Freedom to mock the Islamic Prophet

Blackflag: A CATHOLIC nation? You serious?

Blackflag: Yeah, except just because you own a website doesn't mean you can write an illegal contract. Notably - copyright infringement.

admin: Nah, the majority of French people are atheist, not Catholic. In fact, France is one of the more intolerant nations towards Catholics.

More people in France declare themselves as atheist than people who declare themselves as religious, one of only two countries in Europe to have a higher atheist demographic than religious demographic.
I have more evidence though...

Blackflag: Majority of people, but the government is strongly aligned with Catholics. It's a historical thing.

Blackflag: Please. Less than 10% were party members at the HEIGHT of the Soviet Union. The Orthodox Church operated legally.

Blackflag: This one you have a point on, however.

admin: That is a false statistic. Over 60% of the country was declared atheist in a Soviet census in the 80's. The Soviet Union is perhaps the best example of an atheist state there is.

Blackflag: No, it's true. By the 80s only 5% or so were party members. The official records of the Soviet census are far removed from the situation in the ordinary Russian family, which has long been a very conservative, traditional "nuclear" model (and which persists to this day).

Majority of people, but the government is strongly aligned with Catholics. It's a historical thing.
No they're not. The ruling coalitions have been hard on religious institutions since the founding of the Fifth French Republic.
It is illegal to wear or display a cross anywhere in public, and believe me, they enforce this many times. I also suggest that you look up specific anti-christian politicians in France. You'll find a lot on both the right and the left.

admin: Whether you like it or not, the large majority of Soviet citizens were atheists. Also, I would like you to source that claim that only 5% of party members are atheist in a country where 60% of the population was atheist.

I know for a fact that almost all the Soviet leaders you could call by name were atheist. Why are you making stuff up?

Its also worth noting that the government had an official policy of state atheism for most of its existence. How did Orthodox Christians get seats in the CCCP and Politburo when they were expected to be atheist?

Blackflag: That's like asking you to look up pro-christian politicians in America. The executive has always been strongly aligned with the church in France, and against the church in the USA, even though you'd think the exact opposite looking at their politicians now.

By "the church" I mean specifically the Holy See, and to a lesser extent the Vatican.

Blackflag: That's not what I said. I said that 5% of the population of Russia were party members (roughly) during the 80s.

Most "atheists" even within the party were so in name only, only declaring as such to be members or avoid persecution. The central unit of the family remained firmly in the grasp of the church. Ask any Russian, they'll back me up on this - Russia has ALWAYS been very conservative and religious. And I'm saying this having talked to several.

Orthodoxy has always been legal in Russia, just not in the communist party. Big difference.

admin: No, you are wrong here. The Fifth French Republic and even the Fourth French Republic never had much, if any, Catholic policies. I need examples.

admin: Let's stop using Russia and the Soviet Union interchangably. It makes us sound like we don't know what we are talking about.
It doesn't matter if Soviets were atheist in name only or not. We know for sure that their leaders were atheists due to the policy of state atheism.
Soviet Union = Assholes. Do you think the people wanted to be run by atheist assholes? I doubt it.

Ask any Russian, they'll back me up on this - Russia has ALWAYS been very conservative and religious. And I'm saying this having talked to several.
Actually, I have two close friends who are Russian immigrants and they're both atheist. One of them has also told me before that the religious community is extremely underdeveloped after the Soviet Union

I also don't understand why 60% of Soviet citizens declared themselves atheist on the census. This was in the mid 80's, they weren't exactly going to be sent to the gulag for putting themselves down as Christian, which 20% actually did. Another 10% declared themselves Muslims. The final 10% declared themselves agnostic.

Blackflag: Difference between having Catholic policies and being assholes to Christians. The executive has always gotten on fine with the church and still regularly holds consultations, even as policy has differed.

Blackflag: I don't feel any less uneducated by calling it Russia.

I agree in part, but they were not assholes BECAUSE they were atheist, and they were not necessarily inciting religious hatred towards the orthodox church. And most of those "leaders" had close family who were religious.

Extremely underdeveloped? That's like saying religion is extremely underdeveloped in Italy! Russia has one of the oldest and most deeply established churches in the world. Hence why Pentecostalism won't touch Russia - the Orthodox church has a strangehold on that place. You'd probably be burned at the stake for mentioning the reformation. You've mentioned these two Russian dudes before, I'm starting to wonder what planet they live on. Since last time you mentioned them they hated on the Ukraine if I remember right (completely the opposite of what Russian media was saying).