Russia and me

3 - Religion, the Opiate of the People

This slogan appealed to me when I was a kid, but now that I'm old and experienced, I think it maligns opiates. Now more than ever, with people tearing each other up over religion, I say, "Who needs it?" And yet within its domain you find some wonderful people and remarkable architecture.

Christ the Savior Cathedral (above) was built (1839-1883) in memory of the Russian victory over Napoleon, financed by collections from the faithful all across Russia. It was destroyed by Stalin in 1931, who planned to replace it with an enormous skyscraper topped with a massive statue of Lenin, which never got built. The Cathedral was rebuilt between 1995 and 2000.

Recently (March 2002) I was in Bucharest. One memorable evening, Calin, Nalyk, Gabi and I sat long over dinner and wine, talking about everything (thanks to Nalyk's rapid, easy translation). We got to religion and it turned out that Nalyk (from Moldova) and I were non-believers, but Calin and Gabi, both in their late 20s or so, said they were believers and that religion was important to them. I wondered how that was possible after a couple of generations under an anti-religious communist regime. "During Communist times," Calin said, "religion was resistance."

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