Religious Oppression in European Russia

1
Religious Oppression in European Russia

• http//www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/icons/misc_in.html

by Matt Steinbron
2
Religions vs. Active Buildings

• Orthodox (5,000)
• Islam (3,000)
• Protestant (690)
• Old Believers (200)
• Roman Catholic (200)
• Judaism (50)

3
Religion Percentages

• Russian Orthodox 75
• Muslim 19
• Protestant, Old Believers, Catholic, Jews 6

4
Majority Religion Orthodox
http//www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/icons/misc_in.html
5
Orthodox Christianity
http//www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline-inde
x.html

• All Russian Orthodox Churches are united under
  the Patriarch of Moscow.
• Russian Orthodox is in accordance with the
  Eastern Orthodox Church
• The Metropolitan (ruling power) moved to Moscow
  from Kiev in 1325

6
Discrimination of Russian Orthodox

• 1915-1941 The Soviet Union made anti-religious
  campaigns with a push towards atheism.
• The Russian Orthodox Church was the main target
  because it had the most followers.

http//www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline-inde
x.html

• Most clergy were shot or sent to labor camps
  along with many believers.

7
Discrimination ofRussian Orthodox

• Over 50,000 Orthodox Churches were open before
  1915. Only 500 remained open by 1939.

http//www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline-inde
x.html
8
Orthodoxy Returns
http//www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline-inde
x.html

• Lifted religious restrictions in the 1950s and
  1960s allowed Russian Orthodox practice as long
  as the churches were under government control
• Russian Orthodoxy resumed its role as Russias
  dominant religion after the collapse of the
  Soviet Union in 1991.

9
Orthodoxy Returns
http//www.mospat.ru/e_startpage

• http//members.valley.net/transnat/russrel.html

http//www.mospat.ru/e_startpage
http//www.russianembassy.org/RUSSIA/religion.htm
http//www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline-inde
x.html
10
Largest Minority ReligionIslam

• Also discriminated by the Soviet Union until 1941
  when the Soviet Union entered WWII.
• Over 1 million Muslims in Moscow today (the
  majority of Muslims live in central and southern
  Russia).

http//www.muslim.ru/razde.cgi?id496rid0101rid
1496rid2
11
Muslim Ethnic Groups

• Between the Black and Caspian Seas
• Adyghs
• Balkars
• Bashkirs
• Chechens
• Cherkess
• Ingush
• Karachay
• Dagestani

• Volga Basin
• Tatars
• Udmurts
• Chuvash

12
Discrimination of Muslims

• Discrimination still exists on a subtle level.

http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1204271.st
m

• Example There is a Russian campaign by Mayor
  Yurie Luzhkov against unregistered market
  traders. Guess who the majority of these people
  areyupMuslim.

13
Control Over Muslims?

• Putin has promoted tolerance of minority
  Religions. That is of course with the exception
  of Chechen Muslim separatists.
• Putin also wants a single spiritual leader for
  all Muslims in Russia. The man he wants installed
  is one of his supporters. Hmm

http//www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-03/27
/article06.shtml

• http//www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2003-0
  4-27/193.asp

14
Where Did They All Come From?
http//www.anomalia.narod.ru/photo/120.htm

• No, not outer-space!

15
Most European Russian Muslims are located in the
Volga and Southern Ural regions.
16
The Kremlin in Kazan
http//www.kcn.ru/tat_en/kazan/kazkreml.html
17
Discrimination of Jews

• The beginning of the Soviet Union actually
  brought relief from the oppression of the Czarist
  regime.
• Lenin and Stalin then deny the existence of a
  national Jewish Identity.
• Stalin later sets up Birobidzhan- a tiny area
  located in Siberia for the Jews
• Many Jews were exterminated by Nazis when Germany
  invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.
• Jewish dissidents were jailed by Breshnear and
  many left for the West or Israel.

18
The Depressing Picture Slide
http//www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-th
e-pale/english/guide-cond.html
19
Jewish Acceptance?

• 1942 A Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee is allowed
  in the Soviet Union to help support the struggle
  against Nazi Germany. Nazis associated communism
  with a Jewish conspiracy.
• Judaism becomes more accepted but is still highly
  discriminated against by Russians.

http//www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-th
e-pale/english/guide-cond.html
20
More Typical Jewish Depictions by Russian Fascist
Groups Today
http//www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-th
e-pale/english/guide-cond.html
21
Russian Jews Today

• Mikhail Gorbachevs Reforms open
  immigration/emigration and freedom of Jewish
  religion.  Many actually left to the West or
  Israel.
• The Jewish community is not growing, but
  weakening as time goes on due to intermarriages
  and emigration.  The offspring typically do not
  choose Judaism as their nationality/religion.
• Moscow contains 10 of Russias Jewish population
  and 3 of the 50 synagogues.

http//www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-th
e-pale/english/guide-cond.html
22
Protestants

• Repressed during the Soviet Era, but became more
  popular among younger Russians in the 1960s.
• Protestant groups have been increasing since the
  1980s, especially after the fall of the Soviet
  Union.
• Baptist is the largest and most active of the
  Protestant sects.

23
Present-day Oppression of Protestants

• Seventh-Day Adventists have always been opposed
  since their formation in 1909. There was a
  period of inactivity though 1960-1990 and there
  currently is one seminary and school.
• Jehovahs Witnesses have been the target of
  recent discrimination in Moscow. The Moscow
  court has even banned Witnesses from practicing
  in the capital. Many fear this to be a potential
  attack on minority religions.

24
Bibliography

• Religion In Russia. Embassy of the Russian
  Federation. http//www.russianembassy.org/RUSSIA/
  religion.htm
• Russian Orthodox Church. Nation Master.com.
  http//www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Russian-
  Orthodox-Church
• Anti-Religious Campaigns. ibiblio.org.
  http//www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/anti_r
  el.html
• Moscow Courts Its Million Muslims. BBC News.
  http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1204271.s
  tm
• Putin Favors One Mufti For Federal Russia.
  Islam Online.net. http//www.islamonline.net/Engl
  ish/News/2004-03/27/article06.shtml
• Russia. Country Studies. http//countrystudies
  .us/russia/39.htm
• Beyond the Pale The history of Jews In Russia.
  Friends and Partners. http//www.friends-partners
  .org/partners/beyond-the- pale/english/guide-cond.
  html
• Russian Religion News. Stetson University.
  http//www.stetson.edu/psteeves/relnews/0404a.ht
  ml05