Introduction by Matthias Smalbrugge

War in Ukraine and still no truce. On the contrary, heavier weaponry is used by the Russians and targets are far from being only military ones. As we have seen in Georgia, in Syria, war cannot be pictured without awful cruelty, injustice, and fathomless grief lasting for the decades to come.

Yet, it is a new war. Not because of its cruelty and the endless mourning, but because of two unexpected aspects. First of all, nuclear weapons have become an issue. Russia made clear it will not hesitate to use these weapons once it feels NATO threatens its vital interests. Though the language of ‘rationality of deterrence’ and of ‘mutually assured destruction’ was well known, it has never been so clear that one of the belligerents is indeed ready to use these weapons. The ‘rationality’ has now become a mere semblance. We are dealing with someone who seriously is ready to use these weapons. The narrative has changed.

In this changing narrative religion plays an important role. Not only because of the remarks of patriarch Kirill on the Ukrainian forces of evil or on the gay prides that so much corrupted Western society, but because of the visible process of the ideologization of religion that took place in the Orthodox churches. Yet, this is a process that cannot only be witnessed in the Russian Orthodox Church, we could already recognize a similar phenomenon in the evangelicals communities of the US. Now, this ideologization comes down to forging a narrative in which nationalistic and religious elements are merged into a new story about the uniqueness of a certain culture. Such a unique culture should of course be preserved and defended against all possible menaces and threats, rightly because it is unique. This insistence on its uniqueness implies necessarily a return to essentialism, allowing the protagonists of this narrative to consider others as less unique, less worthy, less spiritual. In short, it opens the door to new stories of pretended superiority.  

That is the changing narrative, the narrative that once again wakens the old dream of one faith, one reign, one law. Unfortunately, this religious aspect is also one of the elements of surprise the Western countries met in the case of this war. We never expected Russia to invade Ukraine in a full-fledged war. We never expected religion to play such an essential role. Religion, in Western eyes, is something private, a conviction or adherence based on individual choice. The shift religion has undergone has escaped us. Indeed, there is no return of religion in the traditional sense, but there is a paradigm shift that places religion in a completely another narrative than the one we were accustomed to. That is what we will discuss in this round table on the war in Ukraine. 

Matthias Smalbrugge