Armenia has again been ranked among the countries where there are many believers, the most in the former Soviet Union territory. I do not know how they count the number of believers. Do they carry out a sociological survey, and people report about being believers? What if they lie? It is one thing when a person claims that he is a believer, another thing when he is really trying to follow God’s commandments. Or maybe the “density” of churches is counted on the territory of that country? But here we cannot be sure either that this is a manifestation of faith. A man who has built his wealth living in Russia and comes to build a chapel in his native village, his glorious feelings are thus satisfied, the villagers say, “Oh, you are our king”. Is it possible to conclude from this that the “benefactor” and those who praise him are believers?
Instead, I suggest carrying out another mental experiment. Suppose people are being forced to swear on the Bible, to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth before testifying in the courts in Armenia. Will the Bible help the representatives of our “God-fearing” nation not to give false testimony? No, most Armenians will lie after giving that oath, without even blushing (and by the way, finding many excuses for lying). And what if the same is done in Estonia, where, according to polls, the believers are considerably less? I am sure that the percentage of liars will be less. I think this is a better indicator of the faith than proclaiming oneself to be a Christian, baptizing children or building a church.
Within these 25 years, many in Armenia have been “revealed” to be Christians, not particularly being aware of what that means. However, whether you want it or not, but a transition to market relations means that people with a stronger will, who are more purposeful, people who often do not discriminate in the means have more chances to achieve relative “success”. This transition should have been accompanied by spiritual “amortization”. But that did not happen, and the “spiritual” is often expressed in ostentation and hypocrisy. Priesthood, in a broader sense, intelligentsia, did not become the power that would illuminate people, would explain that apart from the cruel morals and the aspirations of “success,” there is another world with more important values. Yet, some high-ranking priests live with those jungle laws. As a result, people are massively self-proclaiming themselves as “Christian”, actually staying infidel.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
