{"id":110,"date":"2007-11-20T11:59:39","date_gmt":"2007-11-20T11:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/feilerfaster\/2007\/11\/putin-plays-the-god-card.html"},"modified":"2007-11-20T11:59:39","modified_gmt":"2007-11-20T11:59:39","slug":"putin-plays-the-god-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/feilerfaster\/2007\/11\/putin-plays-the-god-card.html","title":{"rendered":"Putin Plays the God Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know lots of people are saying the Vladimir Putin considers himself God, but it seems he’s willing to teach Russians about alternatives. In a fascinating development that’s sure to rile the debate over teaching religion in American schools (I’m for it, as I’ve written about here<\/a>), Putin has responded to a fury over a new cult <\/a>in Russia by proposing that schools teach religion in schools. Here’s the money quote.<\/p>\n

\u201cVarious forms of teaching religion are needed in the school system. This refers not only to the study of one religion. In municipal schools now, there is a practice of teaching the fundamentals of confessional cultures – Orthodox, Muslim and others. I believe all these forms have a right to exist. However, the study of religious subjects must be voluntary.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For those of us who grew up during the Cold War, this development is fascinating, and surely would have been front-page news. Why not now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know lots of people are saying the Vladimir Putin considers himself God, but it seems he’s willing to teach Russians about alternatives. In a fascinating development that’s sure to rile the debate over teaching religion in American schools (I’m for it, as I’ve written about here), Putin has responded to a fury over a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"yoast_head":"\nPutin Plays the God Card - Feiler Faster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/feilerfaster\/2007\/11\/putin-plays-the-god-card.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putin Plays the God Card - Feiler Faster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I know lots of people are saying the Vladimir Putin considers himself God, but it seems he’s willing to teach Russians about alternatives. In a fascinating development that’s sure to rile the debate over teaching religion in American schools (I’m for it, as I’ve written about here), Putin has responded to a fury over a…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/feilerfaster\/2007\/11\/putin-plays-the-god-card.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Feiler Faster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-11-20T11:59:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"bfeiler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Putin Plays the God Card - Feiler Faster","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/feilerfaster\/2007\/11\/putin-plays-the-god-card.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Putin Plays the God Card - Feiler Faster","og_description":"I know lots of people are saying the Vladimir Putin considers himself God, but it seems he’s willing to teach Russians about alternatives. 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He is the best-selling author of nine books, including Walking the Bible, Abraham, and America's Prophet, and one of only a handful of writers to have four consecutive New York Times nonfiction bestsellers in the last decade. He is also the writer\/presenter of the PBS miniseries WALKING THE BIBLE. His latest book, The Council of Dads, tells the uplifting story of how friendship and community can help one survive life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest challenge. 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