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April 6th, 2016 
Awake Goy
Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Brands
The on-going court case of blogger Viktor Krasnov, who wrote “There is no God” on VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook in 2014 highlights the religious turn the country has taken under President Vladimir Putin.
Krasnov was taken from his apartment in Stavropol, and forced to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. During this month long detention, Krasnov was determined fit to stand trial. He charge was “insult[ing] the feelings” of religious believers under a controversial new law implemented by Putin 3 years ago known as Article 148.
In 2013, after the Pussy Riot protests, Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church leader, Patriarch Kirill, collaborated to put an end to the feminist activists that defied the church.
Krasnov received threats against himself from a flurry of Russian Orthodox Christian who promised to “do all sorts of bad things” to him and members of his family. Shockingly, when Krasnov reported the threats to the authorities, he was told: “When you are killed, then come.”
Freedom of religious expression was diminished because of the new law, which has been used to charge a number of people from “crimes” against the Church. For example, a man from Arkhangelsk was sentenced to 120 hours of labor because he had posted “insulting” material about Orthodox Christianity online.
Andrei Sabinin, Krasnov’s lawyer, is concerned that “this case could set [the] precedent” that it is “forbidden to publicly deny the existence of God.”
This 30 year change from an atheistic nationalism to a clear defense of Christianity could have its roots in the deaths of Christians and destruction of churches during the anti-religious campaigns of 1928 to 1941.
As of 2014, 70% of Russians identified as Orthodox Christian, and this religious ideological change is significant; because while the country turned toward the belief in god, they did not necessarily begin flooding the churches in droves.
Almost 1 in 10 Russians polled said “they attend religious services at least once a month” which “suggests that although many more Russians now freely identify with the Orthodox Church or other religious groups, they may not be much more religiously observant than they were in the recent past, at least in terms of attendance at religious services.”
However, this is not the case for Putin. He attends regular services at the Orthodox Church and describes himself as a defender of “Christian values”.
His alliance with the Church extends into nationalist politics and international ventures .
Showing their support for the Russian leader, Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the public affairs department for the Orthodox Church, was quoted as saying that the campaign against ISIS in Syria was a “holy battle” against terrorism.
Russia is touted as a democracy, however that is not an accurate description of how the country is run. Under Putin, the philosophy of vertical of power is implemented; which is a “top-down” system of governmental control where Putin and his Kremlin still make all the major decisions.
For example, Putin signed a law in 2013 imbuing himself with the power to appoint regional governors. This ended the traditional election of governors that was installed under Vladimir’s predecessor.
This has led to the appointment of governors loyal to Putin.
In addition, Putin controls the political parties through a clever ideology of a united Russia under himself.
Under the new law, Putin also made it difficult for dissenters to organize and share information online.
But then in 2014, the latest legal framework to quash un-favoring opinions required that bloggers with more than 3,000 daily visitors to register with the government.
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