Paul Goble
Staunton,
June 15 – “Russia is returning to the times of the repressive policy of state
atheism,” Aleksandr Soldatov argues, but now the Putin regime is defending not
official atheism as the Soviets did for 60 years but rather official Orthodoxy as
defined by the Moscow Patriarchate.
The
Moscow commentator draws that conclusion on the basis of Moscow’s attacks in
recent weeks on various independent Orthodox groups including the Russian
Orthodox Autonomous Church who are officially registered but differ from the Moscow
Patriarchate on many issues (novayagazeta.ru/articles/2018/06/14/76801-pod-katkom-protoierey).
Soldatov details
what Russian siloviki have done against this group; but his article is
important because of his larger point: Putin is not simply being repressive against
various religions such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims but he is
following the very same pattern the Soviets did, choosing one, penetrating it
with security officers, and oppressing everyone else.
Most commentaries on the state of
religious life in Russia under Putin have acknowledged that various groups are
in trouble, but they have tended to treat each of them in isolation, looking
for particular reasons why Putin is taking the repressive actions he has been
taking.
Soldatov’s article is a reminder
that Putin is not opposing this or that religion for specific reasons, although
he may make tactical choices, but rather seeking to repress all groups that are
not totally loyal to him, that is, the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate, in just the same way the Soviets did with official atheism.
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