By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct 23 2024 (IPS)

Bronisław Malinowski (1884 – 1942) did for several years conduct socio-anthropological research in the Trobriand Islands. Returning to England after World War I, he wrote several ground breaking books, among them Magic, Science, and Religion in which he assumed that people’s feelings and motives are crucial for understanding the way their society functions. Malinowski considered society to be intimately interlinked with individuality – i.e. an individual’s ideas and behaviour are created and formulated within the social circles s/he lives and vice versa. Consequently, an individual’s personality might influence an entire society, depending on the leading role s/he is granted.

Malinowski found that whenever Trobriand islanders planned to sail into turbulent ocean waters, they performed complicated rituals, but when they planned to sail in the calm waters of a lagoon, they did not perform any ceremonies at all. Accordingly, he came to the conclusion that people become more interested in magic and religion whenever they face a stressful situation:

Magic is to be expected whenever man comes to an unbridgeable gap in his knowledge, or in his powers of practical control, and yet has to continue in his pursuit. Religion is not born out of speculation or reflection, still less of illusion or misapprehension, but rather out of the real tragedies of human life, out of the conflict between human plans and realities.

What about our political leaders, are they confiding in religion and magic? Probably yes and no, though it cannot be denied that several of them make use of people’s fears and religious leanings. When Netanyahu on 27 September spoke to the United Nations General Assembly, he defined the UN as a

swamp of antisemitic bile, there’s an automatic majority willing to demonize the Jewish state for anything. In this anti-Israel flat-earth society, any false charge, any outlandish allegation can muster a majority.

This in spite of the fact that much of this rancour is based on Israel’s refusal to give up support to, and expansion of Jewish settlements, deemed illegal under international law, on Palestinian sovereign territory.

The Israeli Prime Minister quoted the Bible: “Blessed be the Lord, my Rock and my great strength, who trains my hand for war and my fingers for battle [Psalm 144]”, and stated that Israel accordingly would achieve “total victory in the war” and in accordance with the Book of Samuel: “The eternity of Israel will not falter”.

Netanyahu’s anger might be excused due to Hamas’ 7 October breaching of the Gaza-Israel Barrier and killing of 1,139 people, including 695 civilians, among them 38 children. Women were violated and hostages taken. The aftermath was terrible, when the Israeli Army in its hunt for Hamas is continuously destroying Gaza’s infrastructure, indiscriminately putting a whole population in danger and misery and has so far killed more than 43,000 individuals, among them 11,300 children less than five years old.

After Hamas deplorable attack Netanyahu did of course condemn it, but he went further than that by stating that Israel would deal with Hamas in a manner that would affect an entire population, i.e. the Palestinians of Gaza. By doing so he used the Bible declaring that: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember.” What did God declare about the Amalekites?

“I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys (1 Samuel: 15-16).”

Is Netanyahu religious? I don’t think so. He picks some detail from the Scriptures and uses it for his own political reasons. He is not applying any of the strict Jewish rules, wears the kippah and recites prayers only when his job demands so. He doesn’t show up at synagogue services with any regularity and is known to work on the Shabbat. However, applying religion to politics is something entirely different from being religious, and this is something Netanyahu has in common with another demagogue, namely Donald Trump. I am quite sure that Trump’s Bible knowledge is almost non-existent, but this does not hinder him from hawking his God Bless the USA Bible for 60 USD, in support of his campaign (it’s printed in China). Like his Israeli counterpart Trump acts like a Doomsday prophet while depicting a grim world on the edge of a catastrophe. According to Trump, to avoid an economic collapse, or even a destructive World War, people have to vote for him. Like his American friend, who relies on votes of duped born-again Christians, Netanyahu depends on ultra-Orthodox Jews.

During his years in the US, where he went to school and university, became a business man and Isarel’s UN ambassador, Netanyahu did besides befriending Donald Trump’s father Fred, meet with Rebbe Menachen M. Schneerson (1902-1994), whom he on several occasions has referred to as “the most influential man of our time”.

Schneerson inherited the leadership of a small Hasidic group, almost annihilated during the Holocaust, and turned it into one of the most influential, global movements in religious Jewry. His writings fill more than 400 volumes. After fleeing pogroms in Ukraine, Schneerson lived in New York. He never visited Israel, though Israeli leaders like Sharon, Rabin, Peres, and not the least Netanyahu, visited him and sought his advice. Many of Schneerson’s adherents believe he was the Messiah.

Schneerson’s ideas can be easily discerned in Netanyahu’s policies and speeches. For example, when Netanyahu became UN ambassador Schneerson advised him:

There is an assembly hall there that has eternal falsehood, utter darkness. Remember that in a hall of perfect darkness, totally dark, if you light one small candle, its light will be seen from afar. Its precious light will be seen by everyone. Your mission is to light a candle for truth and the Jewish people.

Schneerson constantly hailed the Israeli Army as a God chosen medium through which He would send deliverance to the Jewish people and like Netanyahu he was a stout adversary to surrender any of the “liberated territories”, i.e. The West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Schneerson stated that the Jewish settlements in occupied territory were “blessed cities” and had to be walled not only in a physical sense, but as a “spiritual” protection. Accordingly, Schneerson was, like Netanyahu, against the peace agreement with the Palestinians and a two-state solution.

Another warmonger claiming religious motivations for his belligerent acts is Vladimir Putin. Like other xenophobes he uses “culture” as a means to unify his acolytes. He has joined forces with a conservative Russian, religious elite to support the narrative of a Russia chosen to defend a specific brand of culture and religion. The Russian Orthodox Church is mobilised as a crucial part of Putin’s policy, to create a common sense of “Spiritual Security”.

Putin has been able to cultivate an enigmatic public persona – a hard and strong man. An image giving birth to rumours, legends and myths around him. Accordingly, it is hard to find proof of his personal, religious convictions, but there are several signs that he might at least be a superstitious man.

Putin has declared himself to be a deeply religious man. He carries on him a baptismal cross given to him by his mother and blessed by Jesus’ tomb in Jerusalem. Relatively early in his presidency, Putin spoke openly about his Russian Orthodox faith and formed a close bond with certain members of the clergy, among them Archimandrite Tikhon, for several years Father Superior of Sretensky monastery and now acting as Metropolitan in the Diocese of Simferopol and Crimea. Tikhon, whose secular name is Georgiy Shevkunov, is rumoured to be Putin’s personal confessor (духовник) and spiritual advisor. Both men have neither confirmed nor denied this, though it is generally known that Putin on his national and international trips often is accompanied by Father Tikhon, though Putin’s travels abroad has now become extremely rare due to an International Criminal Court’s warrant for his arrest as war criminal.

Father Tikhon, who studied film and literature before becoming a priest, has written several books imbued with an ultra-conservative conviction about Russia’s ingrained spirituality, as well as beliefs in faith healing. He is believed to be a spiritual healer himself. Some regime critics compare Tikhon to with the notorious mystic and faith healer Gregori Rasputin, said to have had a disastrous influence on the household of the last Tsar.

As part of his religious, nationalistic persona, Putin has made several highly publicised visits to the legendary Valaam Monastery on an island in Lake Ladoga, where he among other acts has immersed himself in icy water as part of an ancient Orthodox Epiphany ritual. A deed reminding of his Siberian immersions in deer blood and bare-chested rides. These stunts took place in Tuva, home of Putin’s friend and former Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu. This year he once again visited Tuva, in connection with his first and only visit to a foreign country, neighbouring Mongolia. Sources close to Kremlin claimed that Putin’s third visit to Mongolia in a decade and his many travels to Tuva might be related to his specific attitude to Russian Orthodox mysticism and its connection to Shamanistic traditions. Mongolia and Tuva are considered to be home of the World’s most powerful shamans. Together with Sergei Shoigu, Putin is known to have participated in Shamanistic rituals.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, shamanism has experienced a revival. Similar to several influential church elders, many newly converted shamans have close ties to the authorities, so they may say not only what the spirits whisper to them, but what the officials want to hear. Shamanism is a religious practice that generally means that a shaman through a self-induced trance interacts with the “spirit world”, directing spiritual energies into the physical world and thus becomes able to heal ailments and predict the future. Putin is assumed to meet with shamans to become energised and seek spiritual advice about how to behave, in particular in connection with the war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, invocations and spells have multiplied in the regions of Buryatia, Tuva, Irkutsk and Altai where shamanism is widespread. And according to their own account, there are currently 17 shamans participating in Ukrainian war actions.

As everything connected with Putin rumours are hard to confirm. However, there is no doubt that he, Netanyahu and Trump make use of religion for their own benefit and it is possible that they like Malinowski’s Trobriands are seeking spiritual protection when they venture out into stormy waters. At least they use religion to seduce their followers and in the case of Putin and Netanyahu to find support for their belligerent acts.

Main sources: Pfeffer, Anshel (2018) Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu. New York: Basic Books and Zygar, Mikhail (2024) ”Gerüchte in Moskau lässt sich Putin von Schamanen für den Krige beraten?” Der Spiegel, 14 September.

IPS UN Bureau

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