SecularFuture

THE PRESIDENT: Today we've had a -- a beautiful morning. We've been to a church and a synagogue. One of the non-negotiable demands of individual dignity is freedom of religion, and I'm impressed by what I've heard from religious leaders, Christian and Jewish, here about the state of affairs in Russia.

We went to a cathedral that up until recently was a museum of atheism, and today it's a place where people can worship God freely.

We've been to a synagogue that was, even though open, was not a welcoming sight for many Russians, and today it is a spectacular place for people to gather and worship an Almighty God -- and worship an Almighty God freely.

And one of my strong beliefs is that people should be free to worship, and I'm pleased that that's taking place here in Russia. It's important for this country that religious freedom flourish and there be tolerance of all faiths.

And it's been a very rewarding morning for Laura and me, and we want to thank our hosts and thank the Russian people. Last night, I was very impressed and pleased to see so many Russians lining the streets and they were so welcoming to the American delegation. We're making great progress in our strides toward freedom -- I mean, toward friendship and our mutual respect of freedom.

Source
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/relea...0020526-4.html

beekay

errrr, ummmm, what the hell? What's that supposed to mean? Sounds very derogatory to me; was it intended as such? Which church was this, I wonder.

beejay

I don't know for sure...but let me guess:

When I was in Leningrad, many years ago, an old cathedral had been converted to the official Museum of Atheism. (If he wasn't in Leningrad, I'm sure this could have happened in other cities.)

(Unfortunately, I arrived just at closing time, so I never got a chance to see what was in that museum. :banghead: )

I would guess that this museum has been returned to the church.

(So it's not really derogatory, just evidence that "our" cultural heritage is being ignored.)

(If you really care, I can try to figure out where that museum was...)

ataraxy

It's the Cathedral of our Lady of Kazan, one of the most prominent buildings on Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg's mainstreet.

SecularFuture

I know I'm curious. Was it literally a museum for atheism?

Toto

When the Soviet Union was giving atheism a bad name, various cathedrals were converted to "Museums of Atheism".

Kazan Cathedral

Read about another here

DMB

For once, I don't think Bush can be faulted for this. Freedom of religion is important, so long as freedom from religion is also recognised as a right.

Tony

I love it! ƒ¼

After revolution in 1917 communists (then called ¡§Bolsheviks¡¨) started a war against religion.

I¡¦ll translate the document written by Lenin (the leader of Bolsheviks) to Dzerjinski (the chairman of KGB [KGB was called differently then]) May 1, 1919:

¡§Order of Lenin about the necessity of speeding up the annihilation of religion and shooting by firing-squads as many priests as possible

Top secret

To the chairman of KGB comrade Dzerjinski

Order

According to decision by All-Russia Central Executants Committee and Counsel of People Commissars it¡¦s necessary as soon as possible to be through with priests and religion.
The priests have to be arrested as contra-revolutionist and saboteurs, shot by fire-squads mercilessly (underlined in original document) and everywhere. And as many as possible. The churches have to be closed. The church buildings have to be used as warehouses.

Chairman of All-Russia Central Executants Committee comrade M. Kalinin
Chairman of Counsel of People Commissars comrade V. Ulianov (Lenin)¡¨

Thousands of priests were killed and thousands of churches were closed.

So now a lot of people in former Soviet Union are free to worship religion. But the funny thing is that the government is still controlled by KGB (President Putin is a former KGB colonel and, of course, former communist) and former communists. They have no idea about religion, but they use it to influence people. They don¡¦t know even how to cross themselves.

So, President Bush is happy that President Putin is doing a good job by continuing controlling Russian people minds.

lpetrich

As if they think that religion is useful as the Opium of the People.

Tony

Something happened to my reply. In a preview it looked OK, but on the website it looks strange.
Let me try to explain how it was meant to look:
rj should look like frown
(then called "Bolsheviks")
I'll translate
"Order of Lenin ...
... it's necessary...
... V. Ulianov (Lenin)"
They don't ...

Also, I want to add that even though everybody in the world knows that Joseph Stalin killed dozens of millions of Soviet people, President Putin attended the opening of the memorial plaque to honor him. It was a couple of years ago. It's very sad.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...le.asp?ID=3332