The Russian Orthodox Church: Ardent Foe of Human Rights
Kommersant reports:
The Russian Orthodox Church Bishops’ Council will begin tomorrow. A document will be issued by the council that will define the church’s stance on human rights, calling for resistance to the emerging system of liberal values that contains “lies, untruth and insults to religious and national values.” Opponents see a possibility that the document is being prepared as a political order, to displace secular human rights organization, and the political opposition with them.
The ruling hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church meet in Moscow once every four years to determine the further course of the church. Deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department of external relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said that a document was being prepared “on human rights, on the problem of freedom and dignity. We will try to answer the question of whether those who say that man is good from the start are right, and if he is completely emancipated, society itself will come to a normal life by itself.”
In 2006, at the World Council of the Russian People, the Russian Orthodox Church suggested that the concept of human right accepted in secular society should be reexamined. “In the complex of rights and freedoms of man ideas are gradually being integrated that not only contradict Christianity, but traditional moral understandings about man in general,” chairman of the world council, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill said at that time. A year later, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexiy II echoed those thoughts in a speech before the Parliament of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
“This is the first document in history that officially applies Orthodox dogma to one of the most pressing socio-political problems in modern society – human right,” Orthodox political scientist Alexander Dugan, one of the drafters of the current document told Kommersant. He said that it would be “a powerful philosophical institution designed to influence the legal model of the Russian state.”
“We are convinced that the time has come to reexamine the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are against those human rights that lead to the corruption of society and contradict moral bases,” said Konstantin Bendas, business manager of the Russian Union of Christian Evangelicals. Zinovy Kogan, chairman of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations of Russia said, “Unfortunately, the liberal approach to human rights protects sin that contradicts human nature and God’s law. The effort of the Russian Orthodox Church to change the situation is absolutely right; we support it.”
“The church in encroaching out of its area, because only the state can limit human rights, and not a church institution,” countered Lev Levinson of the Institute for Human Rights. “It is completely possible that this is a political order.”
“Secular human rights organizations have discredited themselves so much with their double standards that it is time to displace them,” said Dugan.
Labels:
human rights,
religion,
russia
7 comments:
Why on earth would anyone pay attention to what the rooshan orthodox "church" has to say about anything?
This is the same "church" that made a murdering tsar (Nicholas) a saint.
This is the same "church" that wound up as KGB agents for Stalin and his ilk.
This is the same "church" that today accepts "gifts" from murderous rooshan oligarchs in the form of new buildings - churches - that noone goes to except once a year, maybe, for Easter.
The rooshan orthodox "church" is a collection of bearded low-lifes who want to control everyone's life, just like Stalin.
The problem is that, in roosha, and elsewhere, the sclerotic babushkas that comprise roosha can't tell the difference betwee an icon of Stalin and an icon of Jesus.
So much for the rooshan orthodox "church" and human rights.
In other words, the rooshan orthodox "church" doesn't give a crap about human rights.
The bearded "patriarchs" do support whoever is in power, be it murderous tsars, or murderous fascist-communists.
Don't pre-judge. Your title - The Russian Orthodox Church: Ardent Foe of Human Rights - automatically assumes that the ROC opposes human rights. This is wrong. The ROC, like the Orthodox Church in general, opposes abortion and the glorification of sinful activities, such as homosexuality, drug use, etc. So do many traditional religious teachings, not just Christianity. Modern times have often touted such sinful activities as peoples' "rights," claiming that they come under individuals' human rights. The ROC wants to get back to the biblical traditional basics of moral living, and encourages society to return to its Christian (or Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist) roots, which mostly oppose sinful deviant behavior. The US and Western Europe used to also support traditional teachings, but especially during the last century, there has been a culture war (to borrow Bill O'Reilly's term) going on between traditional conservative values and so-called progressive secular humanism. This is the struggle that the ROC has emphasized. It emphasizes the moral struggle that each individual must make, and not letting society's laws allow deviant behavior. God's Laws are higher than society's laws. Russia is in some ways a very conservative country. For example, in the US it's okay for gay rights activists and tranvestites to put on their flamboyant parades in places like San Francisco, but they won't stand for it in Moscow.
There's a lot they won't stand for in Moscow nowadays: habeous corpus, political dissent, historical truth, a truly free press, true sovereignty for former imperial possessions (Ukraine, Georgia, Baltics, etc.), Central Asians in general, open and fair democratic elections, private enterprise, individual human rights guaranteed for the most part elsewhere except in places like Cuba, Zimbabwe or China...
Sir, I do not believe anyone here was accusing the Russian Orthodox Church or its marionette-holders in the Kremlin of being too tolerant or permissive, I can assure you....
"Russia is in some ways a very conservative country. For example, in the US it's okay for gay rights activists and tranvestites to put on their flamboyant parades in places like San Francisco, but they won't stand for it in Moscow."
True, the "human rights" movement is mostly not about freedom.
However, who was behind the U.N. with its "human rights"? Alger Hiss -- a GRU agent --, Vyacheslav Molotov, and the American Communist sympathizers.
This is about Russia's "right" to create its Chekist gulag for Russians, and has nothing to do with the Amsterdam-San Francisco Axis of which you speak:
http://takeyourcross.blogspot.com/2008/06/alexander-dugin-moscow-patriarchate-and.html
Tomek – I was just explaining what I believe the true meaning of what the ROC is trying to accomplish. The ROC constantly calls for repentance of one’s sins. I am talking about its teachings, and what is preached in its churches. Sir, I can assure you that the rank and file of the ROC, the true believers, are not puppets manipulated by the Kremlin. They are too busy working out their salvation. The blood of the New Martyrs of the Communist Yoke is testimony enough of their sincerity. They paid the ultimate price for their uncompromising faith in Christ. Perhaps you don’t realize how devoted the Russian Orthodox are to the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.
american christian – Yes, those you mentioned were Soviet Communists and their American Communist sympathizers. The keys words here are “Soviet” and “Communist.” Russia, especially Russia’s traditional moral values, had nothing to do with it. And the gist of the article is not about “Russia's ‘right’ to create its Chekist gulag for Russians” either. You miss the point entirely. And it does have EVERYTHING to do with the “Amsterdam-San Francisco Axis” of which you speak.
Slavabez --
The ROC and the ROCOR are tools of the Russian government:
http://cicentre.com/Documents/putin_espionage_church.html
The Russian government is the Soviet government:
http://larussophobe.wordpress.com/2007/01/21/the-sunday-magazine-new-american/
http://www.jrnyquist.com/cibulka_2004_0816.htm
http://www.jrnyquist.com/cibulka_2004_0829.htm
"devoted to the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary"?????
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
What did the rooshan orthodox theotokos church ever do for the people except support a murdering tsar and a murderous Stalin and KGB, and now a thug like Putin?
Today, the bearded patriarchs - what do they do for the people?
What does the rooshan orthodox church do for the people? Absolutely nothing!
They collect money from people, sprinkle holy water here and there on government buildings or newly acquired jets, whenever they're allowed, accept blood money from oligarchs, and do stupid chants.
"slavala boogaloo" is about all it amounts to.
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