Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not
cause the philanthropist to overlook the
circumstances of economic injustice which
circumstances of economic injustice which
which make philanthropy necessary.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Every Russian citizen knows that our Constitution proclaims separation between a church and the government, but at the same time we've been noticing that it is not something that is been practicing for the past 10 years. On the one hand we do have a clause in the Constitution from 12/12/1993 stating that "The Russian Federation is the secular state. No religions can be set as state or obligatory." But at the same time we do know that we have that "state and obligatory" religion today and it is ORTHODOXY.
I was raised in a family with my mom being a Muslim and my dad being an Orthodox Christian, so I can consider myself very tolerant towards any denomination, but it is so not right when the government in the country you live in is indestructibly connected with religion and keep pushing it to people via all the media that no one can avoid.
Almost every day we see our President with Patriarch Of Moscow And Russia Alexey II on TV, but none of the politicians wants to be seen with a priest who represents some other denomination. They are scared to lose respect if people find out about their real believes, but it shouldn't be like that. Sometimes it seems that being Christian in our country is the same as being "normal".
It's a fact that 80% of Russian Citizens are Orthodox Christians, but what about other 20%, which is more than 30 million people who live in Tatarstan, Kalmikia, Ingushetia and many other places, even Moscow, for God sake! The Chechen Republic was the most vivid example of non-Christian republic that decided to fight for its own believes and didn't want to tolerate Russian regime that was constantly promoting Orthodox religion. If it happened once there is a good chance for a war to happen again, maybe not in Chechnya, in other republic, but what's the difference will it make, but it will definitely bring more deaths, tears and wounds. Why should we be like crusaders back in Medieval times?
For the past 15 years Russia has been trying to prove that we can have democracy, but at the same time we've been neglecting democratic values by going back to our monarchical roots and making "Orthodoxy, Autocracy and Nationality" our symbols, again.
Let me show you one of examples of the help that church had been receiving from the Government. In the beginning of 1990th, after reorganization (perestroika) the Government started supporting church a lot, and the church was accepting this help with gratitude, even though all this money came from alcohol and tobacco taxation. Doesn’t it mean, that the church receives benefits from a sin, doesn't it mean that the more people die from vodka or from lung cancer the more churches get money. It is impossible to kill by one hand and to give by another., at least it is what's The Bible tought us.
Along with the nonsense that is going on with the spreading of Orthodox Religion, there is a law from 1994 "About traditional and non-traditional religions", that has a "15 years RULE" in it stating that a religion could be officially recognized only when it had been registered for 15 years already. But 15 years ago we lived in USSR where all the religions were prohibited. It doesn't make any sense, does it? It is just a legal way to prove that if you practice anything besides Christianity, you are not right.
There is a radical national group, skinheads, who live by Nazi rules and fight for an idea of Clearness of Russian nation by all the methods, including violence, robberies, even murders, but for some reason our Government doesn't pursue them legally, and often justifies them. Doesn't it mean that that even nowadays people have to suffer for their believes even though we already live in "democratic" country.
There are many examples of forcing Orthodox Religion into peoples' mind.. One of them is a new core class in schools "The basis of Christianity" that every child has to take even if his parents are practicing something else, if he doesn't take the class he won't be able to go for another year. One more ridiculous example of it is that no Orthodox Church will ever allow a Catholic or anyone else to register their marriage in a church, even if one of the parties is Orthodox Christian.
All the churches preach tolerance and philanthropy but don't practice it themselves and it gives us a thought that churches lie to us, and why would you trust them in the future if you know that they don't tell you the truth. And if Government and Church are together it means that you won't be able to trust any of them...