a religious forked tongue

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Caught between a rock and a hard place, the Russian Orthodox Church has proclaimed its conditional 'forgiveness' to the punk rockers of "Pussy Riot" who performed an anti-dictatorship bit of music in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral in February. The three young women were sentenced to two years each in jail yesterday after spending five months in jail while awaiting trial.

"The church has been sometimes accused of not forgiving them," the bearded and bespectacled cleric [Tikhon Shevkunov] said. "We did forgive them from the very start. But such actions should be cut short by society and authorities."

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov added his two cents:

"We are simply praying and hoping that these young women and all these people shouting in front of the court building, committing sacrilegious acts not only in Russia but in other countries, realize that their acts are awful," he said. "And despite this the church is asking for mercy within the limits of law."

Between the lines, I am hearing: Forgiveness is what we want to be applauded for, but let's not go to the extremes of standing up for the disenfranchised ... another example of the compassionate but stern ecclesiastical father who wishes not to examine his contributions to disenfranchisement.

Is there a religious institution that is not in a similar boat -- proclaiming the good or 'holy' word, but only from within a stable and secure and supportive and conservative political framework?

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