Posted on 02/25/2014 9:04:21 PM PST by boxlunch
Oleksandr Turchynov, a well-known Baptist pastor and top opposition politician in Ukraine, took office on Sunday, Feb. 23, as acting president after the Parliament voted to oust President Yanukovych.... ...... Monday night in Kiev, Turchynov, 49, spoke publicly for the first time since taking office as acting president. According to an unofficial translation, he said, "Unprecedented cruelty and brutality of the dictatorial regime did not stop citizens. They selflessly gave their lives to defend their rights—and won....
"Our first task today is to stop the confrontation, to regain control … to ensure peace and tranquility, to prevent new victims, local rivalries and lynchings. Another priority is returning to European integration. We must return to the European family. We recognize the importance of relations with the Russian Federation, and are ready for dialogue with the Russian leadership to build relations with this country on a new, truly equitable and good-neighborly basis, which implies recognition of accounting Ukraine's European choice."... ....
The choice of a Baptist pastor as acting president in Ukraine, which has had an Orthodox majority population for centuries, does not come as a huge surprise to Sergey Rakhuba, head of U.S.-based Russian Ministries. For years, he has been in periodic contact with Turchynov....
"He is well-known in political circles as a principled, honest leader, although he was somehow always in the shadow of Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed prime minister who was released yesterday.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
First Baptist head of state or government anywhere in Europe, I’m assuming?
Possibly. Not everyone wants to rock the boat and pay the price.
I wasn't aware of that about Putin... Reading about Turchynov, he doesn't sound like someone who rocks the boat. He tried to accept Yanukovich’s offers to negotiate. He was involved in “reforming” the KGB. Altenkrug points out that he was a member of the youth organization of the Soviet Communist party, when he was young. Sounds like he's a go along to get along type of person.
Possibly, but given the vast number of European countries, I'd say it's more likely he'd the first Baptist head of state in a Slavic country. It's likely at least one of those western European countries had a Baptist leader at some point in history.
>> now if this guy is a Southern Baptist pastor . . . Ukraine's attitude towards Israel and Jews might improve . . . <<
I think "Southern Baptists" (of the Southern Baptist Convention variety) only exist in the United States. Per wikipedia, nearly 90% of Baptists in Ukraine are united in the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christian-Baptists (AUС EСB), established in 1994. That sounds like they'd be similar to the SBC, but I honestly have no idea. There are various left-wing Baptist groups out there.
>> I thought Ukraine was Byzantine Catholic rather than Orthodox? <<
There are far more Byzantine Catholics than Roman Catholics in the Ukraine (which may be the only place in the world where that's true. Here is the United States, I think there are roughly 60 million Roman Catholics and 300,000 Byzantine Catholics), but both groups are dwarfed by the number of Orthodox Christians. According to the 2006 religion survey in the country, the breakdown was around 27% Orthodox, 6% Catholic, and 1% Protestant. Most of that region of the world is heavily Orthodox.
>> I don’t like the EU and hope they don’t join it but despite the recent FR romanticization of Putin because he doesn’t like queers, RUSSIAN DOMINATION and a corrupt Jr. Putin in charge is most certainly THE FIRE in this situation, not the EU. <<
Yep. Putin's still a thug and a dictator, no getting around that. In fact, one of the reasons this revolution happened is because Putin's puppets in the Ukraine were trying to shut down the Ukrainian Catholic University because it wouldn't toe the party line (great "Christian" values there, Vlad). Chicago has a ton of Catholics of slavic ancestry, mostly Polish(my family is Irish and Italian though) and they're up in arms about that. I haven't seen any coverage in the mainstream media, though.
The only good thing that can be said about Putin is he's an actual leader that takes charge of a situation and acts Presidential, unlike Obama. But it's nice to see the little KGB thug getting a slap down for once.
The Korean Baptist Convention in South Korea is affiliated with the Southern Baptists, for one. 800,000 members in 2,700 congregations.
I disagree. Putin is Vito Corleone. The sodomites running the EU are Pol Pot and Mao Zedong. Putin at least is trying to build up Russia. The EU czars are deliberately wrecking Western Civilization in Europe. Just like our resident sodomite in the White House is wrecking Western Civilization in North America.
If you don’t think that Putin and Russia are the hope for the world, for Christians, and superior to America, then you may not want to visit this thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3124896/posts?page=24
“I don’t like the EU and hope they don’t join it but despite the recent FR romanticization of Putin because he doesn’t like queers, RUSSIAN DOMINATION and a corrupt Jr. Putin in charge is most certainly THE FIRE in this situation, not the EU.”
100% agree.
The Ukrainian people can now get ready for EU “harmony” in the form of economic austerity. They can ask the Greeks and Spaniards how that works. On the bright side, corruption will not be as blatant. Trading one master for another, what a sh**ty deal for them. In the meanwhile, expect hardship and stagnation for the next 5-15 years as their protected industries open up to IMF demands, their currency is devalued to its market price, and the price of basics shoot up. I feel for the Ukrainian people, but don’t blame them for wanting to trade in their current incompetent and corrupt Putin-inspired masters.
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