Key Russian Orthodox official criticizes invasion of Iraq
March 29, 2011
Lamenting indifference to the worldwide persecution of Christians, the Russian Orthodox Church’s chief ecumenical officer said that the Western invasion of Iraq brought suffering to numerous Christians.
“It is today when all states have undertaken obligations to protect human rights, outflow of Christians from certain countries has increased,” said Metropolitan Hilarion. “I believe it proves the failure of modern world policy on religious freedom and lack of interest to religious education.”
“According to some data, half of 1,4 million Christian population has left [Iraq] since 2003,” he continued. “Without giving any evaluations to political situation in Iraq before NATO interference, I'd like to mention that Christians there were not physically exterminated. Foreign military invasion has made many Christians hostages of insufficiently considered NATO actions.”
For all current news, visit our News home page.
Further information:
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
