Quote Originally Posted by Юрка View Post
Возможно, что разложение религии началось уже тогда, ведь это не секундное дело, а исторический процесс. Три-четыре века для него - это не много. А то, что Европа вытесняла секты со своей территории, говорит о том, что Европа чувствовала угрозу для себя (для своей религии) уже тогда.
"Religions are kept alive by heresies, which are really sudden explosions of faith. Dead religions do not produce them." Gerald Brenan (1894-1987) British writer

On the other hand, to the extent that a SPECIFIC religion is associated with national identity, and exists as an "established" church, then perhaps it's true that the appearance of new sects is a "threat." If Russian Orthodox Christians leave the church and embrace American-style Pentecostalism (a Protestant sect), then to some Russians this must be proof that religion is "decaying" in the Russian soul -- and a "net loss" for Russian identity.

Whereas Brenan would take the conversion to a non-Orthodox variety of Christianity as proof that some Russians continue to be intensely interested in religion, and in having a relationship with God/Jesus.

PS. Regarding the German children who fainted during sex-ed class -- perhaps you're right. It's difficult to be sure because neither of us actually knows what the pictures looked like, and whether they were truly of a pornographic character. But, incidentally, the first name of the father was given Оймен as in the story. And after thinking about it, I realized that this is actually the Cyrillic form of Öğmen-- a Turkish name. To me, this puts a different spin on the story; there was a "cultural clash" between the German school administrators and a non-German immigrant family.