Don’t Ignore Alexei Navalny’s Christian Faith

When Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s death in an Arctic gulag was announced in the media on Feb. 16, none of the public eulogies, outside a few religious outlets, included Mr. Navalny’s conversion from atheism to Christianity. He had spoken explicitly—although infrequently—about how his religious faith influenced his activism. He acknowledged it might earn him mockery from his opposition compatriots. A similar embarrassment may be behind the omission of his beliefs in the retrospectives on his life’s work. But we risk missing the lessons of Mr. Navalny’s death for his principles if we ignore his very Christian understanding of suffering.