The Russian Market: Satan Reigns There
Vasili Ostrovsky
2004
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The cult of money is today’s golden calf.
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Yesterday, Pope Francisco gave his first major analysis on the causes of the global financial crisis.
Our human family is presently experiencing something of a turning point in its own history, if we consider the advances made in various areas. We can only praise the positive achievements that contribute to the authentic welfare of mankind, in fields such as those of health, education, and communications. At the same time, we must also acknowledge that the majority of the men and women of our time continue to live daily in situations of insecurity, with dire consequences. Certain pathologies are increasing, with their psychological consequences; fear and desperation grip the hearts of many people, even in the so-called rich countries; the joy of life is diminishing; indecency and violence are on the rise; poverty is becoming more and more evident. People have to struggle to live, and, frequently, to live in an undignified way. One cause of this situation, in my opinion, is in our relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over our society and ourselves. Consequently, the financial crisis that we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate origin is to be found in a profound human crisis. It stems from the denial of the primacy of human beings! We’ve created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old (cf. Exodus 32.15-34) has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy that’s faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.
The worldwide financial and economic crisis seems to highlight their distortions and above all the gravely-deficient human perspective, which reduces man to one of his needs alone, namely, consumption. Worse yet, nowadays, human beings themselves are considered as consumer goods that can be used and thrown away. We’ve started a throw-away culture. This tendency is seen on the level of individuals and whole societies; and it’s being promoted! In circumstances like these, solidarity, which is the treasure of the poor, is often considered counterproductive, opposed to the logic of finance and the economy. Whilst the income of a minority increases exponentially, that of the majority is crumbling. This imbalance results from ideologies that uphold the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation, and, thus, deny the right of control to States, which are themselves charged with providing for the common good. A new, invisible, and at times virtual, tyranny is established; one that unilaterally and irremediably imposes its own laws and rules. Moreover, indebtedness and credit distance countries from their real economy and citizens from their real buying power. Added to this, as if it were needed, is widespread corruption and selfish fiscal evasion that have taken on worldwide dimensions. The will to power and of possession has become limitless.
Concealed behind this attitude is a rejection of ethics, a rejection of God. Ethics, like solidarity, is a nuisance! It’s regarded as counterproductive: as something too human, because it relativises money and power; as a threat, because it rejects manipulation and subjection of people… because ethics leads to God, who’s situated outside the categories of the market. God is thought to be unmanageable by these financiers, economists, and politicians; God is unmanageable, even dangerous, because he calls man to his full realisation and to independence from any kind of slavery. Ethics … naturally, not the ethics of ideology… makes it possible, in my view, to create a balanced social order that is more humane. In this sense, I encourage the financial experts and the political leaders of your countries to consider the words of St John Chrysostom, “Not to share one’s goods with the poor is to rob them and to deprive them of life. It isn’t our goods that we possess, but theirs” (Homily on Lazarus, 1:6 – PG 48, 992D).
There’s a need for financial reform along ethical lines that’d produce in its turn an economic reform to benefit everyone. Nevertheless, this’d require a courageous change of attitude on the part of political leaders. I urge them to face this challenge with determination and farsightedness, taking account, naturally, of their particular situations. Money has to serve, not to rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but the Pope has the duty, in Christ’s name, to remind the rich to help the poor, to respect them, to promote them. The Pope appeals for disinterested solidarity and for a return to person-centred ethics in the world of finance and economics.
For her part, the Church always works for the integral development of every person. In this sense, she reiterates that the common good shouldn’t be simply an extra, simply a conceptual scheme of inferior quality tacked onto political programmes. The Church encourages those in power to be truly at the service of the common good of their peoples. She urges financial leaders to take account of ethics and solidarity. Why should they not turn to God to draw inspiration from His designs? In this way, a new political and economic mindset would arise that’d help to transform the absolute dichotomy between the economic and social spheres into a healthy symbiosis.
17 May 2013
The Tablet
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/574/18
Editor’s Note:
I discarded the boilerplate greetings at the head and foot of this piece. Let’s keep it simple. The reason that real Orthodox have to oppose the konvertsy and their attempt to ally the Church with rightwing forces is simple… they wish us all to bow down before Almighty Mammon. They want to ally us with warmongers, greedsters, and politicians so bloody in their use of the death penalty that they’d make Judge Jeffreys blush.
Don’t hate these people… but do oppose them. Hatred only dulls our vision and lowers us to the level of those such as Rod Dreher and James Paffhausen. God calls us to oppose them… not hate them… not do violence to them. As long as they’re alive, there’s hope that they’ll repent… it’s slim, but it’s there.
Keep your mind right and God’ll bless you.
BMD
US State Department Sez Russian Laws and Policies Restrict Religious Freedom
Tags: anti-Muslim hysteria, Bediüzzaman Said Nursî, China, Christian, Christianity, Cuba, Eastern Orthodox Church, Falun Gong, Freedom of religion, International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, Iran, Irkutsk, Islam, Islam in Russia, Islamophobia, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jewish, Jews, Jews in Russia, John Kerry, Judaism, JWs, legal affairs, Muslim, Muslims, North Korea, political commentary, politics, poster, Pussy Riot, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, religious freedom, Russia, Russian, Russian culture, Russian Muslims, Russian Orthodox Church, Saudi Arabia, Scientology, St Petersburg, State Department, Suzan Johnson Cook, synagogue, United States, United States Department of State, US Department of State, USA
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According to an annual report released on Monday by the US State Department, Russia was amongst the countries (including Saudi Arabia, DPRK, Cuba, Iran, and China) that imposed restrictions on freedom of religion last year. US Secretary of State John Kerry commented to the press, “This report is a clear-eyed objective (sic!) look at the state of religious freedom around the world. When necessary, yes, it does directly call out some of our close friends, as well as some countries with whom we seek stronger ties. It does so in order to try to make progress, even though we know that it may cause some discomfort. But when countries undermine or attack religious freedom, they not only unjustly threaten those whom they target. They also threaten their country’s own stability… attacks on religious freedom are therefore both a moral and a strategic national security concern for the USA”.
According to the International Religious Freedom Report for 2012, the Russian government “targeted members of minority religious groups through the use of extremism charges to ban religious materials and restrict groups’ right to assemble”. It said authorities also “restricted religious minorities through detention, raids, denial of official registration with the Ministry of Justice (Minyust), and denial of visas to religious workers”. Suzan Johnson Cook, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, a division of the US State Department that monitors religious persecution and discrimination around the world, said, “Religious freedom is essential for a stable, peaceful, and thriving society. … As this report makes clear, much work remains to be done”.
The report finds evidence of anti-Muslim sentiment and discrimination in Russia, as well as an increase in anti-Semitism, pointing to vandals in Russia painting a swastika on a fence at a St Petersburg synagogue in May 2012, and in July 2012, vandals painting a swastika on a synagogue wall in Irkutsk. The report alleged, “Members of minority religious groups continued to experience harassment and occasional physical attacks. Violent extremism in the North Caucasus region and an influx of Central Asian migrant workers led to negative attitudes in many regions toward traditionally-Muslim ethnic groups”.
Amongst the claimed instances that raised concern in Russia:
The report asserted, “There’s no state religion, but the Russian Orthodox Church and other ‘traditional’ religious communities received preferential consideration”. The annual report details the status of religious freedom in 195 countries throughout the world. Mandated by, and presented to, the US Congress, under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
20 May 2013
RIA-Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/world/20130521/181259579/Russian-Laws-Policies-Restrict-Religious-Freedom—US-Report.html
Editor’s Note:
BOO-HOO! Let’s all shudder together in unison. Americans have NO right at all to point fingers. Look at the vacuous anti-Muslim diatribes broadcast by the likes of Fox News, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and Peter King. You’d think that Muslims were responsible for cancer, the common cold, athlete’s foot, and the heartbreak of psoriasis. THIS is why America and Americans are hated throughout the whole world. “Why, we’re so good that all of you unwashed yobbos and wogs have to kiss our naked arse in full view of everybody, or we’ll send you ungrateful and disrespectful sods democracy on the bomb-racks of a USAF bomber”. That’s what it is, full stop… and no one can deny it. However, they got their comeuppance in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, they ended by putting a pro-Iranian junta in power (a delicious irony if there ever was one), and they can’t impose their diktat over the Hindu Kush, even though they’ve spent twelve years trying to do so.
This is more Anglo-Saxon posturing… yes, kids, it’s what you see amongst the konvertsy… we’re all so BACKWARD… but all we have to do is to follow the simon-pure WASPs, kiss their bums whenever they present them, and everything will be hunky-dory. Well, I don’t give such twaddle any truck any more… life is too short. Cross yourself, say “Slava Bogu”, and tell ‘em to their face, “Kiss my arse”… you’ll feel 100 percent better, and they won’t bother you any further (they WILL trash you behind your back, but them’s the breaks, kids). Silly sorts, aren’t they? It takes ALL kinds in our sinful-ginful world.
BMD