of the deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Empire from liberal parties on issues related to state-confessional relations in domestic and foreign historiography. In the article, the author comes to the conclusion that the greatest interest among the liberal deputies was caused by the problems of freedom of religion, the role and place of other religious organizations in the social and political life of the state, while issues related to structural reforms in the system of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and state and public institutions were practically not considered within the framework of the work of the legislative bodies of the Russian Empire until February 1917.