Stalin the priest

Sir,

In citing Stalin (Letters, 20 June) I wonder if the Reverend Donald J Morrison is aware that Stalin was a trainee priest of the Georgian Orthodox Church?

In the excellent 2007 biography of Stalin's early life, the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore notes that it was in the Tiflis seminary that Stalin learned "exactly the repressive tactics - surveillance, spying, invasion of inner life and violation of feelings, in Stalin's own words - that he would recreate in his Soviet police state."

That doesn't excuse Stalin's crimes but it does give one pause to wonder how differently things might have turned out had Stalin never wanted to be a priest and suffered at the brutality of the devout. Montefiore reports another former seminarian and contemporary of Stalin's stating "no secular school produced as many atheists as the Tiflis seminary."

The Reverend might also note that the current Georgian constitution recognises the special role of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the country's history, but also stipulates the independence of the church from the state, a pivotal requirement for any society that values all its citizens equally as opposed to privileging some on the grounds of religious belief.

Alistair McBay

National Secular Society

5 Atholl Crescent

Edinburgh

Letter: Stalin the priest

22 June 2017