Former communist Russia now upholds freedom of religion on paper, but practices a different policy in real life.
Reports indicate that religious freedom is being squashed under President Vladimir V. Putin, whose government has in a sense tacitly endorsed the Russian Orthodox Church as the official state religion. Putin frequently appears with the Orthodox head, Patriarch Aleksei II, on television.
Other Christian denominations, however, are suppressed – proselytizing by Protestants is all but banned and harassment of Protestant worshippers is meant to discourage adherents, according to the New York Times.
Protestant groups are linked to the United States and the West, groups that both Putin and Aleksei often denounce in their effort to restore Russia’s power that was lost after the dissolve of the Soviet Union.
In Moscow, the city’s chief Russian Orthodox priest gave a sermon last month on local television with the theme of Protestant heretics.
“We deplore those who are led astray — those Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baptists, evangelicals, Pentecostals and many others who cut Christ’s robes like bandits, who are like the soldiers who crucified Christ, who ripped apart Christ’s holy coat,” declared the priest, the Rev. Aleksei D. Zorin, according to the New York Times.
Protestant churches are required by law to register with the government if they do anything ore than pray in an apartment. But even when the churches register, the government usually finds fault with their paperwork and reject their application to be a legal body of worshippers
“They have made us into lepers to scare people away,” said the Rev. Vladimir Pakhomov, minister of a Methodist Church in Russia. “There is this climate that you can feel with your every cell: ‘It’s not ours, it’s American, it’s alien; since it’s alien we cannot expect anything good from it.’ It’s ignorance, all around.”
In some areas, officials accuse the American military intelligence of using Protestant “sects” to gain access to Russia.
Russian officials usually refer to Protestant churches using the term “sect.”
While church attendance remains low, Russians are embracing Russian Orthodoxy as part of their identity. A recent poll showed 71 percent of respondents consider themselves Russian Orthodox, up from 59 percent in 2003.
There are about 2 million Protestants out of Russia’s 142 million population.
The Russian Orthodox Church also has a tense relationship with the Vatican, accusing Catholics of trying to convert Russians.
Russia’s population is composed of about 15 to 20 percent Russian Orthodox, 10 to 15 percent Muslim, and only about two percent other Christians, according to the CIA World Factbook. A large population of Russia is non-practicing believers or non-believers, a result of the atheistic decades under Soviet rule.
A major study by the German think tank Bertelsmann Foundation found that Russia is the least religious country in Europe, with only 50 percent saying they are religious and only seven percent, highly religious.
Comments
The Church (meaning the body of Christ, not the organization) has always gone astray when it becomes enmeshed with governance of a country. This is why the US founding fathers declared that congress should make no law establishing a religion because they saw the effect of this in Europe. (unfortunately, the courts have run amok with that concept to the point of trying to stiffle religion within the public square, but that is another story).
Let us pray for our Russian brothers and sisters for Christ to be Glorified through them!
It seems to me that Christian Post is taking more and more a favorable position towards Catholicism, and at the same time more and more a negative view (though not much of a view) towards the Orthodox. Why I cannot understand, the Orthodox are basically the Catholic Church, minus Papal Supremacy/Infallibilty, Immaculate conception, indulgences, and celibate Priests.
It seems odd to me that so many Protestants are embracing Catholicism as buddies, while completely overlooking or rejecting Orthodox, who they have much more in common.
Just a thought.
Christianity, after all, is a worldwide religion, so why tie it to "Russian, Southern, the Vatican, the Pope, the Orthodox, the Protestants... etc"?
FullGospel,
You are going to need to revise that statement, Billy Graham was a great guy, but I don't know how much he realized the implications of what he said. Here is the issue, the faith is based upon a) the Bible (and the Bible only), b) the Pope and the Bible, c) the Orthodox Church and the Bible, d) pick your cult.
If you say, "why should we tie Christianity to Russia?" it is just as well to say, "why should Christianity be tied to the Vatican?"
“We deplore those who are led astray..."
Hmmm...if you fell into one of those categories, would you feel welcomed or judged? In my discussions with JWs, there's always an inherent "flamethrower" element underneath, accusing and condemning, this same way.
Perhaps one of the reasons Billy Graham did so much good for the Kingdom is that he welcomed, he encouraged, he lifted up, he talked of forgiveness for the times that we unknowingly went astray and how Jesus paid the price, just so we could come home again.
Christianity, after all, is a worldwide religion, so why tie it to "Russian, Southern...", etc.?
Jesusis1, atheists don't denounce the name of Mr. Christ. They just laugh at the gullible people who believe he had any value.
You should know there's at least 30 million atheists in America, a number that's rapidly growing. Also, I noticed a majority of Americans could care less about religious ideas.
Also interesting is the fact that most scientists agree God is a childish myth. The more a person understands science, the less likely he's going to believe in ancient religious myths.
By the way I'm completely in favor of freedom of religion in America. I think religions are goofy but I respect the First Amendment which gives people the right to believe any nonsense they want. I also respect the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (and the 14th Amendment which the Supreme Court has used to apply the Establishment Clause to the states and pubic schools).
As long as Christians keep their strange religious ideas out of our schools and out of our governments, I don't have any problem with them. But when they think they can get away with ignoring the Establishment Clause, they need to get out of my country. Christians will never be allowed to make America a theocracy.
@Jesusis1
What does this have to do with atheists at all? The religion they endorse is a form of Christianity?
And don't worry, we feel right at home here in the U.S. We won't be going anywhere anytime soon.