Simon Ostrovsky:
Russia is selling a spiritual war in order to win a geopolitical one. The fiction that Russia is a haven for white, straight, churchgoing families is smoothing the way for discussions about lifting sanctions on Russia and cutting off aid to Ukraine.
And in the polarized echo chambers of America’s culture wars, that story is converting many. Some of Russia’s newest American fans may be surprised to learn that the fastest growing population in the country isn’t Orthodox or even Christian, but Muslim. And despite the church’s central role in politics and foreign policy, last year, the actual percentage of Orthodox believers hit a 20 year low, with less than 1 percent of the population attending Christmas services.
For comparison, about 50 percent of Americans said they attended Christmas mass last year. As previously reported on the “News Hour,” Russian forces have targeted evangelical Christians in occupied Ukraine, shutting down Protestant and non-Orthodox places of worship.
This repression follows a long-established pattern in Russia of using terrorism laws to shut down hundreds of Jehovah’s Witness, Protestant, and other non-Orthodox congregations. But in the U.S., these stories just aren’t getting the same kind of airtime.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Simon Ostrovsky in Washington.
