Felony Athesism

Dear Mr. Boehner,

Normally I am not one to talk about anyone's religious affiliations. Between the religious right lighting up your office phone like a Christmas tree on a daily basis to the loving followers of the Reverend Moon trying to sell you flowers at Reagan National Airport, I am sure you get your fill of religious issues.

However, there is nowhere like Russia to take the cake on this topic:

Russian church 'taken by thieves'

A 200-year-old church building has disappeared from a village in central Russia, officials from the Russian Orthodox Church say.

The building had stood near the village of Komarovo since 1809.

It was intact in July but some time in early October thieves made off with it brick by brick, they said.

Local prosecutors had been informed and an investigation was under way, a spokesman for the local Russian Orthodox Church said.

The disappearance of the Church of the Resurrection, some 300 km (186 miles) north-east of Moscow, was not immediately noticed.

It was in an out-of-the-way area and was not being used, although Church officials were considering resuming services there.

Now all that remained of the two-storey building - a school before it was turned over to the Church - were its foundations and some sections of wall, the Church said.

Thieves often target churches in rural Russia. Religious icons can be sold and church structures sold off for building materials.


Okay, I know that Russia has a serious problem with an aging population and deteriorating birthrates, but how do you not notice over a three month period that brick by brick that a local historical site is disappearing from view faster than a bottle of vodka on a cold Siberian night?

"Local prosecutors have been informed and are investigating?" What about the police? Any chance they actually left the local Dunkan Donutski long enough to drive by the church once or twice and maybe notice that it was gone before now?

True, this is a small village over 180 miles from Moscow, but last time I checked no one had stolen the First Baptist Church of Dime Box, Tx recently either.

I guess the Russians give a whole new meaning to "losing my religion".