However, if St. Patrick's Cathedral had become an organ of state facism, that changes the nature of the offense quite drastically.
I think this crosses a lot of wires. People think, what would I feel if they did this in MY church? But your church is not an organ for fascism. The ROC has become just that and therefore a legitimate target for protest.
So then protest that collusion somewhere else. Insulting all the pious Orthodox believers in Russia by desecrating their church did not accomplish what it was meant to. It only gave fuel to the anti-Christian fires and would have led to more of the same if the perps were not punished fairly severely.
It confused the two issues of secularism and anti-Putin opposition, too, which may have been its real goal or its secondary one. It was a win-win situation for the agitators. Can’t you see that? And the people begging for a lighter sentence are falling right into the trap.
Do get a grip. The ROC is not an “organ of state fascism.”
Because of their nature (existing without an authority outside of their national or linguistic boundaries, since the Patriarch of Constantinople is not exactly a force anymore and hasn’t been one for probably a millenium or so), Orthodox churches are often more nationalistic than, say, the Catholic Church in a given state. However, it’s a far cry from that to say that this means the ROC is an organ of state fascism.
Pussy Riot picked the church because they wanted to shock and insult; if they had simply wanted to protest some Putin policy, there are many other places they could have done so.
Sorry, Pussy Riot was not making a bold political statement but was like the AIDS “protestors” doing their thing with condoms at St Patrick’s Cathedral.
They deserved a jail sentence, just not such a severe one - although, as I say, by Russian standards, they probably got off lightly.