lpetrich

In Russia, in the 1650's, Patriarch Nikon tried to "correct" the Russian Orthodox liturgy and texts, making them closer to the Greek versions.

Thus, two "hallelujah"'s became three "hallelujah"'s, using 3 fingers instead of 2 to make the sign of the Cross; there were differences in the spelling of Jesus Christ's name, the wording of certain liturgical phrases, whether the Cross was to have a diagonal bar on its bottom leg, which icons to venerate, which way the priest should walk around the altar, and so forth.

This provoked the emergence of a movement of outraged "Old Believers", who preferred using the old liturgy and texts. The Tsars, however, would have none of this movement, so they persecuted it, burning one if its leaders, the priest Avvakum, at the stake. Some deaths of Old Believers were, however, self-inflicted; some of them became convinced that the world would soon end, and neglected their crops or even set their homes on fire, letting themselves get "purified" by their homes' flames. One source estimates that something like 20,000 Old Believers died as a result of these causes.

This Pledge-of-Allegiance controversy has a remarkably similar quality, though this time, it's the "Old Believers" which we are seeing the most of.

Spazmatic

No, in fact, atheists may very well be closer to the "old believers" than the fundies. I, in fact, had this example brought up to me earlier today, and let me tell you what we concluded upon discussing the similarities (at least, I'll include the relevant things. we talked about Jedi Knight II as well. ;-)

The texts were once one way. They had drifted off. Someone changed it. "Old believers" wanted to set it back to the drifted off form.

The Declaration of Independence cites that our rights come from God (as much as I hate that concept, it does). But, the Constitution does not. It was once one way, but it drifted off. In 1954, Eisenhower changed it. Now free thinkers want it back the way it was.

The major difference is, though, free thinkers aren't so fanatical, and certainly not suicidal (or I hope no one here is, anyways). But, they are also, again, the minority the government is trying to squash out. They are, again, forced to speak out loudly because they are vastly outnumbered. And they are the ones in the literal right, though the other side has many, many arguments as well (well, the one argument of the Declaration of Independence, which I think is rather weak, but anyways...). So, that's my voice on this interesting historical comparison.

lpetrich

Look more carefully. It was Patriarch Nikon who had tried to reform the liturgy and texts to their presumed original form.

And here, Michael Newdow and Alfred Goodwin are the equivalent of Patriarch Nikon, but our "Tsar", GWB and the Congress, are the equilvalent of Father Avvakum, that Old-Believer leader.

Spazmatic

Argh, nevermind then. I preferred the version my friend told me. Was simpler. I figure all those political groups and stuff is going to give me a headache again if I try to reunderstand it. So I'll just go with what you say.