Denison Forum
Dr. Jim Denison
In the aftermath of Alexei Navalny’s death last Friday, much of the focus has—understandably—been on his attempts to combat corruption in the Russian government and on the role Vladimir Putin likely played in his demise. Yet, as Russell Moore recently described, Navalny’s final years were defined as much by his Christian faith as by his politics or his time in prison. And that faith, in turn, motivated a great deal of how he chose to approach the persecution that ended his life at the age of forty-seven.
You see, Navalny came to faith late in his life. And while he hasn’t gone into detail on that process, the general belief is that it happened in the aftermath of Putin’s previous attempt to kill him in 2020.
As he told a court the following year, “The fact is that I am a Christian, which usually rather sets me up as an example for constant ridicule in the Anti-Corruption Foundation, because mostly our people are atheists and I was once quite a militant atheist myself.”
He then went on to explain how his faith gave clarity and focus to his life as his circumstances became progressively grim.
As Moore concludes, “This was the root, I believe, of Navalny’s moral courage, his willingness to stand alone, his willingness to die.”
And while we may not be facing the prospect of imminent death or being banished to the gulags, living out our faith well still requires the moral courage to stand against the culture when the culture stands against God.
However, the manner in which we take that stand is just as important as our willingness to take it. The Rest of The Story Here
