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Phil1111

Religion Politics and War

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President Putin has used the Russian Orthodox Church as an arm of the state. As a part of his own political agenda. Just as the GOP uses religion in the US. Just as trump uses evangelicals and they use him. Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church has endorsed the war and as near as can be ascertained one, or only a few ministers have spoken out against it. Russian Orthodox priest arrested for anti-war stance

But for Patriarch Kirill, its fire the cannons and god bless the Russian solider. Look the other way at their war crimes. Just as evangelicals blessed trumps actions.

"The relationship between the president and the prelate escalated rapidly. Kirill, allegedly a former KGB staffer like Putin, hailed the Russian Federation president’s leadership as a “miracle of God.” Meanwhile, Putin worked to frame Russia as a defender of conservative Christian values, which usually meant opposing abortion, feminism and LGBTQ rights. The pitch proved popular among a broad swath of conservative Christian leaders, including prominent voices within the American religious right: In February 2014, evangelist Franklin Graham offered cautious praise for Putin in an editorial for Decision Magazine, celebrating the Russian president’s decision to back a law barring dissemination of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” — a statute which, activists argued, effectively banned children from accessing media that presents LGBTQ identities and relationships in a positive or normalizing light. Graham would travel to Russia the following year, where he met with both Kirill and Putin, and told local media that “millions of Americans would like (Putin) to come and run for president of the United States.”

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8 hours ago, Phil1111 said:

“millions of Americans would like (Putin) to come and run for president of the United States.”

Probably not incorrect. The millions that loudly and vocally label themselves as "Patriots" and are anything but.

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4 hours ago, Stumpy said:

Probably not incorrect. The millions that loudly and vocally label themselves as "Patriots" and are anything but.

It constantly amazes me how those who shout the loudest about getting the government out of their lives are also the most likely to fawn over autocratic proto-dictators like Viktor Orban, Rodrigo Duterte or Vladimir Putin when they use their power to stamp down on people the ‘freedom lovers’ don’t like.

Not only is it incredibly hypocritical, they just don’t seem to realise how quick that worm can turn. I guess the old saying “those who would sacrifice liberty to own the libs will get what they deserve” has never been truer.

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6 minutes ago, jakee said:

It constantly amazes me how those who shout the loudest about getting the government out of their lives. . . .

. . . are those who most enthusiastically use the power of government to deny women autonomy over their own bodies.

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Mr. Poutine is just using the Russian Orthodox Church to support his bloody regime. The Russian Orthodox Church are little more than puppets in this respect. ROC rank right up there with Mr. Poutine's pet Night Wolves. Hah! Hah!

One thing the USA got right - from the start - was separation of church and state. They did it for two reasons: first, the Pope was too many thousands of miles away to make timely decisions about the 13 Colonies. Secondly, many American colonists were descended from refugees who had fled the numerous religious wars that had ravaged Europe: Spanish Reconquista, 30 Years War, English Civil War, suppression of Hugenots, suppression of Jews, Spanish Inquisition, Siege of Vienna, Great Northern War, etc. and the last thing they wanted was a return of that same foolishness.

Thankfully, the majority of Canadians have adopted American attitudes towards religious wars and belive in separation of church and state. I don't know if it is enshrined in the latest version of Rights and Freedoms, but the average Canadian citizen wants gov't to stay out of religion.

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Does anyone remember how Russia quickly dispensed with all those troublesome, Muslim "stans" (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrghistan, Tajikistan, etc. after the Iron Curtain collapsed? Russia tried to retain across to Chechnian oil, but they proved a bloody process.

Russia tried to retreat to the old Russian-speaking, Orthodox Christian, white-skinned core of Russia after the Iron Curtain fell.

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"As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unfolded, Patriarch Kirill I, the leader of the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church, had an awkward Zoom meeting with Pope Francis...Kirill spent 20 minutes reading prepared remarks, echoing the arguments of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia that the war in Ukraine was necessary to purge Nazis and oppose NATO expansion...

Kirill has called Mr. Putin’s long tenure “a miracle of God,” and has characterized the war as a just defense against liberal conspiracies to infiltrate Ukraine with “gay parades.”...European officials have included him on a list of individuals they plan to target in an upcoming — and still in flux — round of sanctions against Russia,"

Since 1994 he has operated a TV show with fundraising and his unique brand Putin endorsing religion. He has sought to expand his unique style of religion into a greater Russia. "reports of luxurious apartments owned by Kirill and his family surfaced in the Russian media. Other unconfirmed rumors of billions of dollars in secret bank accounts, Swiss chalets and yachts...A news website dug up a photograph from 2009 in which Kirill wore a Breguet Réveil du Tsar model watch, worth about $30,000, a marker of membership to the Russian elite."

A church profiteering off of politics and war. Corruption and Russia. Not much new here.

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4 hours ago, RonD1120 said:

This makes more sense if you have an understanding, or insight into, Jewish eschatology and Biblical prophecy.

Riiiiight. 
Sure it does.

The Russian Orthodox hierarchy hates LGBTQ as much, if not more than the US Evangelicals do.

So when Putin demonizes them, the RO priests all fall down and worship Putin.

Not unlike how the US Evangelicals worshipped Trump.

Both completely ignore the sinful behavior and outright evilness those two exhibit.
'Cuz both Putin and Trump hate and hurt the 'right people'.

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I suspect that Mr. Poutine and the Russian Orthodox Church fear LGBTQ+++++ because of Russia's shortage of young men of military age. Ever since Communists seize power circa 1920, Russia has suffered a series of slugs in birthrates. Any baby boy born in 1920 had only a 20 percent chance of surviving the end of World War 2, what with all the famines, Holodomor famine, Stalin's Purges and a few million citizens slaughtered by invading Nazi Germany.

Given the shortage of young men, Russia did not enjoy a "Baby Boom" after WW2 ... compared with the huge numbers of babies born in North America between 1946 and 1964. The communist gov't tried to encourage un-married young Russian woman to bear children, btu with limited success.

These two slumps in male population caused a series of cycles of low birth rates in the years following. There was another slump in birthrates during the confusion after the collapse of the USSR circa 1990.

Aging, alcoholism and abortion continue to limit Russian birth rates. Cheap alcohol causes brewer's droop, makes Russian men undependable fathers and kills them too young. Faced with non-existent or drunken husbands, too many Russian women opt for abortions, often the only form of pre-natal, post-natal care or birth control available through gov't sources after the collapse of socialized medicine.

One of the reasons that Mr. Poutine launched the current invasion of Ukraine is that he knew that waiting another 5 or 10 years would mean too few young soldiers. 

Another odd factor is that we never see female soldiers in Russian parades or combat footage?????? Was Russia so traumatized by WW2 casualties that they no longer want to send women soldiers into combat? At the end of WW2, the Red Army was almost 1/4 women soldiers. Granted, few female Russian soldiers fought in the front lines, but every modern army needs 3 times as many support staff: mechanics, cooks, signallers, truck drivers, supply clerks, medics, etc. as combat troops.

We wonder what the Russian Orthodox Church's atitudes are towards LGBTQ++++, female soldiers, etc.????

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