A new controversy has broken out in Russia between the Orthodox Church and human rights organizations, the Asia News website reports today (April 5, 2011).
The head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for Relations between the Church and Society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has appealed to the community of believers to be more courageous in showing their faith.
"We should have no qualms about making the sign of the cross whenever we like, or hanging an image of the crucifix where we live and work," Fr. Chaplin wrote in an article published in the April issue of the Orthodox journal "Sovereign Rus."
The idea of the crucifix in the workplace or in schools has angered human rights activists in Russia. Lev Ponomarev -- a noted leader of a human rights movement -- said in response to Fr. Chaplin's article, "Concern yourself more with prayers and sermons, and not with pushing for official displays of Orthodox attributes."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Now that Communism is gone, I guess the tables are turned and atheists/humanists, who themselves have never seen the inside of gulag or jailed for their beliefs, all of a sudden they are "victimized" when they merely see a crucifix or if they encounter free speech exercised by a religious person. Those poor humanists have it so difficult, don’t they? They also have short memories.
ReplyDelete