Human rights should be based on moral norms – Metropolitan Kirill

Orthodox believers are prepared to accept the world view of other nations. However, they cannot keep silent when alien norms contradicting the basis of the Orthodox faith are being imposed upon them. It is necessary to carry out intensive harmonization of various views of the world," he said at the 10th World Russian Popular Council in Moscow on Tuesday
admin | 04 April 2006

Moscow, April 4, Interfax – The Russian Orthodox Church should develop a universal approach to human rights based on moral norms and combining various traditions, said Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Kirill.

“Orthodox believers are prepared to accept the world view of other nations. However, they cannot keep silent when alien norms contradicting the basis of the Orthodox faith are being imposed upon them. It is necessary to carry out intensive harmonization of various views of the world,” he said at the 10th World Russian Popular Council in Moscow on Tuesday.

Freedom and human rights are a great achievement of human civilization, however, “it is necessary to prepare citizens to use these rights, taking into account the moral norms,” he said.

This is the reason why the Russian Orthodox Church is against attempts to legalize homosexual relations and the advertisement of gambling ventures, he said.

A European parliament resolution adopted this January proposes that children be educated to accept homosexuality and establishes a fight against homophobia, he said.

An approach which is not balanced by moral norms should not pretend to be a unique understanding of human rights, he said. Unfortunately, “such an approach is steadily making its way into modern international legislation,” he said.

Source: interfax-religion.ru

Since you are here…

…we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong.

Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable.

For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir.

If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life's purpose, family and society.