For 1700 years the country of Georgia has been under the influence of the Orthodox Church. In the face of severe repression by invading countries, including the mass slaughter of thousands of Georgians during the 300 some-odd years of oppression under the Ottoman and Iranian Empires, Georgians have clung to their faith as the foundation of their culture and their identity. It has been largely due to their faith that the Georgian people have suffered so much during modern history, first at the hands of Muslim invaders bent on converting them, then under the Russian Empire.
It is my feeling that in order to understand Georgia today, one must understand the role the Georgian Orthodox Church plays in society, politics and public policy, and the role the Orthodox faith plays in the development of a modern Georgian identity. The Church is omnipresent throughout daily life here, whether its influence is obvious, like religion classes taught in public and private schools, or more implied, like the accepted practice of arranged marriages and the lack of equality between genders. I believe that Georgian society is at a crossroads, between the old ways of a closed nation and the new ways of progressive society, as the government aligns itself with Europe and the West.
The world's attention is currently focused on the impact of radical religious sects, and the terrorists they breed. The Georgian Orthodox Church does not harbor terrorists or advocate the bombing of airplanes. But their traditional -and current-approach toward Christianity does encourage nationalist tendencies and the inequality between genders. Their teachings accentuate the differences between Georgians and their neighbors and label the unknown as dangerous and sinful, adding to the fire of ethnic discord in this tiny nation. The current policies of the Church do not place a high value on individual thought or the progressive development and modernization of the faith. Despite an ancient tradition of acceptance toward foreign faiths, the current Church leaders have been silent supporters of the recent violence toward 'imported' religions such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints. Their influence is not all bad, however, given that they provide a strong moral compass that seems to largely keep the population in check. They also provide people with a strong sense of who they are and where they came from, and help protect the traditions that Georgians so closely identify with. It is important to note that there is nothing fundamentally radical about the faith itself. It is merely the current policy of 'protecting' it from any potential threats (ie modernization or other religions converting its flock) that give it radical tendencies today.
I hope my essay, once completed, will give people a look at the role a national religion plays in the development of that nation-both the good and the bad. I want to show the beauty -and the danger- of the fight to hold on to traditions in the face of Westernization. Finally, I want to document the effect of modernization on this ancient people. They have kept their faith and traditions for nearly two thousand years, despite violent oppression by all their neighbors. It has taken less than ten years of MTV, Coca-Cola and McDonalds--peacefully invasion--for those traditions to feel the sting of change. Will the Georgians find a way to blend their traditional culture with our secular culture, or will they lose those traditions that they have valued for so long?