Putin Is No Christian Hero

For some conservatives, Putin merits praise for being one of the few political leaders on the world stage today willing to push back on radical LGBTQ ideology, which often seems like a higher priority for Western leaders these days than democracy or capitalism. And it’s true that over the course of his nearly quarter-century in power (including four years as “prime minister”) he has instituted several pro-life, pro-family policies. These are mostly aimed at reversing Russia’s alarmingly low birthrate, which is in part driven by the fact that Russia continued to have one of the highest abortion rates in the world. Much like what we saw in Carlson’s interview, however, that’s only part of the truth.

While Putin has styled himself as a devout Russian Orthodox believer and a “defender of the faith,” the fuller truth paints a much more disturbing picture of a ruthless leader who has co-opted his church to advance his statist dream of resurrecting “Mother Russia” as an imperial power.

As a former KGB man, he recognized when the Soviet Union collapsed (an event he considers one of the 20th century’s great tragedies) that something unifying had to fill the void created by the demise of atheistic communist ideology. Sadly, the Russian Orthodox Church, which in the Soviet era was at first brutally persecuted and then thoroughly infiltrated, now serves that purpose.

Putin may be a friend to the Russian Orthodox Church while it remains loyal to him, but not to other faiths.