Monday, January 20, 2014

Russia: The Pendulum Swings

by Edd Doerr

For decades the now defunct Soviet Union strongly opposed all religion and allowed women free choice on abortion. Now, however, Russia did not turn into Sweden, as Gorbachev seemed to have wanted, but, under the leadership of former  KGB agent Putin, has reverted to Orthodoxy, which never experienced the Reformation or Enlightenment. The pendulum has swung past the midpoint and is moving  in the direction of the American "Religious Right". Efforts are now being made, in cooperation with US fundamentalists, to roll back women's rights of conscience and religious liberty on abortion. Now, according to Dr Lyubov Erofeeva, a gynacologist, anti-choice groups are "growing like mushrooms. They are attracting young people with little knowledge, with little life experience." For details see Adam Federman's article "Seeding Russia's Culture War" in The Nation magazine for Jan 27.

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