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Bradley Murg on Russian Orthodoxy after the Soviet Union

tonygill — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 08:00:49 +0000

Following seven decades of a repressed existence, the Russian Orthodox Church has re-emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union to assert itself in the nation’s culture and political landscape. Bradley Murg, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington and adjunct faculty of political science at Seattle Pacific University, details what has happened with the Orthodox Church since 1991 and its emerging role in politics under Vladimir Putin. Brad’s extensive travels in Russia, and indeed throughout the world, brings a special comparative insight into this topic.

Following a few introductory remarks about Brad’s globetrotting, we look at how the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) emerged from Soviet domination after 1991. Under a relatively laissez faire religious environment, the first thing the ROC hierarchy focused on was the reconstruction of church buildings. The onslaught of foreign missionaries into the country became a major concern of the ROC as well, and Patriarch Alexis II and Metropolitican (later Patriarch) Kirill looked towards the new Russian state to prevent this “spiritual poaching,” that eventually led to the passage of a law in 1997 definining historical Russian faiths (including Orthodoxy, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism) and significantly restricting foreign confessional activity. This discussion leads Tony to inquire about the hierarchical structure of the ROC, what a “patriarch” is, how the ROC relates to the Patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul), and how Metropolitan Kirill became Patriarch Kirill.

We then move to a discussion of church-state relations and how the ROC hierarchy has attempted to achieve a level of “symphonia” harkening back to Byzantine times when religious and secular rulers partnered to support the health of the nation. Brad lists the number of benefits that the ROC has received from this newly-crafted “symphonic relation” including access to teach religion in public schools, the ability to view legislation in the Russian Duma (parliament) before it goes public, and support on a number of social issues including marriage, fertility, and gay rights. This leads our discussion in the direction of how Vladimir Putin is interacting with the ROC, including some details about Putin’s own religiosity. Putin’s use of the ROC as a means of state’s legitimation then becomes the focus of our conversation.

Tony asks Brad how effective a religious legitimation strategy would work for Putin given a long history of religious suppression and the seemingly “atheistic” nature of Russian culture. We then dive into a sociological examination of the religiosity of the Russian people, and look at whether Orthodoxy is just an “ethnic marker” or whether it has some real spiritual meaning. Brad provides some interesting data on cultural shifts that may be taking place among the Russian population, including amongst the young folks in society. He then explains how Putin is attempting to expropriate the social trust average Russians place in the ROC to help bolster his own trustworthiness among the population.

Our conversation moves towards an extended discussion on how the ROC has played into Russia’s including the issue over gay rights and the Olympics, but also looking at affects on policy towards Syria and relations with the World Council of Churches. We conclude with looking at how the ROC has fared with respect to cultivating religious belief within the Russian population and Brad’s broad reflections on what he has learned from examining the Russian religious environment in comparison to other places he has roamed around the world. Recorded: September 12, 2013.

Matthew Sutton on Aimee Semple McPherson

tonygill — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 09:00:43 +0000

Aimee Semple McPherson undoubtedly ranks high on any list of charismatic, colorful and influential preachers in American history. As founder of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, a denomination that today claims over 8 million members, McPherson’s impact on the nation’s religious landscape looms large. Prof. Matthew Sutton, associate professor of history at Washington State University, leads us on a journey through Sister Aimee’s life. We begin by detailing the era of the 1920s in Los Angeles, California — the environment that McPherson became intimately attached to. We then rewind the tape to look at Aimee’s birth and childhood in 19th century Canada, then follow her path through two marriages and her arrival in California. Prof. Sutton discusses Aimee McPherson’s revivalist style, her changes whilst in Los Angeles, and her insertion into a number of the political controversies of the day. We examine the contrasting life of a divorced female preacher in a conservative, fundamentalist faith tradition. Our podcast also looks at perhaps the most famous and odd incident in what was an already photogenic life — Aimee McPherson’s alleged kidnapping in 1926. Prof. Sutton finishes off with his reflections on this vibrant and all-too-human personality. Recorded: December 28, 2010.

Roger Finke on Religious Persecution

tonygill — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 09:00:52 +0000

Roger Finke — professor of sociology and religious studies at Penn State University and director of The Association of Religion Data Archives — takes us on a journey around the globe to discover how and why religious persecution arises in some nations but not others. Based on his book The Price of Freedom Denied (co-authored with Brian Grim), Prof. Finke makes the argument that religious liberty is a vital component of all civil liberties in society. He makes the case that small violations of religious freedom (often in the form of seemingly innocuous regulations) can open the door to an erosion of other freedoms and invite various forms of religious persecution. We detail some of these regulations focusing on the importance of registration requirements for religious groups. Also, Roger challenges an interpretation of Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” theses, claiming that it is not the presence of two different religious cultures within a nation that automatically gives rise to conflict, but rather the various laws that regulate different faith traditions that sets the table for whether or not conflict (and persecution) will arise. We pepper our discussion with examples from France, Russia, China, Japan, Iran, Nigeria and the United States. In closing, we discuss one of Roger’s most valuable contributions to academia — The ARDA. Far from being just a clearinghouse for religious databases, this website offers the public the opportunity to explore religion around the world in a remarkably user-friendly interface. Listeners are encouraged to give it a try! Recorded: December 16, 2010.

Listeners are asked to contact the host to let him know you are listening and to share your comments and suggestions about the podcast. tgill (at) uw (dot) edu

RELATED LINKS

Roger Finke’s website at Penn State University.

The Price of Freedom Denied: Religious Persecution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century by Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke.

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) at Penn State University. Try it out!

International Religious Freedom Reports (at the U.S. Department of State).

A World Survey of Religion and the State by Jonathan Fox.

The Political Origins of Religious Liberty by Anthony Gill.

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