Vladimir Putin’s campaign of violence in Ukraine has brought to the fore questions about his longstanding religious connect-ions, prompting scholars and journalists to challenge his well-markete d piety and seemingly deep devotion to Russian Ortho-dox spirituality—the latter of which is often expressed in its deep ties to the post-Soviet Moscow Patriarchate. In the study of religion, it’s long been common to question whether the categories of sincere or authentic religious belief are adequate for analyzing the complex motivations and actions of adherents or believers.
When practitioners are public figures with global geopolitical aims, the classification of true religious subjectivity is often suspended in favour of assuming a kind of charlatanism, or spiritually spurious intentions built to curry favour with faith com-munities. Our goal here isn’t to argue about Putin’s personal faith; rather, we want to reflect on how academic assumptions about individual religious practices and beliefs are often analysed through categories that typically begin and end with western conceptions of what counts as correct or wholehearted spirituality. In other words, we want to question the questioning of Putin’s faith.
Patriarch Kirill isn’t just a willing participant in the trans-national expansion of Russian power, culture, and Christianity-he’s a co-conspirator in this world building project of faith and politics.