I'm not. He didn't kick them out. But at the same time, he couldn't have protected them or their temples... as they were long gone.
@HonestJohn Not according to the Iraqi Jews I saw interviewed on tv after Hussein was removed from power,and the fundies took over. There was even old news footage show of Iraqi soldiers guarding churches and temples armed with rifles and wearing uniforms.
You probably heard that crap from the same loons that told you religion was banned in the Soviet Union. The FACTS are that the only Russian Orthodox Churches that were closed down were ones where the priests refused to operate as NKVD informers. Those churches were closed and usually turned into storage buildings,and the priests were sent off to the labor camps to labor like all the other inmates. Meahwhile,the priests that did cooperate and inform the NKVD on what was told them in confessions prospered,and so did their churches. In FACT,the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church was picked by the Politburo and "Priest" became a NKVD/KGB career field. Nothing new about that. Religions have always had a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" relationship with rulers since the dawn of history.
Did you know that the Patriarch of the RO Church threw the weight of the church behind the Communist Party candidate that was running for president against Yeltsin? They did this because the communists promised to ban all other religions from Russia,and make them the official state religion. I was in Moscow during that election,and was watching the communist party candidate giving a speech outside the hotel I was staying in. CNN was broadcasting this in English on the tv in the lobby,and a bunch of us,including Russians,were standing in the lobby and watching what was going on at the same time. CNN was telling everyone the military presence around the flatbed truck the commie and his running dog lackeys were standing on was surrounded by the militia (Russian police) and military because they supported the communist candidate,and the Russians in the lobby were outraged at the lie and telling me and the other Americans standing there that the militia and the military were there to PROTECT the CP candiate and his aides from the crowd. In fact,you could look at the crowd and almost all the ones closest to the truck and the candidate were pensioners whose retirement and savings had been destroyed when the pumped up value of the Ruble fell to actual purchasing power on the global market after the communists lost power,AND the Russian Orthodox priests and nuns. The militia and military in the crowd were between then and the anti-CP protesters.
When the speeches ended,the Communist Party leaders and their supporters started a march down the street,and the Russian Orthodox priests and nuns followed along,flying the flag of the Russian Orthodox Church,with the militia escorting them to keep them from being attacked.
