Russia, Government, Religion, Russian Orthodox.

JRL 3-21-06:

Paul Goble, in an article entitled «How Separate are Church and State in Putin's Russia?» (Johnson's List: №66 17 March 2006) makes several bold accusations against the Putin government and the Russian Orthodox Church. He gives credence to the views of two journalists who claim that the Russian State is surrendering to «full-blown clericalism» and that the Russian Orthodox Church is to blame for the rise of «Nazism» in many parts of the country. These claims are pure demagoguery; the familiar arguments trotted out to support them do not stand up to any sort of scrutiny.