No, i am suggesting that influence of the US, (i did not mention racism) is one of the reasons. Please don't put your words in my mouth
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A Russian Jehovah’s Witness Vows to Keep Worshipping Despite Crackdown
- Thread starter danieldemol
- Start date
No, i am suggesting that influence of the US, (i did not mention racism) is one of the reasons. Please don't put your words in my mouth
My apologies. Why would influence from the US be a problem (or would it be a problem) in a non-violent setting?
Why should foreign influence or assumed foreign influence not be a problem to a dictator?
I'm not a dictator, and I would suggest that dictatorship is unjust, therefore this is an unjust reason to raid Jehovah's Witnesses.
Also even to a dictator surely foreign influence falls into the categories of benign, neutral or malignant depending on nuance provided they are not completely bereft of ability to reason?
We are talking about Russia, i see putin as a dictator. The guy is paranoid about foreign influence, to the extent he sends agents out to kill his detractors, several times in the uk.
Add that Russia had a serious bad time with religion both during and after the revolution.
I guess some of that history has some influence.
Yes it's unjust, just as injecting someone with radioactive poison is unjust. Putin does not give a ruble for justice.
If I had to speculate. Russia is hostile to the U.S. and the Jehovah's Witnesses are an outgrowth of a specifically American brand of Protestantism. Secondly, the Jehovah's Witnesses are perceived (even in the West) as particularly obnoxious. From the point of the view of the Russian Orthodox Church, allowing a heretical American sect free rein to preach their heterodoxy in Orthodox land would be an odious proposition.
I'm not saying Russia is right to oppress them but I can kind of understand why an authoritarian state would perceive them as a nuisance.
Extremists sometimes call for someone's death.
Laws blocking extremists sometimes call for death to extremists.
Ultimately, we have to find a way to fight evil without becoming evil. I believe that the Buddhists also believe this.
While Russia is easing off of religion, there is still an economic disparity. Christians for Jews (an organization to help starving Jews, like the Nazi holocaust survivors living in Russia) has to accept donations for starving 90 year old Jews. I thought that Russia (a Communist nation) was supposed to believe that everyone deserves government aid equally. Why, then, are their rich Russians living in the lap of luxury while segments of their population are staving?
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
The Russian orthodox church was around at the height of communism in the USSR. It was essentially a state run church.