Orthodox officials warn against caricatures of Muhammad

January 20, 2015

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the Georgian Orthodox Church has condemned “caricatures insulting the Muslims’ religious feelings,” and a leading Russian Orthodox official warned against a false dichotomy between terrorism and blasphemy.

“As lynching and terrorism cannot be justified, so the profanation of the Muslim or any other religious values must be condemned,” the patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox Church said, according to an Interfax report. Georgia’s population is 84% Orthodox and 10% Muslim.

“The consequences of such actions may be catastrophic not only for individual countries, but for the world as a whole,” the patriarchate added.

“We need to fight against terror, terror can’t be justified, but it doesn’t mean that we have to side with provocative blasphemy or insult of certain personalities,” added Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

 

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Further information:

• Georgian Orthodox Church condemns Prophet Muhammad caricatures (Interfax)
• Church official criticizes attempts to impose false choice between supporting terrorism and Charlie Hebdo policy (Interfax)