Most Tipsters may have heard about the troubles in Ukraine which threatens to set off a civil war between Pro-Russian members and the traditional (native?) Ukrainians. The actual warfare has taken place in the eastern region of Ukraine which tends to be primarily pro-Russian (the western area is primarily traditionally ethnic Ukrainian). It should be noted that the Christian religion is divided into several groups here. The pro-Russians tend to belong to the Orthodox churches, either the Ukrainian Orthodox or Russian Orthodox while the traditional Ukrainians tend to be "Greek rite" Catholics (in contrast to the common "Roman rite" Catholics; the Greek rite Catholics historically developed different rites and rituals [e.g., use of Old Church Slavonic instead of Latin in mass] including following the old calendar until recently). Greek rite Catholics acknowledge the Pope of Rome as the head of the church and has changed their self-identification from Greek rite Catholics to Ukrainian Catholics, especially as they become more similar to Roman Catholics.
The above is prolog to understanding a NY Times article on a split in the Ukrainian Catholic Church (which the article refers to as the "Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church"). Traditionally, Ukrainian Catholics would not be pro-Russian but a small group of clergy have broken off to form what they call the "Ukrainian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church" (confused yet?). An article in the NY Times tries to explain all of this; see: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/22/world/europe/ukrainian-church-faces-obscure-pro-russia-revolt-in-its-own-ranks.html?_r=0 A key aspect of this break away group is their attitude toward the "West" (i.e., the European Union and the U.S.). Quoting from the article: (one of priests from the breakaway group says the following in an interview); |The European Union, he explained after a Sunday service, |is an "empire of evil" committed to defying the word of God |and to spreading homosexuality and pedophilia. As for |antigovernment protesters who toppled President Viktor F. |Yanukovych and are praised as heroes in this western corner |of Ukraine, the priest sees only "Godless deviants" and "fools" |who are "in the pay of hostile foreign powers." Later in the article we have: |The breakaway church ... issued an appeal to Mr. Putin in |December to intervene militarily to restore order and defeat |what it scorned as "Euro-sodomitic occupation by Brussels |programmed by U.S. agents." It is unclear whether the U.S. (and by extension, Canadians) are also considered sodomites but it's probably safer to assume that they do. So, after Putin, it's likely that all "Westerners" are homosexuality-pedophile sodomite promoters (In the U.S., conservatives usually reserve this for "liberals"). So, just as certain religious groups in the U.S. view certain groups as "evil", this new branch of Ukrainian Christians appears to view Europeans and Americans as evil for their tolerance of homosexuality and sodomite practices (Jon Stewart recently pointed out that some U.S. politicians who are anti-gay marriage because gays were sodomites were surprised by the realization that sodomy included heterosexual oral sex, meaning that the fellatio they received from cheerleaders made them sodomites -- which made the sodomy argument weaker to them). It is unclear whether the new Ukrainian Christians consider heterosexual oral sex sodomy but let's not fool ourselves about this: the positions they take are less religious than political and whatever arguments come down from on high (in this case I mean Putin and not the other guy/gal/entity). So, something for teachers of international psychologists to consider on the interaction of ethnicity-religion-politics in a part of the world where the U.S. may have a hand in a civil war. Seems like a fair amount of that is going on these days. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=37223 or send a blank email to leave-37223-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
