[Mount Athos]

I think it is a wonderful thing that Russia is teaching Christianity in the schools.

Perhaps others will lose focus of how great this is or find ways to drag the discussion here off on some negative tangent. Can't we keep focus for once on a tidbit of good news and celebrate it? There will lots of times and places to discuss the other things.

[Zhang Fei]

I think it is a wonderful thing that Russia is teaching Christianity in the schools.

This doesn't mean that the Russians automatically become friends of Uncle Sam. The Russian empire was emphatically Orthodox when it tried to make a grab for the West Coast in the 19th century, but then decided it couldn't reach (i.e. defend such an acquisition). Russia being Orthodox did not prevent it - prior to imposing Communism as the state religion in 1917 - from almost going toe-to-toe with the British empire on several occasions.