I don’t typically devote this space to touting the work of my ReligionUnplugged.com colleagues.
I’m going to make an exception this week. As the Russia-Ukraine war rages, I feel compelled to call attention to the outstanding journalism produced by ReligionUnplugged.com staff members and contributors around the world.
Don’t miss these stories:
• Russian invasion reveals fissures among Orthodox Christians: Meagan Clark, ReligionUnplugged.com’s managing editor, reports from Boston on how “the Orthodox schism between Moscow and Constantinople that broke open in 2019 is cracking further.” As Clark’s in-depth report points out, “What is good and what is evil in the war in Ukraine is far from agreed upon.”
• Support for Ukraine rises worldwide as a shadow of war falls over Eastern Europe: “From Oklahoma to New Jersey to Nairobi, faith communities are taking up collections, helping refugees and voicing opposition to the military invasion of Ukraine,” notes this global overview from Paul Glader, ReligionUnplugged.com’s executive editor, and a team of writers including Michael Ray Smith, Tom Osanjo, Michael Finch and Meagan Clark.
• Q&A with Serbian Ambassador Darko Tanaskovic on Catholic-Orthodox relations: ReligionUnplugged.com contributor Jovan Tripkovic interviewed Darko Tanaskovic “to understand the role of diplomacy at the Vatican and the potential for further Catholic-Orthodox cooperation.”
• As Russia invades Ukraine, students abroad fear for their families: In a dispatch from Lithuania, professor and journalist Michael Ray Smith “shares how his students are coping with what many consider to be the biggest attack on Europe since WWII.”
• In rural Oklahoma, Ukrainian priest prays for his mother — and his homeland: Please forgive this shameless plug for my own story from Jones, Oklahoma, featuring the Rev. Stepan Bilogan, who preaches in his native language as a choir member translates his Ukrainian words into English. Bilogan came to the U.S. a year ago to serve spiritual needs in a rural community, but his mother, brother and countless other relatives remain in Ukraine.
• Prominent Christian leaders and groups face reckoning over praise for Putin: “For most of the past century, America’s conservative Christians and conservative politicians were united in the firm belief that the communist USSR — and later, Russia — was anti-American, anti-God and a threat to the world,” veteran author and journalist Steve Rabey writes. “But that script has been flipped during the last decade as traditional family values have brought together some supporters of “Christian America” and “Holy Russia.”
• Russia attacks Ukraine: Why some experts insist Putin is motivated by religion: “What’s religion got to do with Russia’s attack on Ukraine? A whole lot, according to some experts.” If you missed it, last week’s Plug-in delves into more of the religion-related issues.
More ReligionUnplugged.com news and opinions on Ukraine:
• Ukrainian Christians ‘stay, pray and try to bring hope’ (by Erik Tryggestad)
• Pope Francis asks world Christians to set aside a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine (by Clemente Lisi)
• Putin’s claim to rid Ukraine of Nazis is especially absurd given its history (by Jeffrey Veidlinger)
• Putin's war on Ukraine is a war on us all (by Ewelina U. Ochab)
Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads
1. How is Russia-Ukraine war linked to religion?: “Ukraine’s tangled political history with Russia has its counterpart in the religious landscape, with Ukraine’s majority Orthodox Christian population divided between an independent-minded group based in Kyiv and another loyal to its patriarch in Moscow,” The Associated Press’ Peter Smith explains.
“But while there have been appeals to religious nationalism in both Russia and Ukraine, religious loyalty doesn’t mirror political fealty amid Ukraine’s fight for survival,” the AP story adds.
For more insight from Smith, see his report on how “Kyiv shrines (and) memorials with powerful symbolic value (are) at risk.”
CONTINUE READING: “Understanding The Russia-Ukraine War From A Religious Perspective” by Bobby Ross, Jr., at Religion Unplugged.