The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is one of the main tools of the Russian government to manipulate public consciousness.
Russian sociologist and publicist Ihor Eidman expressed this opinion on the air of the FREEDOM TV channel.
“The Russian Orthodox Church is one of the main tools of manipulation of the population, manipulation of public consciousness by the authorities. That is, tool No. 1 is television, federal TV channels, and No. 2 is the Russian Orthodox Church. That is, of course, they use this tool not only to intoxicate the population of their country but also to prepare their ‘cannon fodder’ for slaughter. That is, we need regimental priests who will suggest to this ‘cannon fodder,’ these unfortunate mobilized men, that their inevitable death is some kind of natural, even God-pleasing, as they say, act. And so, accordingly, a hierarchy of regimental priests is being built,” said Eidman.
In his opinion, the Russian Orthodox Church is “actually a state institution that reports directly to the FSB,” so there is nothing surprising in it being used for military purposes.
Eidman noted that, according to sociological surveys, for the majority of Russians, identification with Orthodoxy is simply a statement: “I am Russian, so I am Orthodox.”
“But the vast majority of those who consider themselves Orthodox, in fact, are not. They are not church people and, accordingly, they do not observe rituals. That is, perhaps the most basic ones are still observed in some way, such as baptism, but they go to church extremely rarely and they do not observe most of the rites, fasts, etc. Therefore, in fact, the church cannot compete with television as a tool of manipulation,” said the sociologist.
According to Eidman, the Russian Orthodox Church’s priests today spread the mantras of Russian propaganda.
He believes that a “religion of the cult of war” has been created in Russia, similar to the pagan cult in African countries.
“I am absolutely convinced that after they lose this war, the regime will also collapse because all its legitimacy was based on this utopia of a victorious new war,” said the sociologist.
