Representatives of religious and human rights organizations discussed moral issues

On April 24, Moscow hosted a round table "Human Rights and Decline in Morals. Freedom and Morality: Allies or Antipodes", organized by the Russian Peace Foundation. The meeting was attended by representatives of human rights and religious organizations: Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseeva, Executive Director of the Institute of Human Rights Valentin Gefter, Director of the Institute for the Study of Religion in the CIS and Baltic States Nikolai Mitrokhin, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Head of Staff Council of Muftis of Russia Kharis Saubyanov, representative of the Yaroslavl Diocese Archpriest Gennady Moroz, writer, member of the Board of the Russian Peace Foundation Anatoly Salutsky, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Peace Foundation Elena Sutormina,.

The dialogue began with a discussion of the results of the VTsIOM poll "Morals and Strength." Father Vsevolod Chaplin and Lyudmila Alekseeva agreed that there is no decline in morals in today's society. According to the priest, one should not compare the level of morality of different eras, since people tend to idealize the past time and complain about the immorality of their contemporaries. The head of the MHG believes that there are as many immoral people and those who adhere to moral standards today as in previous generations. Instead of the problem of morality, one should speak of "some kind of ideological confusion", which the state and society should deal with jointly.

Valentin Gefter said that neither the state nor society should determine the moral guidelines of a person. The task of society and the state is to provide conditions for a person to change these guidelines and develop moral constraints for himself.

Fr. did not agree with this statement. Vsevolod Chaplin. According to him, this can only apply to highly educated people, while most of society forms its ideas about morality under the influence of external influences - television, the opinions of other people.

Anatoly Salutsky drew attention to the problem of "spoiling the language" - the widespread use of profanity.

Kharis Saubyanov mentioned homosexuality, noting that all religions consider this phenomenon a sin and that the minority should not influence the majority.

Nikolai Mitrokhin noted that there is no abstract society - there are separate groups that have different ideas about good and evil. Based on which corporation has the greatest influence on the rest, the concept of morality is defined today.

Anatoly Salutsky called for a mechanism to coordinate the positions of various groups so that corporations do not "fight" among themselves. According to Valentin Gefter, it is possible to agree on specific issues (for example, the possibility or impossibility of showing a film that offends the feelings of believers), but not general concepts of morality and ethics.

As a result, those present noted the need for such meetings and the benefits of the exchange of views of representatives of different points of view.

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