Russian patriarch: Islamic State ‘demonizes’ Islam
December 17, 2014
During a recent meeting in Moscow with Turkey’s leading Muslim cleric, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church made comments about the Islamic State and the persecution of Christians.
“I cannot stop thinking that the Arab Spring and the emergence of radical Islamic paramilitary forces and their public executions of people-- all this is aimed at demonizing Islam in the eyes of global public opinion,” said Patriarch Kirill, according to an Interfax news agency report.
“Churches are being demolished, and Christians are being either killed or forced to convert into Islam, or sold into slavery, or forced to pay some special tax.” In Europe, he added, there are “numerous examples of people being discriminated just because they publicly display their Christian piety.”
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