SALT-II 1979, Brezhnev to Carter:'God will never forgive us if we don't succeed'; Russian cosmonauts in 2014 openly show faith in God
Yesterday I had sent a mail to some correspondents as follows:
Around 27:50 in the video, Cold War 19 out of 24: Freeze (1977 - 1981), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7qFJQPjqPw, former USA president Jimmy Carter says, while reminiscing about a Vienna meeting in June 1979 to sign the SALT-II treaty, between him & his team and former USSR president Leonid Brezhnev & team, "When I proposed that we make these changes in nuclear weaponry he (Brezhnev) said, 'God will never forgive us if we don't succeed.' Coming from a leader of an atheistic, communist country, this surprised everyone. I think the most surprised person at the table was Gromyko who looked up at the sky like this (raising his hands with outstretched palms) and did his hands in a peculiar way as though this was a shocking thing for Brezhnev to say."
Ravi: I find it utterly fascinating that the Soviet leader Brezhnev referred to God in this super-powers meeting. So even before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, belief in God was making inroads in Russia. Today, in post-Soviet Russia, one gets the impression that faith in God has made a powerful comeback. Wonderful turn of events, IMHO.
--- end mail main contents ---
A correspondent, in his response, passed on this very interesting link, "Faith, the Final Frontier: Russian Spaceships Blessed by God", http://www.vocativ.com/world/russia/russian-space-program/, dated July 2014. The initial part of the article shows a Soviet Russia propaganda picture of a cosmonaut floating in space and has the slogan, "There is no God". The article goes on to say that Russian spacemen today have a very different take. Here's the pic put up by a Russian cosmonaut around a week before the article was written (24th July 2014), http://instagram.com/p/qoIa5BwKG2, which shows around half a dozen religious (mostly, if not all, Christian) icons put up inside the multi-billion dollar International Space Station with two of the three cosmonauts in the pic having a religious icon attached to their uniform/body as well. The article also mentions that priests regularly sprinkle Russian space rockets with holy water prior to launch.
Ravi: What a dramatic change in Russia! Sure, there would be many atheists and opponents to Russian cosmonauts putting up religious icons in their/international space stations. But from a 'There is no God' cosmonaut poster in Soviet Russia, to religious icons put up by Russian cosmonauts in the international space station, is truly a dramatic change.
I am reminded of the current head of Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO, which is the main organization handling India's space program, frequently visiting Tirupathi Balaji temple to get the blessings of Lord Venkateswara prior to important space/satellite mission launches, and also to give Thanks for successful mission launches/other operations. To read about one such visit in Oct. 2014, see http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/isro-chairman-prays-at-tirumala/article6500911.ece.
Around 27:50 in the video, Cold War 19 out of 24: Freeze (1977 - 1981), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7qFJQPjqPw, former USA president Jimmy Carter says, while reminiscing about a Vienna meeting in June 1979 to sign the SALT-II treaty, between him & his team and former USSR president Leonid Brezhnev & team, "When I proposed that we make these changes in nuclear weaponry he (Brezhnev) said, 'God will never forgive us if we don't succeed.' Coming from a leader of an atheistic, communist country, this surprised everyone. I think the most surprised person at the table was Gromyko who looked up at the sky like this (raising his hands with outstretched palms) and did his hands in a peculiar way as though this was a shocking thing for Brezhnev to say."
Ravi: I find it utterly fascinating that the Soviet leader Brezhnev referred to God in this super-powers meeting. So even before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, belief in God was making inroads in Russia. Today, in post-Soviet Russia, one gets the impression that faith in God has made a powerful comeback. Wonderful turn of events, IMHO.
--- end mail main contents ---
A correspondent, in his response, passed on this very interesting link, "Faith, the Final Frontier: Russian Spaceships Blessed by God", http://www.vocativ.com/world/russia/russian-space-program/, dated July 2014. The initial part of the article shows a Soviet Russia propaganda picture of a cosmonaut floating in space and has the slogan, "There is no God". The article goes on to say that Russian spacemen today have a very different take. Here's the pic put up by a Russian cosmonaut around a week before the article was written (24th July 2014), http://instagram.com/p/qoIa5BwKG2, which shows around half a dozen religious (mostly, if not all, Christian) icons put up inside the multi-billion dollar International Space Station with two of the three cosmonauts in the pic having a religious icon attached to their uniform/body as well. The article also mentions that priests regularly sprinkle Russian space rockets with holy water prior to launch.
Ravi: What a dramatic change in Russia! Sure, there would be many atheists and opponents to Russian cosmonauts putting up religious icons in their/international space stations. But from a 'There is no God' cosmonaut poster in Soviet Russia, to religious icons put up by Russian cosmonauts in the international space station, is truly a dramatic change.
I am reminded of the current head of Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO, which is the main organization handling India's space program, frequently visiting Tirupathi Balaji temple to get the blessings of Lord Venkateswara prior to important space/satellite mission launches, and also to give Thanks for successful mission launches/other operations. To read about one such visit in Oct. 2014, see http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/isro-chairman-prays-at-tirumala/article6500911.ece.
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