In a talk in London, Dr Philip Boobbyer drew interesting parallels between the role of faith in both Soviet Russia and contemporary Britain. Dr Boobbyer gave his talk at a Greencoat Forum in London's Initiatives of Change centre on 17 June 2004.
Boobbyer is an expert on the history of Russia and lectures in Modern European History at the University of Kent. He is working on his third book, entitled In Search of Conscience: the ethics of dissent and reform in late Soviet Russia.
Thankfully he did not assume the same extensive knowledge from his audience and began with a brief recap of the development of Soviet Russia and its Marxist policies and beliefs. He noted that despite the state rejecting religion and the concept of good and evil, the resulting social decline forced them to recognise the need for moral guidance.
'This was a strange combination of beliefs,' Boobbyer said, 'You don't believe in God or in any kind of absolute moral standards… But on the other hand, you strongly preach the need for moral behaviour.'
Boobbyer talked about Russian people, from ordinary civilians to top officials, developing blocking mechanisms and false consciences to cope with what they were being asked to do or forced to witness. This, he said, led to people losing a sense of their own identities.
Nevertheless faith and spirituality survived in the dissident communities across Russia, and Boobbyer told inspiring stories of individuals who had found strength in God to defy the authorities and 'to retain their integrity in very difficult situations.' 'The message,' he said 'is that there really is a moral and spiritual world.'
Boobbyer confessed to feeling concerned at the current spiritual state of Britain and worried that British people are abandoning God, leaving the UK vulnerable to a similar social decline. He pointed to the erosion of family values and the increased isolation of people as 'signs that something has gone badly wrong'.
These comments provoked interesting responses from the audience. Most questions, however, were concerned with the spiritual state of Russia today and why Boobbyer felt people in Britain were losing their faith. He said that many British churches didn't 'know how to engage' with their congregations and that in Russia it would take time to find the faith lost during the Soviet years.
He spoke encouragingly of his visits to Russia which left him 'stirred up with hope' and re-iterated a comment made earlier in his speech that 'not only do people die spiritually, but they can also come alive.' A promising thought to end an interesting and thought provoking evening.
Sarah Calkin
English