Earlier this summer, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Ukraine, posted that Russian soldiers had seized the city’s Ukrainian Christian Evangelical Church of the Holy Trinity. After ruthlessly expelling the clergy, the staffer noted that as many as 30 troops remained in the building, at least in part because it provided a "human shield" for troops. The church is located just feet from occupied residential buildings.
The takeover of a Christian church might seem strange at first. What threat could a church filled with worshiping men, women and children pose to a modern army? But according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), this incident is "part of a wider systematic religious persecution campaign in occupied Ukraine."
While it has been grossly underreported in the U.S. press, Russia has been waging a brutal campaign against Christians and religious minorities in Ukraine.
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According to the Institute for Religious Freedom, nearly 500 religious buildings, theological institutions and sacred places in Ukraine were destroyed, damaged or looted by the Russian military since the war began. Russia has murdered at least 26 religious leaders while imprisoning and torturing many others. More are missing or unaccounted for.
Russian soldiers frequently threaten evangelical Christians in Ukraine, labeling them as "American spies" and "enemies of the Russian Orthodox people." One Russian soldier told an employee of a Christian institute in Ukraine "evangelical believers like you should be completely destroyed … a simple shooting will be too easy for you. You need to be buried alive."
In September of last year, Russian soldiers detained Mykhailo Britsyn, a pastor in Russian-occupied Melitopol during a religious service. His crime? Providing humanitarian aid to local residents who were displaced because of the war.
On Easter Sunday of this year, the Russian military attacked a church in the city of Nikopol, injuring two civilians. Targeted attacks like these constitute a gross violation of religious freedom and has led the ISW to declare Russia’s behavior a cultural genocide campaign.
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) shares some of the blame for what’s been happening. Its leaders, including Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, have blessed the war and have continuously fomented military brutality through militant rhetoric cloaked in religious language.
Most Christians in Russia belong to the ROC, which views the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as illegitimate. Kirill and other ROC leaders are betting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion to preserve not only Russia’s empire, but to expand the reach of the ROC into the conquered territories.
All of this begs a question: why would Russia waste precious artillery and energy on non-military targets and populations?
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Churches are what military analysts call "soft targets," which means they are typically exposed and have little, if any, security. This makes them an easy conquest for an invading army. But just because you can attack a structure doesn’t make it advisable.
What makes a church an attractive soft target is what it stands for in the hearts and minds of the people. Religious symbols hold significant cultural and spiritual value for communities. So, these attacks constitute a deliberate attempt to undermine identity and heritage while demoralizing the targeted group.
The Kremlin labels itself "pro-Christian," of course, but the facts on the ground expose this as little more than propaganda. Religious freedom has seriously declined in Russia since the late 1990s. Protestants, Catholics, Muslims and others face fines and repercussions for "illegal" missionary activities under ambiguous laws and unclear laws.
The U.S. State Department has designated Russia as a Country of Particular Concern for engaging in continuous systematic violations of religious freedom.
Most democratic societies cherish and wish to preserve the freedom of religion, recognizing it as an inalienable right. Just as the International Criminal Court has issued Putin an arrest warrant for war crimes over the forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children, the international community must hold Russia’s military and church leaders to account for their war on religion. Countless lives are at stake, as is a cherished cornerstone of democracy.
