ARTICLE: "At Expense of All Others, Putin Picks a Church," by Clifford J. Levy, New York Times, 24 April 2008, p. A1.
The siloviki ("power guys") know only one thing: how to crush opposition. Getting power, they don't know much about wielding it, but getting it is all they're about, along with turning Russia into a business masquerading as a government.
Company town needs a company church.
Stupid and pointless effort to homogenize religion.
Putin really isn't smart, just paranoid. He wields power very unimpressively, dominating things he has now requirement to control.
As one Russian reader commenting on the story put it best, this is mostly about the Russian Orthodox Church, a weak-ass institution if ever there was one, seeking religious protectionism: "The Russian Orthodox Church chose a simple and efficient method of building up its might—instead of going to the people, it went to the authorities."
Religious protectionism gets you an uncompetitive, non-service-friendly religion. Over time, that becomes a drag on all sorts of needed social upgrades and improvements in efficiency.
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Comments (4)
This is par for the course. The Russian Orthodox Church has always been "the religion department of the Russian state". The Russians inherited this from Byzantium, where the Caesaro-papist model prevailed: The Emperor is the head of both church and state. This Byzantine-derived approach is a key reason the areas under the Eastern church never developed political freedom. In the West, the Papacy provided an alternative source of authority and power, allowing the separation of church and state, and placing a limit on the authority of the state, which had only temporal power, not divine power.
Russia is sinking back into the well-worn grooves of a thousand year history.
Posted by Lexington Green | May 13, 2008 9:51 AM
Since the Russian Orthodox Church has long been held to be under KGB control, Putin's "choice" is not hard to understand. The game of "freedom" in Russia is rigged.
Or as Pete Townsend had it, "Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss."
Posted by kev fors | May 13, 2008 9:54 AM
Shades of "There Will Be Blood."
Posted by stuart abrams | May 13, 2008 11:51 AM
So, Russian Czars got their models for supporting and exploiting a state sponsored church from the emperors of the Eastern Roman empire at Constantinople? It was downplayed but still in background during Communist era. But it is a significant factor in Russian culture.
Read about some Russian experiences in suffering through WW II.
Why did so many top Russian leaders from an anti-religious communist career background admit to having Christians in the family?
At this time, Russia needs factors that can draw her varied social sectors together.
So, it some ways, Putin's action demonstrates an aspect of imperfect, but useful representative government.
Just keep out those nasty trouble making Islamic and American Baptist guys!!!!!
Posted by Louis Heberlein | May 14, 2008 1:21 PM