Church news, 2001
2001, December 19, 8.37, Moscow
Very sad news: Eugene Grosman was arrested on December, 17th. Grosman
is Russian Baptist, he emigrated from Russia in 1977, lived in Chicago,
worked for Billy Graham's mission, and gained large success as a
radio-preacher under the name of Mark Makarov (in order not to stress
his Jewish origin.) He also published several apolegetical books
in Russian. mostly dedicated to the defence of creationism.
I was aquainted with him when he came to Moscow in 1990-s and worked
for Deyneka's mission "Spiritual renewal." I liked him:
mild and intelligent person. Later he was fired, but I didn't know
why. He remained in Moscow and worked as a translator for busynessmen.
Last time I met him on the Easter service on the church os Stt.
Cosmas and Damian (Russian Orthodox) where he hame with some foreigners.
Grossman was accused in pedophili, and he didn't reject the accusation,
only expressed that he prefered to live in Russian because here
it is easier to avoid punishment. At least three central news-papers
published information about his arrest.
November 10, 23.15, Moscow
Yury Budanov is a colonel who is the only army officer in Chechnya
who is under trial for his crime. Budanov raped and killed Chechen
girl (18 years old.) He obviously will be declared insane. But today
in the TV show "Itogo" Victor Shenderevich reminded that
it was Budanov who in December 2000 posed to the TV journalist: he
ordered to shoot in Chechens and loudly proclaimed: "S Rozhdestvom!"
This can be translated as "Merry Christmas," but I think
more precise will be: "The Nativity of Christ will be death to
Chechens!"
November 5, 2001, 22.32, Moscow
A bit of secular statistics of VTsIOM:
43% citizens of Russia have a phone. But in Moscow the figure is
97%. Cellulars: 4% and 17% (Noviye Izvestiya, 31.10.2001). This
is a perfect illustration of the enourmous gap between Moscow and
province. All oil companies pay taxes in Moscow, where they are
registered. One economist said that Russian econimics is a sort
of vacuum-cleaner which suck province dry.
November 3, 2001, 23.41, Moscow
This one of the most sensitive personally for me results of the
American war in Afganistan: pro-Kremlin propagandists in Russia
(for example. the journalists of "Izvestiya") gladly state
that now America and Russia are one in the struggle against Muslim
terrorism. Americans do in Afganistan what Russian do in Chechnya.
American journalists, says Maxim Yusin (Izvestiya, 3.11.2001) introduced
self-censorship in order to hyde information about peaceful citizens
of Afganistan who became victims of bombing. He proclaims that this
is patriotism, the same as the patriotism of those Russian journalists
who hide the truth about Russian atrocities in Chechnya.
October, 30, 2001, 23. 26:
Income in Russian religion
No difference! There is no special correlation between religiosity
and the level of income, so Mchedlov states that it is wrong to
think that religion is the result of poverty. He calls this opinion
"widely spread," but I am afraid that it is only widespread
among former Marxists live Mchedlov himself.
Age in Russian religion: confessional aspect
Are among Muslims - 48,4% people younger than 40 are more numerous
than among Russian Orthodox 39,2%. But most numerous are young people
among those, who only believe in supernatural forces: 63%.
October, 29, 2001, 11. 51 AM:
Age in Russian religion
The same poll: the trend to rejuvenescence of religion. In general
5,3% of population are younger than 21, among believers 6,3% and
among non-believers -- 3,3%. But non-denominational religiosity
gains the upper hand: among those who believe in supernatural forces
there are 10,3% of people younger than 21.
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