Opinions of parliamentarians on the participation of the Church in public discussions on current issues

July 30, 2011, speaking in the TV program "Word pastor", Patriarch Kirill complained about the difficulties with which faced by clergy participating in a public discussion on topical issues.

"Unfortunately, the presence of clergy in public discussions very often looks flawed, inferior. Everyone is waiting for a priest more. And he cannot say more because of the format of the discussion and the atmosphere in which which this discussion is taking place ," he said.

On August 3, Regions.ru published the opinions of Russian parliamentarians on the participation of the Church in public discussion.

The representative of the Belgorod region in the Federation Council Nikolai Ryzhkov considers the participation of religious figures in political disputes "absolutely inappropriate" : "Due to the fact that the Church is separated from the state, clergy to talk about elections, parties, the economic model is not worth it, especially since there are many zones where the opinion of religious figures is very valuable and important.

To such "zones" the politician referred questions of "culture, history, education, state of society" .

Others surveyed by Regions.ru parliamentarians believe that the participation of the Church in public discussions should increase.

Senator from the Jewish Autonomous Region Vladimir Dzhabarov is sure that most of the clergy are "excellently educated, brilliant orators" and "teach others only good and kind, call for interethnic and interfaith peace" .

Not limited to issues of culture, morality and morality called on the clergy by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on culture Grigory Ivliev. According to him opinion, representatives of religious organizations "should pay the attention of politicians, in particular, to the fact that the fate of people is behind their decisions, that they should not seek momentary profit, but think first of all about people that politics should be moral . "

Deputy head of the faction "United Russia" in State Duma Lyubov Sliska generally believes that the clergy should be "given the right" "to publicly criticize what they consider necessary" because "today except for the Russian Orthodox Church, no one can sober up and reason with society . "

Member of the State Duma Committee on Federation and Regional Affairs politics, a member of the Just Russia faction Anton Belyakov considers the current level of participation of religious denominations in the life of society. Because the state and the army withdrew from the educational process of citizens , "I am convinced politician, "society cannot do without the Church" .

Sources

• The church should participate more often in public discussions (opinions of parliamentarians) // Regions.ru. 2011. August 3.