Tag Archives: Russian Orthodox Church

Nones and the Rest

 

Recent polls cite the growing “nones” in American society, those who profess to have no religious preference. Judging by the declining numbers in established churches in much of Europe, religion appears less and less important in all Western countries. At the same time, recent revolutions in the Middle East have led to religiously affiliated governments. In some sense, the “nones’ of the West are balanced against the “rest” in a new array.

The current movie Argo pinpoints a beginning to this sea change. The movie is set in 1979 during the Iranian revolution. The revolution removed power from Iran’s secular leaders, including the Shah, and bestowed it on religious ones. The United States had supported the Shah and allowed him into the United States for medical treatment. In protest, Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy and took hostages.

Few at that time took seriously the notion of a revolution propelled by religion. Gary Sick, in his detailed book about that time, All Fall Down, includes a section on “Religion and Revolution.” He states: “We are all prisoners of our own cultural assumptions, more than we care to admit . . . the notion of a theocratic state seemed so unlikely as to be absurd.”

Since that time, religious movements have expanded in Africa and South America. They have increased in Asia, even in Communist China. In Russia, straddling the divide between Europe and Asia, the Orthodox Church realizes growing influence . The fiery conflicts in the Middle East, so prevalent in news reports, are part of this worldwide rethinking of secular and religious.

We are not seeing a clash so often between religions in the world today (though that certainly happens) as much as we are seeing a clash between the religious and the not religious, the rest and the nones.

Political Power And Forgiveness

 

You can’t help but feel sorry for the three Russian young women, displayed in the glass box for all the world to gloat at their humiliation. They stare out as though struggling to project a cool image amid their nervousness, the way young people do when called to account by their elders.

Their predicament is more serious than humiliation. A Russian court sentenced the women to two years in jail for singing a ribald song in a cathedral against Russian President Vladimir Putin. It went something like “Virgin Mary, Save Us From Putin.” It was disrespectful but mild considering that the recent election of Putin suggested grave improprieties and even fraud.

After protests developed over the election, Putin signed a new law that raised fines for participation in unauthorized protests to near the average annual salary in Russia. [link] Protesters and opposition bloggers have not only been fined but imprisoned.

The religious leaders of the Russian Orthodox church appeared outraged at the women’s actions and called their performance in the church part of an assault “by enemy forces.”  Finally, after accusing the young women and their supporters of sacrilegious acts, they called on the court to show mercy.

The young women said they did not mean to offend believers but were protesting the close ties between Putin and the Russian Orthodox church. Patriarch Kirill, head of the church, strongly supports Putin. [link]

Harsh punishment of the women is not likely to endear the church to the protesters, especially the younger ones. Wouldn’t community service have been a more appropriate punishment?

When Religion Is A Pawn

 

When the former Soviet Union was ruled by an atheistic communist regime, Christians in the West worried about the fate of Russian believers. The government shunned and sometimes persecuted them. After the fall of Soviet communism, Christians hoped the new Russian government would embrace religious freedom.

The situation has improved for Christians of the Orthodox persuasion. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin stands accused of using the Russian Orthodox church as a means of bolstering his less than democratic regime. Some Russians are concerned by the power the church appears to be gaining in Putin’s government. Reports suggest that the church’s influence may be one reason for Russia’s support of the bloody Assad regime in Syria.

Syria is Russia’s remaining ally in the Middle East and hosts a Russian naval base. The church, rightly, is concerned about the fate of their fellow Orthodox believers in Syria should the Assad regime fall and be replaced by a possibly Islamist government. However, to suggest that Assad should be allowed to slaughter innocent civilians so that Christians might—possibly—be better protected, seems contrary to Jesus’ teachings, to say the least.

Religious freedom must be at the forefront of any Christian agenda, for Christian believers as well as for adherents of other persuasions. We cannot equate religious freedom, however, with a tyranny that uses Christians to support a brutal regime. Christians must reject any power play which employs them as political pawns. Jesus lived his life in direct opposition to political gamesmanship, even to his willing death on a Roman cross.