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| Jonathan MS Pearce |
Equally interesting is who is behind the machine gun, driving the tank, flying the drone—or looking through the scope of a sniper rifle?
The horrors of war, the blood-soaked fields of battle, sadly make fertile ground for philosophy, particularly discussions concerning God.
Ukraine is a religious country. In 2022, 85% of Ukrainians saw themselves as Christian and 10% identified as atheists. It would be fascinating to see whether war has changed these demographics at all. My intuitive observation from a short time there is that it is indeed a religious country but in a way where religion is traditionally infused throughout society. It is not so much a modern Protestant phenomenon that is clashing with social and moral evolution in the culture wars we see in the US.
I was privileged to speak to a number of soldiers and civilians in my 10 days traveling a loop of the front lines. I was afforded the privilege of sitting down with one soldier to formally discuss ideas of God and belief in the context of fighting a defensive war against an aggressive invader. I cannot reveal too much about him for reasons of operational security. My discussion was revealing and it gave me an insight, from a liberal atheistic point of view, into the mind of a deeply religious man fighting a war for his own existence and for the future of his country.
It seems that belief in God can very comfortably coexist with the notion of killing people and committing acts of at least a defensive war. For example, there is a theologian called Yuri Chornomorets who is deeply involved in training snipers and fundraising for equipment for them. His Twitter bio is an interesting one:
Ukrainian volunteer, sniper, theologian, philosopher. I help highly professional Warriors of Light!
I have reached out to him previously and asked for an interview but although he was willing, he felt his English was not up to scratch. That is a discussion waiting to happen!
While that conversation is yet to happen, the following one did. In this case, the soldier I spoke to (Dmytro, though I have changed his name), was very open in his answers to me. I’m incredibly grateful to him for the time we spent together.
We sat in a dark room guesthouse very close to the northern border of Ukraine. It would otherwise be a beautiful area to visit in peacetime but now there is very little scope for enjoying the scenery. At night, it is essential to keep the lights at a minimum to avoid unwanted attention from drones circling in the sky. This is something I have experienced elsewhere in Ukraine.
The horrors of war, the blood-soaked fields of battle, sadly make fertile ground for philosophy, particularly discussions concerning God.
Ukraine is a religious country. In 2022, 85% of Ukrainians saw themselves as Christian and 10% identified as atheists. It would be fascinating to see whether war has changed these demographics at all. My intuitive observation from a short time there is that it is indeed a religious country but in a way where religion is traditionally infused throughout society. It is not so much a modern Protestant phenomenon that is clashing with social and moral evolution in the culture wars we see in the US.
I was privileged to speak to a number of soldiers and civilians in my 10 days traveling a loop of the front lines. I was afforded the privilege of sitting down with one soldier to formally discuss ideas of God and belief in the context of fighting a defensive war against an aggressive invader. I cannot reveal too much about him for reasons of operational security. My discussion was revealing and it gave me an insight, from a liberal atheistic point of view, into the mind of a deeply religious man fighting a war for his own existence and for the future of his country.
It seems that belief in God can very comfortably coexist with the notion of killing people and committing acts of at least a defensive war. For example, there is a theologian called Yuri Chornomorets who is deeply involved in training snipers and fundraising for equipment for them. His Twitter bio is an interesting one:
Ukrainian volunteer, sniper, theologian, philosopher. I help highly professional Warriors of Light!
I have reached out to him previously and asked for an interview but although he was willing, he felt his English was not up to scratch. That is a discussion waiting to happen!
While that conversation is yet to happen, the following one did. In this case, the soldier I spoke to (Dmytro, though I have changed his name), was very open in his answers to me. I’m incredibly grateful to him for the time we spent together.
We sat in a dark room guesthouse very close to the northern border of Ukraine. It would otherwise be a beautiful area to visit in peacetime but now there is very little scope for enjoying the scenery. At night, it is essential to keep the lights at a minimum to avoid unwanted attention from drones circling in the sky. This is something I have experienced elsewhere in Ukraine.
Continue reading @ Only Sky.
I'm kinda stumped on the need to go to the front line to have these discussions, talking to soldiers returning from the front lines seems a more rational and safer way of doing things. I suppose it goes to the authenticity of the author and its a better piece that he occasionally deviates away from theology. While I am not religious, it does not jar with me that Ukrainian Christians can kill their attackers. All too often we witness the horrors of religious followers killing for all the wrong reasons -it is only reasonable to assume that other religious followers would be prepared to kill for all the right reasons. In fact, on a personal level, if the Ukrainian religious followers had turned the other cheek to Russia's aggression and atrocities I would think how bloody stupid.
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