Russian Orthodox Church Confuses Ending Persecution Of Christians With Making Everyone One

-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
How does one define persecution? This is one of the big problems facing Christianity and the entire world right now. How does one define what it means to be a persecuted minority. Is a ban on church services discrimination and persecution? That is an obvious case of persecution, in fact. Is the demand that crucifixes not be displayed in public schools persecution? To a rational person who wants freedom and respect for all religions, the answer to that is no. It is not persecution because displaying a Christian symbol all on its own is considered disrespectful of other religions. To many Christians, anything that bars them from crowding out other religions or forcing their moral views into the law is a form of persecution.

A recent article discussed the Russian Orthodox Church’s concern about the growing number of persecution cases against Christians across the globe, and called upon the world community to defend the rights of Christians. The article stated:

This was the main topic discussed at the meeting of the Russian Orthodox Church’s supreme body, the Holy Synod, which took place on May 30th in St. Petersburg. The meeting was chaired by the head of the Russian Church Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill.

In an interview with the Voice of Russia, a spokesman for the Russian Patriarch’s office Vladimir Legoyda said:

“The Synod listened to a report by the Chairman of the Church’s Department for Public Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. The metropolitan was very concerned with the growing anti-Christian sentiments in the world. The meeting adopted a resolution which said that the Russian Orthodox Church has always condemned any manifestations of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other religious hatred.”

Indeed, recently, there ware several Christian churches that were set on fire in Giza, Egypt and several Coptic Christians were murdered. Vladimir Legoydoa stated “Unfortunately, the number of similar incidents is growing. I think this is hardly incidental. One can speak of a growing trend for anti-Christian moods in several countries.”

In countries where being a Christian can mean death or the inability to worship, that is true persecution and discrimination. Unfortunately, the Russian Orthodox Church took the definition of persecution too far. According to the article “even in some countries where Christianity is a traditional religion, Christians may face discrimination, sometimes under most absurd pretexts. One of the examples is the recent demand of the Italian government not to expose crucifixes and other Christian symbols in schools. And this happens in Italy, where 98% of the population position themselves as Christians!”

Within such nations where religious freedom is a given, the displays should be all or nothing. Simply put, either there should be displays honoring the diversity of religion or there should be no religious symbology at all. Too often, people want their religion and only their religion to be displayed officially, and that is the problem because it makes a lie out of any pretenses of religious freedom. It says that all religions are not equal.

In fact, it makes a lie out of what Mr. Legoyda said next:

“Russia can serve as an example of religious tolerance. In Russia and other countries which are under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, diverse denominations have been coexisting quite peacefully for many years. We are ready to share our experience of tolerance with all who want to build a free and just society.”

If the Moscow Patriarchate is going to insist that banning the hanging of crucifixes in schools is persecution of Christians, then they do not want religious toleration or religious plurality. There must be more than toleration, in fact. If there is no governmental acknowledgment of the equality of all religions, and a purging of religion from the books of law so as to not infringe upon any other religion’s rights and to acknowledge the equality under the law of all religions, then there is no freedom from or of religion.

This means that there must either be recognition of all religious holidays or no recognition at all. This means there must either be symbols from all religions in government buildings or none at all. This means that the use of religion to persecute lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans people must stop right away and laws written to protect them and grant equal rights across the board.

Anything else is not equality of religion, but the toleration of a rhino for a tick bird.

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