TDS. Know it, breathe it, learn it. love it live it.
Well think it through - what would be the best way for Vlad to control Trump even more? First thing to is to ban SSM and add references to God in the Russian constitution? Should go without saying.
This has allowed me to
make an interesting discovery. Putin is using religion to increase support for his rule in the same way that Trump is doing here.
In neither case is their belief real. It's being used to control their people. I didn't realize that. But in Russia the people are starting to catch on.
Why Orthodox Christians are losing faith in Putin
Why Orthodox Christians are losing faith in Putin
MOSCOW — As Vladimir Putin prepared to return to the Kremlin for a third term of office in 2012, Patriarch Kirill, the powerful head of the Russian Orthodox Church, described the
ex-KGB officer’s rule as a “miracle of God.”
The patriarch’s comments, made during a pre-election televised meeting with Putin, were a stark illustration, critics said at the time, of the erosion of the separation of church and state, as stipulated by Russia’s much-abused post-Soviet constitution. Over the following years, Putin, who professes a deep Orthodox belief, would shift to ultra-conservatism, positioning himself as a defender of traditional Christian values.
Flash forward to 2019, and while the institution of the Russian Orthodox Church remains broadly loyal to the country’s secular authorities, the Kremlin’s relations with some grassroots believers — once viewed as a bedrock of support for Putin — are increasingly tense.
Not only did Orthodox Christians make up a significant number of the scores of protesters who took to the streets in pro-democracy protests across Russia this year; many of them openly cited their faith as grounds for taking action.
“I joined the protests this summer due to my religious beliefs,” said Elena Morgunova, a 27-year-old financial services worker in Moscow. “Jesus Christ said, ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ and he died on the cross for us. You just cannot be indifferent when you see people suffering, when you see unfair court judgments.”
Their willingness to join the pro-democracy rallies has put religious Russians in the cross-hairs of the wider crackdown on opposition figures. It has also prompted an unprecedented response from individual religious leaders themselves, who are increasingly putting their heads above the parapet to defend the values they associate with their beliefs and which they see as being violated by the Russian authorities.
“Any person can come to faith,” said Minyaylo. “But we identify a tree by its fruits. And the fruits of any actions by Putin and his inner circle make one thing clear — they are not disciples of Christ. They are either deceiving themselves, or others.”
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In America there are also Christian groups which disagree with the "Evangelical Christianity" of Trump. Sojourners is one good example as well as American Baptists and mainline churches. Of course there are individuals in institutions on either side who disagree with church leadership.
