RELIGION IN RUSSIA

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 144, 21 June 1930, Page 20

RELIGION IN RUSSIA

THE CHURCH AND REVOLUTION

Tho Russian people may worship as they choose. The famous decree of January, 1918, safeguarding the observance of religious customs is still the law of the land. ,It is true that churches, synagogues, and mosques have been converted into secular uses, but always a sufficient number of these religious institutions have been left open to accommodate all who wish to worship, says Eabbi Philip Bernstein, commenting on the reports of religious persecution in Russia in "Harper's Magazine." Tho Government grants the request that a church be converted to other uses when the building is needed for other purposes, the attendance is decreasing* and there are enough other churches for those who wish to pray. The serious problem in Russia is not the closing' of the churches, but the fact that'they are empty. Tho Communists have devised the most devastating attack. They have destroyed the future of religion by forbidding'formal religious instruction of children before tho ago of eighteen. ' Until the reign of Peter the Great the church was separate from the State. After a series of conflicts, he brought tho church under his power, and since then tho orthodox church was the handmaid of the ruler .and prostituted its functions to the. service of the State. It taught the people that they must obey absolutely and uuquestioningly the dictates of the Tsar. It taught them that the' highest virtues wore

obedience and contentment. It glorified poverty and encouraged the people to live in abject misery, promising them compensation in heaven. ■ It looked on secular education as an evil, and forbade the great masses the right to education. It ■ was largely responsible for the fact that 85 per cent, of the people were illiterate. , ~>.•"-.'

It opposed the establishment'of universities, and was absolutely antagonistic to scientific^ effort, whether in the schools or in agriculture. It was criminally responsible fqr most of the outrages perpetrated against the Jews, because it taught the masses to hate these people and actually instigated pogroms, falling upon a Jewish community at the head of the Russians. It taught the communicants that the Revolution was a deadly sin, and that all who listened to the Revolutionaries would be doomed to- eternal perdition. In fact, and perhaps this is the most shameful of all, the sacred Institution was used for spying purposes. It called on good Christians to take up arms against the Revolutionaries. During the counter-revolution, it was the rallying centre of the White forces, and churches and monasteries were used as arsenals and forts. When Russia waß in the throes of famine, the church, which was tho wealthiest existing institution, refused to permit any of its vast treasures to be used for alleviating distress. ' ...

This was religion as the Russian Communists knew it.