christians under attack.

studiorat

From Al Jazeera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1sZXXdoXAg&feature=channel

Dunno if some maybe knew about it, I guess some may be interested.

kelly1

Interesting. I didn't realize that the Russian Orthodox Church had state backing. I thought it would be more like tolerance that support. I suppose it's just another form of control.

robindch

Not enough bandwidth here to watch this...

kelly1 wrote: »

I didn't realize that the Russian Orthodox Church had state backing.

Most of the orthodox churches retain political interests in the running of the principal countries in which they operate, with, I believe, the Greek Orthodox church having a greater share of its own local action, than any other national orthodox church has of its. I believe it's a relic of christianity's assumption of political control of the Roman Empire, though to a formerly greater, and now generally lesser extent, pretty much all religions have stakes in the running of their host countries. Most of them wouldn't or couldn't exist if they hadn't.

kelly1 wrote: »

I thought it would be more like tolerance that support. I suppose it's just another form of control.

Do you mean state control of the religion, or religious control of the state?

kelly1

robindch wrote: »

Not enough bandwidth here to watch this...Most of the orthodox churches retain political interests in the running of the principal countries in which they operate, with, I believe, the Greek Orthodox church having a greater share of its own local action, than any other national orthodox church has of its. I believe it's a relic of christianity's assumption of political control of the Roman Empire, though to a formerly greater, and now generally lesser extent, pretty much all religions have stakes in the running of their host countries. Most of them wouldn't or couldn't exist if they hadn't.Do you mean state control of the religion, or religious control of the state?

I mean state control of religion, just like China.

studiorat

China's a communist country, Russia's a federal Republic. There's actually 4 political parties in Russia. It's really not the same thing.

Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism are Russia’s traditional religions, deemed part of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997.

It would seem there's just under 1.5 million 'protestant' Christians divided into nearly 4,500 organizations, Pentecostals having the largest number. There's nearly 13,000 Orthodox organisations but they have a much greater membership. It would seem 95% of the population are Orthodox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Russia#Christianity

Out of a population of 145,000,000, with about 14% Muslim it would seem that the 'protestant' groups are in a serious minority. I still haven't figured out exactly who seems to be under attack though.

PDN

The problem is when one organisation sets itself up as being the only path to truth. That seems to inevitably produce a lack or respect for others.

If this 'one true church' is too small to wield political power then they withdraw into themselves as an exclusive cult. If they are big enough to influence governments then they tend to persecute others.