Ban dat Halloween

[list]Celebrating Halloween is banned in some Russian schools because it "breeds extremism", it's reported.

The Omsk education ministry has ordered headmasters in the south-western Siberian region to prevent any attempts to hold Halloween events at their schools, says the Russian government's official daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Any such events are not based on the "fundamental values contained in the culture of the peoples of Russia" and could lead to a rise in "extremist sentiment among children and young people", a ministry directive sent to schools reportedly states.

Members of the Russian Orthodox clergy are also known to object to Halloween. "It only seems to be a harmless and funny joke," warns Russian Orthodox Church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin. "But the dark forces think otherwise: they'll play a joke on you, and you won't enjoy it at all." It's not the first festival to be branded un-Christian in Russia. In July 2013, Neptune Day - a popular sea and riverside festival among Russian children - was reportedly cancelled in south-western Voronezh region following complaints from a local priest.[/list]

- Source

The most shocking thing about this and other recent events is that Max Brooks was right in World War Z; Russia is going towards a religious police state.

It's Russia, dude. You shouldn't be too surprised at anything they do.

True, but it's interesting that in my lifetime, we went from the Cold War and imminent nuke tossing to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then into Uber Intolerant Religious State.

Quite the pendulum swing there.

Originally posted by Stealth Moose
True, but it's interesting that in my lifetime, we went from the Cold War and imminent nuke tossing to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and then into Uber Intolerant Religious State.

Quite the pendulum swing there.

Russia has been an "Uber Intolerant Religious State" since Ivan the Terrible.

Reminds me of the schools here in the United States trying to ban Christmas so they don't offend anybody. One thing America and Russia have in common here is they're both full of crap.

And religious fundamentalists with high government presence.

Originally posted by ArtificialGlory
Russia has been an "Uber Intolerant Religious State" since Ivan the Terrible.

maybe:

Yet the idea of tuning Uncle Joe into Saint Joe has so far won little official backing from the Orthodox Church, which was one of Stalin's chief victims.

Seeking to establish atheism as the Soviet Union's official creed, Stalin destroyed thousands of churches and sent tens of thousands of priests to the gulags and their deaths.

Despite the church's reluctance, St Petersburg's Communists are convinced their vision will come to pass. They have already commissioned religious icons depicting Stalin with a halo round his head that have reportedly sold very well around the city.

"By the end of the 21st century, icons of St Josef Stalin will be in every Orthodox Church," Mr Malinkovich [Sergei Malinkovich, the Communist party leader who is driving the Stalin canonisation campaign] said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2445683/Could-Josef-Stalin-be-made-a-saint.html

depends on what you mean by "religion"

Originally posted by Oliver North
maybe:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/2445683/Could-Josef-Stalin-be-made-a-saint.html

depends on what you mean by "religion"

Yea, that was one of the meanings of "religion."