Oleg Turlac
Unrealized Potential
In his succinct article, Dr. Mykhailo Cherenkov from Ukraine discusses issues related to the Slavic diaspora, the trauma experienced by many who lived under the Soviet regime, and the question of the adaptation of immigrants to the new reality of living abroad. Cherenkov points out that Slavic immigrants have potential to offer much good to American society. However, he also mentions that “Soviet trauma,” which as I understand, is the experience of living under totalitarian Soviet rule, prevents Slavic evangelicals from realizing that potential. Cherenkov argues that Slavic evangelicals need to go through much transformation and adaptation to living in a free society before they are able to become constructive citizens in the New World. And this they are not necessarily willing to do.
So far, Slavic immigrants in America have been facing considerable challenges in adapting to American life, culture, and legal requirements. It is hard for many to make choices and manage their own affairs. They tend to live in ghettos and rely on collective opinion concerning matters of life. Since the Slavic church remains the center of cultural and religious life for immigrants, Slavic preachers, rather than American mass media, shape their worldview.
In my opinion, Slavic immigrants should not be seen as an exclusive group that is expected to transform American society. They will exercise no greater influence than any other immigrant community. Their choice is between integration and marginalization.
Dissidents and Those Who Followed
I think Western support for the immigration of dissidents from the U.S.S.R. was the right thing to do. The problem is not with religious dissidents, such as Georgi Vins and Boris Perchatkin, but with those who followed in their footsteps who were not involved in dissident activities in the Soviet Union.
I think that the American government’s selection process for potential immigrants is to blame, for it allowed quite a few Soviet citizens who were not necessarily persecuted evangelicals or Jews to come to America as refugees. This author knows of cases of devout believers who were denied the right to immigrate and of others who did not attend church at all who were permitted to come to America.
Dissidents came to America in search of freedom and opportunity to express their faith. Many others who followed had purely economic motives. They simply followed the footsteps of their pastors and family members. I am inclined to agree with Cherenkov that instead of contributing to American society, quite a few Slavic immigrants began to exploit the system for their own advantage. They did not think of what they could offer to the country, but rather, what America could offer them.
However, unlike Cherenkov, I am not inclined to think that the American government had any high hopes that Soviet evangelicals would transform American society. It was rather a humanitarian effort to help those who went through much persecution and suffering for their faith.
Ghetto Mentality
The separation of Slavic evangelicals from American society, in my opinion, is due to ethnic churches being the center of their lives. Because believers from the same regions in the U.S.S.R. who immigrated to America tend to live in clusters (in Sacramento, Minneapolis, Spokane, Philadelphia, etc.), they form churches according to the image and likeness of congregations to which they belonged in the Soviet Union. It is true that for many believers church communities back in the days of the U.S.S.R. were a safe haven that shielded them and their children from the destructive influences of Communism and atheism. In America, on one hand, churches have prevented Slavic immigrants born in the 1930s to 1950s from experiencing total confusion in the face of a highly individualistic Western lifestyle. On the other hand, churches have also prevented immigrants from forming their own independent opinions about reality, impeding their progress in learning English, and slowed even partial integration into American society. Younger Slavic immigrants, even those who retain a Slavic version of Christianity, tend to like all things American.
Whereas in the very beginning America seemed to immigrants to be the Promised Land with free perks, with time they developed a more balanced and realistic picture of the country. Slavic believers realized that not all Americans were followers of Christ, and even if they were, the way they expressed their faith was not exactly what Slavic believers considered “pure biblical Christianity.” Slavic immigrants began to face legal consequences for breaking the law and came to realize that things that are available to them come at a cost.
In recent years, Slavic believers faced quite a few crises. Some of their children succumbed to the temptations of drugs and alcohol. Slavic families, unfortunately, were not immune to infidelity and divorce, which were widely considered “worldly vices.” Violent murders of members of the Bukhantsov and Lazukin families shocked Slavic communities in Oregon and California.1 A court decision to deprive Alexander and Lyudmila Kozlov of parental rights and to send them to prison filled the hearts of Slavic believers with resentment toward the American justice system.2 In addition, recent events in Ukraine have caused disagreements between ethnic Russian and Ukrainian Christians.3 With the rise of nationalism and patriotism in Putin’s Russia and widespread departure from a traditional view of the family in the West, quite a few Russian immigrants in recent times have tended to sound very pro-Russian and anti-American.
In my opinion, many Slavic immigrants feel betrayed and think that their new circumstance is as fraught with danger to their faith as was the case in the Soviet Union. Instead of thinking what they may contribute to American society, they are in a survival mode, trying to protect cherished values and to keep their children safe from what they consider to be the moral decay of American society.F
Notes:
- “California Man Faces Death Penalty after Being Charged in Brutal Stabbing of Mother and Her Two Toddlers,” 27 October 2012, Daily Mail; http://www. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223903/Californiaman-faces-death-penalty-charged-brutal-stabbingmothers-toddlers.html; Everton Balley, “Salem Man Kills Stranger, Wife, Kids, Self in Four-hour Span, DA Says.” 10 September 2012, The Oregonian; http:// www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index. ssf/2012/09/salem_man_kills_stranger_wife.html.
- Tim King, “Ukrainian Immigrant Couple Guilty of Child Abuse,” 5 December 2009, Salem News; http:// www.salem-news.com/articles/december052009/child_ abuse_tk.php.
- Suzanne Phan, “Local Russians and Ukrainians React to Crimea Crisis,” 21 March 2014; ABC News 10; http://www.news10.net/story/news/local/fair-oakscarmichael/2014/03/21/local-slavic-americans-react-tocrimea-crisis/6683541/.
Oleg Turlac, a native of Moldova, is the director of Turlac Mission and editor of Christian Megapolis, Toronto, Canada.