A group of “ultraconservative” Russian Orthodox Christians is attempting to defend religious freedom in an unusual way: demanding that the United States relinquish control of Alaska.
According to RIA Novosti, a group calling themselves Pchyolki filed suit in Moscow several months ago, alleging that President Barack Obama’s support for gay marriage would infringe upon the religious freedom rights of Alaska’s 50,000 Russian Orthodox Christians. However, the lawsuit went unrecognized due to the group’s failure to submit all of the required paperwork.
The now-defunct suit cited “technical violations” in the 1867 treaty that legalized the sale of Alaska from Russia to the United States. The suit claimed that the U.S. paid for the property with a check, rather than in gold as the deal specified.
The Pchyolki want the U.S. to roll back the deal and return control of Alaska to Russia, effectively protecting Orthodox Christians from Obama’s as-of-yet nonexistent plan to legalize same-sex marriage.
