Russian Communists Seek to Eliminate "God" from National Anthem

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (Kprf) wants to delete the reference to God from the text of the national anthem. Boris Kashin, of the Chamber of Deputies of Moscow, has submitted a bill to replace the phrase of the anthem that says "protected by God as our beloved homeland" with "protected by us as our beloved homeland."

Kashin complains that the anthem does not respect the various non-Christian religions recognized in the Federation and offends the feelings of atheists.

Lyubov Sliska, vice chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, said the Kprf proposal was a "rude initiative." He added, "If the communists think that the word of 'God' is in contradiction with the Constitution, that means that they think they can put themselves in the place of God, and this is a grave mistake."

For more information on this subject, visit the Directions to Orthodoxy website.