Jesus, Back In the USSR

Merry Russian Orthodox Christmas. You wouldn't have needed me to remind you of the day if you were going to school in contemporary Russia, where public schools around the country are introducing religious education, despite a federal prohibition of religion in schools and a constitutional separation of church and state. Apparently school adminstrators get around the law by teaching a "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" course, rather than the Czarist-era theology course "God's Law." This AP story notes the irony of a religion class in a school that boasts a statue of Lenin—strongly indicating that the conversion of Russia promised by Our Lady of Fatima has still not happened.