MOSCOW, November 17 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian communist legislator on Tuesday suggested removing the word "God" from the national anthem in order to unite the multiethnic country.

KPRF representative Boris Kashin introduced an amendment to the Law on the National Anthem of the Russian Federation to the State Duma with the proposal of changing the line "By God saved as ever our dear native land" to "By Us saved as ever our dear native land."

According to Kashin, the national anthem in its present form disunites the multiethnic Russian society consisting not only of Christians, but also Muslims, Buddhists, and Judaists, which are recognized religions in the country. He noted there are also thousands of atheists and believers of other religions throughout Russia.

A Moscow archpriest, Father Georgy Roshchin, has argued the proposed amendment, saying: "It is unnecessary to attempt to unite the society using doubtful principles of being absolutely non-religious."

Father Georgy said that the national anthem has an historic significance with the founding of Russia as a statehood after accepting Christianity in the tenth century. He said the idea of removing a reference to God would sooner disunite Russia rather than unite it.

The present Russian anthem was revised after the fall of the Soviet Union by changing the words to rid it of phrases referring to Vladimir Lenin and other communist ideological phrases.