It somehow happened that almost at the same time (and without conspiring in advance) with Alexandr Baunov, I decided to ponder over the traditions and morals of contemporary Russia. First and foremost, the morals we don’t have and shouldn’t have.
“Russia… is a country which strives to build a fair society based foremost on moral values,” said Vladimir Putin seven years ago. Six years later he directly compared Western Europe and Russia in terms of morals in his address to the Federal Council: “The downward destruction of traditional values we observe in many countries is detrimental and is executed in contradiction to the will of the national majority. We are gaining more support in our strive to preserve traditional values (the cursive is mine – author): the values of humanism, the values of the traditional world, the family, and religious values.”
At the Valday Forum in 2013, Putin was even more earnest: “We see that many Euro-Atlantic countries are practically on the path of rejecting… Christian values. They are rejecting their moral roots… What is more evidence to the moral crisis of human society than the loss of the ability to self-reproduct? Today, practically all developed countries are unable to reproduce themselves. Without the values that lie in Christianity and other world religions, without the norms of morals, which had been formed over millennia, people will inevitably lose their human dignity. We consider it natural and correct to fight for these values.”
These words sound holier-than-thou and attractive, but I would like to check their validity with facts and numbers. Only by doing this can we separate propaganda from real care for the good of the nation.
Let us start with definitions. It would seem there is hope that Vladimir Putin, by saying “Christian morals,” traditionally understands the rejection of what, according to the Gospel of Mark (7:19-7:23) makes a person “unclean”: murder, cruelty, stealing, sexual promiscuity, addictions, envy, deception, greed, evil thoughts and stupidity.
In this case the President would have been definitely right in giving “Christian” morals great significance. Morality is a great factor in a country’s progress. Many economists (e.g., Paul Heiney or S. Michael Craven) write about “the high cost of amorality” for the economy. In an atmosphere of distrust, brought about by amoral behavior, the cost of all transactions increases significantly, the circulation of funds slows down, risks are viewed as higher, and not only the speed of growth, but even growth itself in many regions becomes doubtful. What is more, such actions as crime, adultery, drug use, in themselves have significant economic costs, they increase costs for society. Sociologists directly link social morality to longevity and quality of life. The level of a society’s morals influences all the causes of death, from violent deaths to cardiovascular diseases, the efficacy of all services – from police to emergency medical services, the evenness of income and monetary distribution in society, the subjective perception of the quality of life…………………….”
http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/12/10/russia-and-the-west-who-is-more-moral/
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