The Salt Lake Tribune’s ace religion reporter, Peggy Fletcher Stack (Twitter handle, @religiongal), recently returned from a trip to Russia with an extensive report on how difficult it is for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint, among other Western religions, to establish a foothold there.
Why? Because of the effective merger there of the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church. The absence of a wall between church and state. The same situation that many in Utah blame for what they view as silly and repressive laws, laws favored by the LDS Church, concerning alcohol, cannabis, sex education and equal status for women and LGBT folks.