Mark Dohle
Well-Known Member
Church and State
Kirill and Putin
Marco and I have been friends for a long time. I have a deep respect for him. He wanted me to share what I thought about the relationship that Krill has with Putin. In other words, the church and state problem, and question. Below is something simple that I wrote on the subject. I am not writing this to cause problems, so please if you do not agree with what I wrote, be civil. –Br.MD
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When a government and the church become one, there is only trouble brewing. In a church that is either run by the state or works as an equal partner with the prevailing government, it will draw into its ranks men who want power, they become no different than politicians. The religious nature of their calling may still be important, but in reality, it is not central.Patriarch Kirill is the supposed spiritual leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. Yet his real loyalty is to his country, as well as to Putin. They are partners. That is why you can see a religious leader encouraging the total destruction of other people. The real horror is that God is brought into the picture.
Pictures are shown where priests are blessing weapons, tanks, and soldiers who are attacking a country that was no threat and committing genocide with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill.
In the Catholic Church, our history has many dark epochs, the darkest is when church and state were one. Today in the Church, because we do not have political clout, and are not being used by the state, a different sort of man will want to become a priest and religious leader. The kind of power the Krill has is not present in the Catholic Church. Yes there is still corruption in the church, and it will always be so, yet at this time, no Pope would ever give support to the destruction of other people, or an unjust attack.
Yet, why are so many people surprised, or shocked? It is a tragic sad situation and will lead to only more bloodshed, but surprise? The young Russian men are doing the atrocities, will after returning home wake up to what they have done, and will have to live with it. Many will live lives of deep regret. Many will shorten their lives through addiction, and suicide. While the leaders, both religious, and political, because they did not dirty their hands will be at peace. Yet this is not something new. As a species, we are very unstable when it comes to living out what we profess we believe.
Every once in a while people will ask me if I think that I am a good person. My response is ‘no’. They ask me why. I respond that I am not a good person because every day I have to struggle to make the just and loving choices. I fail and begin again.
I am not good, nor am I evil, yet I have a tendency to move in the direction of chaos and self-destruction if I do not keep on the path of seeking God and loving others. It is a lifelong commitment, which does get easier over time, yet still a struggle.
So Putin and Patriarch Kirill’s actions, and religious teachings on what they are doing does not surprise me. It saddens me, and I can see myself doing the very same thing if I was part of the situation and grew up in Russia. Which saddens me more, but not surprised at what I know I am capable of doing.
We are not a rational species, yet we try to be. We are emotional, we can tend to react, and if we think things through, the curse of “confirmation bias” plays a big role. It is almost impossible to break away into a system of doing things that are actually rational, as well as deeply spiritual. It is called the “Sermon on the Mount”.—Br.MD
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