A meeting of representatives of Christian churches of the CIS and Baltic countries "Modern Europe: God, man, society. Human rights and the moral dimension" was held in Moscow

On February 27-28, at the Pilgrimage Center of the Moscow Patriarchate, a meeting of representatives of Christian churches of the CIS and Baltic countries “Modern Europe: God, man, society. Human rights and the moral dimension” took place. The event took place within the framework of the second, regional, stage of the III European Ecumenical Assembly, the final stage of which will be the meeting on September 4-9, 2007 in Sibiu (Romania).

The main topic was discussed mainly on the first day of the forum (see Blagovest-info report for more details). In particular, the head of the DECR MP, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, delivered a report on “Human Rights and Religious Principles.” He spoke about the Declaration on the Rights and Dignity of Man,adopted by the X World Russian People's Council in April 2006, and noted that “the synthesis of ideas achieved in the Declaration is very important for further dialogue between the Church and secular society. It turned out that the idea is right a person may not be a dividing, but a unifying principle for such a dialogue. In addition, thanks to this synthesis, the Church can and should use the idea of rights to defend its own interests in society and the state, to protect the right of each individual member of the Church and the entire Church as a whole to confess a certain thing. worldview and a certain system of values. What the World Russian People's Council announced is relevant not only for Russia, but also for the CIS countries, where the situation is in many ways similar to the Russian one, as well as for European countries."

In the final document of the meeting, human rights are directly mentioned in paragraphs 5, 6, 7:

"5. An important problem remains the interaction of religious tradition and a secular liberal view of man. The most relevant expression of this problem has become the discussion around the topic of human rights. During this discussion, the question is asked whether the opposition of human rights and religious tradition, as well as moral norms, which we consider them given by God, while secular consciousness declares them to be purely human, and therefore changeable inventions. Meanwhile, the idea of human rights can and should not be a dividing, but a unifying principle for dialogue between religion and secular society. For this it is necessary that. human rights were not considered in isolation from the moral dimension.

Man, as the image of God, has God-given freedom, and his rights must be respected by the state and society. Christians can and should use human rights mechanisms to defend their faith, their way of life and their value system, while caring for the good of every person living in society. At the same time, for traditional Christian consciousness, the idea of individual rights and freedoms is closely connected with the idea of moral and civil responsibility. We are convinced that without a solid moral foundation, rooted in God’s eternal truth, society will not be able to cope with the spiritual crisis, and therefore will not be able to create a worthy social and economic system, or lead a prosperous and peaceful life “in all godliness and purity” (1 Tim. 2. 2), to preserve God’s beautiful world suitable for life.
We are convinced of the destructiveness of such trends in the interpretation of human rights, such as the corrosion of the traditional idea of the family, calls to legalize “same-sex unions,” attempts to legalize drugs, statements about the moral acceptability of abortion and euthanasia, obsessive propaganda of the “culture of death,” interethnic and interreligious hostility, violence , debauchery, homosexuality, and other sins dangerous to the individual and society."

Let's also note point 9:

"9. From our point of view, the Christian spiritual and moral message should be present in the world of politics, economics, culture, and in the media. We have no less right than non-believers to have our voice heard in society and influence on the decisions made in it, on the rules of behavior and way of life that develop within it.”

According to the Kommersant newspaper, the main result of the meeting was that “the Russian Orthodox Church, which launched an attack on the accepted system of liberal values, enlisted the support of Christian religious leaders of the CIS and Baltic countries.” The position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue, the newspaper notes, was actively supported, in particular, by the head of the Russian United Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals), Bishop Sergei Ryakhovsky (“Perhaps these proposals do not sound democratic, but restrictions on freedoms are for the good, in order to preserve morality and civilization ") and the leading bishop of the Russian Church of the Christian Church, Pavel Okara (he told Kommersant: “We are against democracy, which brings decay to society. We need evangelical democracy with evangelical morality, where sin is called sin”).

Sources

An inter-Christian meeting “Modern Europe: God, man, society. Human rights and the moral dimension” is taking place in Moscow // Blagovest-info. 2007. February 27.
Human rights and religious principles. Speech by the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad at a regional meeting before the III European Ecumenical Assembly // Official website of the Russian Orthodox Church. 2007. February 27.
Participants of the inter-Christian meeting in Moscow announced the resumption of the activities of the Christian Interfaith Advisory Committee // Blagovest-info. 2007. February 28.
Media materials: “Christians do not believe in human rights. The idea of the Russian Orthodox Church to revise liberal values received the support of Catholics and Protestants” // Interfax-religion. 2007. March 1. (Article by P. Korobov from Kommersant.)
Final document of the meeting of representatives of Christian Churches and communities of the CIS and Baltic countries within the framework of the second stage of preparation of the III European Ecumenical Assembly // Ibid.