The Moscow Times news

These two articles appeared in the June 11th 2010 addition of the Moscow Times....very interesting

Church Wants End to Darwin School 'Monopoly' The Russian Orthodox Church has called for an end to the "monopoly of Darwinism" in schools, saying religious explanations of creation should be taught alongside evolution."The time has come for the monopoly of Darwinism and the deceptive idea that science in general contradicts religion. These ideas should be left in the past," Archbishop Hilarion said at a lecture to Foreign Ministry officials.
"Darwin's theory remains a theory. This means it should be taught to children as one of several theories, but children should know of other theories, too," he said Wednesday.
The atheist Soviet state used Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to disprove the biblical teaching that God created the world. The theory, which biologists say gives a verifiable explanation for how life forms develop through natural selection, now dominates in Russian schools as it does in science teaching in most countries.
Hilarion said the theory that one species could evolve into another had never been proven. Children "should know about the religious picture, the creation of the world, which is common to all the monotheistic religions," he said.

Children Encouraged to Pray for Putin

Even as Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denied that a personality cult has grown around him, news broke Thursday that St. Petersburg children were being encouraged to pray that God bless Putin and shield him from "demoniacal temptation."