I have been very neglectful lately but I have just been entering a lazy phase in my life so please forgive. Unfortunately this lazy phase comes right at the beginning of finals—every college student’s gorgon, if you will. Indeed, finals are the Mr. Potter of our Wonderful Lives. Every college student has a similar reaction to the notion of finals and it goes something like this:
“Uaaaaarrrruuuuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggggggghhhhh.”
Clearly not enthusiastic. Also, the recipe for a truly college-like finals season includes procrastinating, complaining and pretending to study while spending countless hours doing absolutely useless things on facebook. (Which is every student’s Achilles heel, while we’re on the mythology.)
But I honestly did not intend this post to be a rant about finals. Its just almost second nature to revert to that. What I really wanted to discuss in this post is the culture of Russia.
Russia is a country very near to my heart and a country that is quickly slipping away from the ideals and goals of a free and democratic society. I read recently in the newspaper about Putin having a Methodist church shut down for not having the appropriate educational license for its Sunday school—which, by the way, contained about four children.
Apparently this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Russia cracking down on religious institutions. It seems that Putin has picked the Russian Orthodox Church as the semi-official religion of the country and is taking steps to get rid of the other options. This is clearly a devastating turn of events for the country of Russia as a whole.
Already the future for Russia was looking bleak. I talked to a Russian friend in the summer last year and he described how once he had hoped his sons could grow up in Russia and become leaders in their community there. He had hoped that they could be part of the change Russia was experiencing. Now, he said, he just hopes they can get out. He hopes they can move to America.
The people there have no hope, he said. And it shows. Fewer and fewer people are even involved in the elections or politics—some would say this is a backlash from the turbulence of the 90s. Although the economy is more stable then in the past few years the people are rapidly losing their freedoms and the voice of the individual is quickly losing all power. The Kremlin is working to censor all television broadcasting and it is becoming increasingly difficult for independents to run for office. Russia’s population is dropping rapidly and the average age of death is the youngest of any European country (58 for men).
What went wrong? I’m not sure that’s a question I am qualified to answer. However, I do know that, to me at least, loss of religious freedom is one of the greatest indicators of disaster looming for a country.
Religion is perhaps the most volatile and influential institution known to man. I would even go so far as to say that it, more then government, will determine the direction a country will take. Part of what makes religion so dangerous is that it simply refuses to be controlled. Because of the very nature of religion and the fact that it is based on belief in a higher being it will not follow the course that men set so neatly before it. The Catholic Church has tried time and again to use religion to control the masses—and it has worked for a time. However, eventually there always comes a throwing off of the mantle. Look at China’s attempted control of Christianity.
By taking steps to control religion Russia has crossed a very fine line which will lead to further distress in the lives of the Russian people. The right to freedom of worship is one of the basic rights of mankind and one that it is not one to be bound. Man, above all else, will choose his God.