Who’s ‘godless’ now? Russia says it’s U.S.

The Washington Times

MOSCOW | At the height of the Cold War, it was common for American conservatives to label the officially atheist Soviet Union a “godless nation.”

Vladimir Putin and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill I. / AP
Vladimir Putin and Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill I. / AP

More than two decades on, history has come full circle, as the Kremlin and its allies in the Russian Orthodox Church hurl the same allegation at the West.

“Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a recent keynote speech. “Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan. This is the path to degradation.”

In his state of the nation address in mid-December, Mr. Putin also portrayed Russia as a staunch defender of “traditional values” against what he depicted as the morally bankrupt West. …Mr. Putin’s views of the West were echoed this month by Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow, the leader of the Orthodox Church, who accused Western countries of engaging in the “spiritual disarmament” of their people.

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