William Murray, the Religious Right activist and son of American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair, is joining in the chorus of sympathy for Vladimir Putin, hailing the Russian leader in a WorldNetDaily column today as a bulwark against the increasingly Marxist and secular West.
Murray praises Russia for its “flat tax that encourages growth” — which he contrasts with “our president’s Soviet-style” economics — and policies to ensure that “individual achievement is honored and prayer and Bible instruction are welcomed in the classrooms.”
He criticizes NATO for “antagonizing” Russia and the U.S. for supporting gay rights.
“Recently, the ‘gay’ rainbow flag was hoisted at the American Embassy in Israel. At the Olympic Games at Sochi this year, it was Russia who was vilified by Western media for not being gay-friendly. A real turnaround from the 1960s for America,” he writes. “When my mother filed the lawsuit to remove prayer and Bible reading from America’s schools in 1960, the churches were full and the nation was at near full employment. Homosexual relations were considered unnatural by 90 percent of the people.”
He also seems convinced that there is a wave of people fleeing the socialist West to the conservative Christian, capitalist Russia: “Westerners are seeking Russian citizenship, but not to support Marxism. This time Westerners are fleeing the godless collectivism sought by my mother, the system that is fast becoming the new American norm.”
On June 17 of this year, the anniversary of that disastrous Supreme Court decision banning school prayer, I was part of a conference titled Advancing a Constructive Agenda for U.S.–Russia Relations. The title of the conference reveals that it was organized by academics, chief among them being Dr. Edward Lozansky, president of the American University in Moscow. The events over two days were held at several venues in Washington including room 902 of the Hart Senate Office Building ,which is a meeting/banquet hall of the top floor of the building with a view of the Capitol Dome.
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A shut down of trade with Russia would cost many thousands of jobs in the United States as well as the loss of billions of dollars in American private investment in Russia. The planned NATO expansion into Ukraine after the overthrow of the elected government there in April was foolhardy at best, led to loss of life and did nothing to encourage continued integration of Russia into the West. Twenty years ago Vladimir Putin wanted to reform Russia and bring the nation into NATO. After 20 years of being treated as an enemy by the United States and NATO, he has become an enemy. Most of the experts at the conference from the left and the right acknowledge that the antagonism of Russia today is a direct result of NATO expansion to Russia’s borders, for what purpose, other than assuring jobs in the defense industry, is unknown.
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The entire experience of the conference events took me back to the times of being raised in a Marxist home where the vodka did flow and America, free enterprise and God were despised. Having been a part of the decline in religion and morality that has come to America, I now look at Russia where individual achievement is honored and prayer and Bible instruction are welcomed in the classrooms. Recently, the “gay” rainbow flag was hoisted at the American Embassy in Israel. At the Olympic Games at Sochi this year, it was Russia who was vilified by Western media for not being gay-friendly. A real turnaround from the 1960s for America. Meanwhile Russia has a flat tax that encourages growth, while businesses in the U.S. struggle under a tax code that has many of our wealthy denouncing their citizenship and simply living on their yachts.
Some things do not change, however. NATO is still knocking on the front door of Russia as if it were still the Soviet Union, with Leonid Brezhnev and the old Politburo in power there. Despite pleas from Germany and France, the United States continues to alienate a resource-rich nation that just a few years ago wanted to be our ally, while refusing to recognize that our real enemies lie in the Middle East. The source of most of the evil in the world is financed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to whose despotic king our democratically elected president has publicly bowed. Meanwhile Russia, whose security agencies warned us about a coming jihad against us, is deemed our enemy. And worse than that, we supply arms to the jihadists in Syria who behead Christians, rape Christian women and enslave children. Incredibly, it is Vladimir Putin who stands nearly alone as a world leader in defending the Christians of the Middle East.
When my mother filed the lawsuit to remove prayer and Bible reading from America’s schools in 1960, the churches were full and the nation was at near full employment. Homosexual relations were considered unnatural by 90 percent of the people, and the new nation of Israel was praised as a shining light to the world, a final equality for the Jewish people. Today Israel is despised in the liberal churches that champion homosexuality, and one of every two people checking out at the supermarkets are using food stamps. Our president calls for Soviet-style equal outcome rather than equal opportunity. One thing that has changed: Westerners are seeking Russian citizenship, but not to support Marxism. This time Westerners are fleeing the godless collectivism sought by my mother, the system that is fast becoming the new American norm.
