Comment on Soviets & Baptists/Eastern Orthodox
Jack Kemp forwards this comment from Tea Party Nation about our article "Separation of Church and State - with an Iron Curtain" http://tbirdnow.mee.nu/separation_of_church_and_state_with_an_iron_curtain:
Comment by Eugene Levitzky
There were a number of Baptists in the Soviet Union, and they were persecuted but due to their smaller numbers and because they wielded less power than Orthodoxy, they may have not been hounded as much as the Orthodox. Orthodox priests and nuns were forced to walk naked through town and city streets or spend night naked, in sub-freezing weather, in warehouses (and other such-like punishments). Priests were nailed to church doors, in imitation of a crucifixion. Some were sawn in half or otherwise bloodily mutilated to death. Many were sent to hard labor camps, which was in reality nothing less than a death sentence.
Atheist festivals were held in certain cities but the Russian crowds watching were definitely not "entertained" or the least bit amused by the trashing of Christianity and religion performed by atheist functionaries of the Communist State. The Communists gave up on these public atheist festivals when they realized they were not having the intended effect on the populace, but the opposite effect instead. The true Orthodox Church survived as the "Catacomb Church" and as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
The reason that totalitarian regimes attack churches and, more specifically, religions is that a despotic State cannot tolerate any source of power other than itself. That is why writers and artists who don't bend the knee to the State are imprisoned, tortured, and executed by Communist regimes. Professors at universities are also often dismembered from their profession and/or killed outright. Scholars and researchers are often forced to tow a straight ideological line and when they get out of line they are finished. False theories, such as Lysenkoism, are promoted, theories that comport with the ideas and structure of Marxism/Leninism/Communism but that are inherently nothing but scientific propaganda.
"From 1934 to 1940, under Lysenko's admonitions and with Stalin's approval, many geneticists were executed (including Isaak Agol, Solomon Levit, Grigorii Levitskii, Georgii KarpechenkoGeorgii Karpechenko, a Russian and Soviet biologist." SOURCE: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Lysenkoism
Religion is the most powerful force that unites people. Communists and other filthy beasts of totalitarianism recognize this fact and act upon it by doing what they can to destroy or marginalize religion. They do all that they can to squelch, marginalize, destroy any power emanating from religion. And the people engaged and active in American Atheism empower the State in doing so, thereby aiding and abetting the Government in destroying Liberty and giving themselves, the atheists, and the State total power, which is Totalitarianism.
This is why the following phrase in the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights is of utmost importance - because it uses the word "Religion" rather than "worship," which makes all the difference for our freedoms and our liberties: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
Comment by Eugene Levitzky
There were a number of Baptists in the Soviet Union, and they were persecuted but due to their smaller numbers and because they wielded less power than Orthodoxy, they may have not been hounded as much as the Orthodox. Orthodox priests and nuns were forced to walk naked through town and city streets or spend night naked, in sub-freezing weather, in warehouses (and other such-like punishments). Priests were nailed to church doors, in imitation of a crucifixion. Some were sawn in half or otherwise bloodily mutilated to death. Many were sent to hard labor camps, which was in reality nothing less than a death sentence.
Atheist festivals were held in certain cities but the Russian crowds watching were definitely not "entertained" or the least bit amused by the trashing of Christianity and religion performed by atheist functionaries of the Communist State. The Communists gave up on these public atheist festivals when they realized they were not having the intended effect on the populace, but the opposite effect instead. The true Orthodox Church survived as the "Catacomb Church" and as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
The reason that totalitarian regimes attack churches and, more specifically, religions is that a despotic State cannot tolerate any source of power other than itself. That is why writers and artists who don't bend the knee to the State are imprisoned, tortured, and executed by Communist regimes. Professors at universities are also often dismembered from their profession and/or killed outright. Scholars and researchers are often forced to tow a straight ideological line and when they get out of line they are finished. False theories, such as Lysenkoism, are promoted, theories that comport with the ideas and structure of Marxism/Leninism/Communism but that are inherently nothing but scientific propaganda.
"From 1934 to 1940, under Lysenko's admonitions and with Stalin's approval, many geneticists were executed (including Isaak Agol, Solomon Levit, Grigorii Levitskii, Georgii KarpechenkoGeorgii Karpechenko, a Russian and Soviet biologist." SOURCE: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Lysenkoism
Religion is the most powerful force that unites people. Communists and other filthy beasts of totalitarianism recognize this fact and act upon it by doing what they can to destroy or marginalize religion. They do all that they can to squelch, marginalize, destroy any power emanating from religion. And the people engaged and active in American Atheism empower the State in doing so, thereby aiding and abetting the Government in destroying Liberty and giving themselves, the atheists, and the State total power, which is Totalitarianism.
This is why the following phrase in the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights is of utmost importance - because it uses the word "Religion" rather than "worship," which makes all the difference for our freedoms and our liberties: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
posted by Timothy Birdnow | 4:10 AM
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