So, in today’s episode of Svoboda.Press, episode two, of June, June 12th, I believe. 2026. What we will talk about in general is this, uh, what the role of religion, what it plays in Ukraine, and the role of what has happened during the war, before the war. And Like the rumors and speculation that Ukraine is a country that is not religious or has banned Christianity or things of this sort. Now, to explain, uh, me being me, I am a fan of Tucker Carlson, and what some would call right winged media or news.

 

Okay? But I want you to understand and keep in mind that I am a person that likes to hear all sides. Because in general, if you hear only one version of details, you may be left out of a whole chunk of detail of a perspective that you do not understand. So, if you are to be wise, if you are to be intelligent, you should look for alternate points of view. That’s the biggest and most important thing with everything. And that it doesn’t matter if you agree with it or disagree with it or another.

 

It gives you perspective and the much more informed decision. So if you can understand what you disagree with and what you agree with, you can construct. Or visualize mentally and philosophically, a better picture of what is going on or how things are actually occurring. Now, along with this is this point of view. Is, Before the war, Ukraine, In a lot of ways, is a religious country. Now, it depends on how strict each person is. There is a lot of Orthodox Christians. There is a lot of Protestant Christians. There is Jehovah’s Witnesses. There is any sort of type of Christian in Ukraine. There are even Muslims in Ukraine. There’s synagogues in Ukraine as well. Now, is who is the majority? It’s really hard to tell. Because there is no statistics, there’s no like a business of uh, pollsters going around saying, are you Jewish? Are you this? Are you that? Are you one way? How do you feel about something going this way or that way? There’s no such avenues of collecting information on the population for that. And also, most Ukrainians would probably walk the other way and say, oh, not interested because they don’t want to be documented on their opinions.

 

That being the 1st part of this altogether is with this. One has to understand is that under the Soviet Union, which also includes Russia and other former Soviet Union republics. In order to survive in the Soviet Union after Lenin or Stalin’s reign, you had to be an introvert. If you were an extrovert, you were the problem. This is why, in a general sense, most of Eastern Europe or the personalities in Eastern Europe are very closeted. They, they keep to themselves, they don’t want attention. They’re, uh, a bit antisocial. They don’t smile and that unless they’re familiar to you, unless you’re close with them. Then it’s different. And that. It’s kind of like you have to crack the shell in order to get further, but you have to risk your time. You have to risk your effort in order to go such a way. So it’s up to the person if they feel it’s worth the time investment. to be with or on the social culture of Slavic culture. And  Keep in mind, it’s a Slavic culture. It’s not Western culture, it’s not France. It’s not Germany, it’s or UK. It’s a different mentality for a reason.

 

Now, To understand, during the Soviet Union, also in Ukraine, as well as Russia, uh, the stereotype in the USA was that religion was outlawed and not allowed and churches were blown up and uh, they were repurposed for other reasons. This is true to some degree, but there’s very, there’s different shades of gray as well. Churches were not completely made illegal. The reason why is because the KGB, the NKVD, and that always found a reason to, let’s say, like retrofit. So they may bulldoze a church, but they know that people will still keep to their silly traditions. So, they will basically, uh, hijack the church or hijack the, uh, people that are involved with the church. So, the biggest thing that occurred in the Soviet Union, other than blowing up churches and saying, well, the state is the new religion. And that is they would have informants. So the Russian Orthodox Church at one time was one of the biggest informants to the KGB. So if people were whispering and talking the stuff with their priest, it quite obviously, went into a KGB file. So again, Like I said, the KGB used many different avenues other than what people thought.

 

Was ways to collect intel. Because, The best way to put it is, just like in 1984, when like the walls could be listening or people could be whispering and giving detail and turning people in. The same idea, the same premise existed in the Soviet Union. Or any authoritarian society. Your children could turn on you, your family members could turn on you. Your wife could turn on you, or even possibly, the priest who you think is not, who you confessed something to. That is the biggest thing that people don’t understand. They think that things were just wiped out. On the fly, and then it was just not there. That’s not reality. Reality is, is that you have to hijack something, and then basically mislead people in order to understand what’s going on, what people are hiding. And that. And it is also true that you could not have a Christmas tree usually, within the Soviet Union, and that you had to hide that fact.

 

But regardless of it being, in any point of the way, So there is the rumor, when the war started or in the middle of the war, that Christians are being displaced or being thrown like lambs to the slaughter, for the Ukrainian government, Or even, let’s say, the Russian government, because both countries have orthodox religion, and that a Ukrainian Orthodox church versus a Russian Orthodox church. So to understand, There was certain cases which this will be mentioned in show notes or links if one wants to do some research and read. There was some allegations and connections that the Russian Orthodox Church was in contact or was supplying information to the Russian government. Now, whether it’s true, it’s hard to substantiate. Okay? But it could be possibly true, because there was an existing connection already from Soviet times between the Russian government or the Soviet government and the Russian Orthodox Church. And even when Vladimir Putin, or even Boris Yeltsen, were president, they had close ties to the church. Go figure. Whether it was just a personal preference, or if it was much, much more than a personal preference, but a state position as of where the government is,

 

That leaves you to figure out on your own. But regardless of any of these points in being, is this. After 2014, the Ukrainian government decided to split the churches. So there was usually only a Russian Orthodox church in Ukraine. There started to be a Ukrainian Orthodox Church. And that from 2014 since Maidan. Now, the big thing is this, is from my own personal experience, what occurred usually is if there was a Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church got repurposed. to some degree, as to like the, uh, the, the, the 1st floor would remain a Ukrainian orthodox church. And because most Orthodox churches are very ornate and they are very large, they have a large basement and everything else. As well as many entrances. There’s not just one entrance to one orthodox church. Since a lot of these churches are 100s of years old. The Russian Orthodox Church usually worked in the basement, adjunct to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, and they worked in some type of tandem.

 

From that. Now, it is my belief that there is still Russian Orthodox followers in Ukraine, because there’s still Russian Orthodox churches that do exist. They’re not attended as much. Probably for fear of being accused of playing to the other side. But I would say that there is followers that do exist. Now, are they, is every member of an Orthodox church, uh, soliciting intel to the Russian government? It’s doubtful. But is it possible that there is some people that were doing this? Yes, it’s very possible. That is what, uh, I believe, uh, is the misunderstanding of what Tucker, Carlson, or many in the right wing media, were trying to hit the nail on the hammer on the nail with, and that, they were misunderstanding it, because, As most Americans or Westerners would look at things, they would see it from the lens of being an American.

 

They would not see it as of the eyes of a foreigner. Or how it is within its own locale. The biggest thing about this is this, is there is many things that are misunderstood. in Ukraine. You know, the idea of what is freedom, just like the name of our publication, Svoboda Press. The misunderstanding of what words have depth and meaning to. Is always around. And that, Swaboda, meaning freedom or liberty, has a different definition to Americans as it does to Ukrainians or Russians. In that, the same as what does the meaning of love mean if you love someone in a relationship, and that love has a completely different meaning in Slavic culture.

 

Since love actually means that you can be critical and you can be harsh to your loved one. And you also should be a bit controlling in a relationship of that sense. The reason why to highlight this is to point out that when there is media, when they explain things within the colloquialism of whatever your culture is, there is details or meanings that are changed or lost in translation. Because either A, they don’t want to spend the time to explain it, or B, they don’t want to even, it doesn’t fit their narrative, so to speak. Or see, they just don’t care. And that, it’s either about one business earning money off of things, or it just doesn’t fit with their agenda. That’s the real biggest, the real big story of everything, which people fail to see and fail to understand. And that is, in order to understand something, you have to go through things in order to see it. You have to do what people don’t expect you to do. And As I said, I will add into the show notes, these articles talking about religion and faith and such.

 

Now, another part of this is with the war. There is war chaplains, or I would believe you’d call them war chaplains, that usually go near the front line. And they will usually pray with the church, with the troops, and that. And, um, The church being involved with the war, or at least in an orthodox sense, is very different than it is in the Americans sense. Because, The best way to put it, there was an experience that I have had myself, where the chaplain for the group was praying with the soldiers, which they used the badges or what they call chevrons, and that, and they used them and prayed over them. as a symbol of protection. Even though in Western culture, these badges or chevrons would be just considered a badge.

 

They’re not considered anything but, like, kind of like a sticker or like a patch that you earned. While in Eastern culture and Eastern society, Slavic culture and such, they’re considered a method of protection, something that can offer protection if it’s endowed correctly, if it’s prayed after, if it’s this, if it’s that, if it’s anointed. That is some perspective, by the way. On understanding What is going on in Ukraine.