Members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot made international headlines when they were arrested in 2012 after a performance critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin that took place inside a Russian Orthodox cathedral. This case highlights a landscape of religious and political freedom and restriction that has given rise to anti-gay legislation and blasphemy laws in Russia. In “Mr. Putin Goes to Church,” we will explore the history, cultural context, and political realities at play. Speaker: Nadieszda Kizenko is an associate professor of history at the State University of New York, Albany. She has written widely about the place of religion in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine, and about women and religion in that region. Respondents: Paul Valliere is the McGregor Chair of the Humanities and a professor of religion at Butler University. Founder of the Butler Seminar on Religion and Global Civilization, Valliere is also a noted scholar of Russian Orthodox Christianity. Patrick Michelson is an assistant professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, and an intellectual historian of Russian Orthodox Christian thought. The Seminar on Religion and World Civilization is a program of the Center for Faith and Vocation, promoting understanding of interfaith and intercultural relations through discussion of religious issues in global perspective.