@demitasse
I am 🇷🇺 and I think ROC has nothing to do with Christianity, some of the "priests" have never held Bible in their hands. And it has nothing to do with religion, its a state-run org. Its influence grew together as the state transformed into authoritarian regime.
To be fair, it was like that since the tsars, when priests were to report on people if they say something wrong during confession. Converting to another religion was persecuted by law at the time.
@DotardTed @threalist
@demitasse
After desolution of Rus. Empire and decades of Soviet crackdown on it, it was revived by Stalin to incite patriotism during WW2 — and this is what we still have today.
And yes, Russians are free to practice any religion they want if that is the officially approved flavour of that religion, take a look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Jehovah's_Witnesses#Russia
Their legal status is extreme organization.I'm sure there are cases like that against Islam-based groups,just not that well-known
@DotardTed @threalist
@demitasse
To be fair some of those who are into Russian Orthodox Church are good Christians — both the priests and the parishioners, but it's far from being mainstream.
My aunt turned overly religious in the recent years, being atheist all her life. And I seriously doubt that she had an epiphany all of a sudden and found Christ, most likely it's the same kind of brainwashing as with state-run TV propaganda.
@DotardTed @threalist