Source: Interfax-Religion
Lyublyana, September 18, 2015
Christian countries can oppose pseudo-Islamic extremism only based on traditional religious values, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin believes.
"Secularism will never cope with the challenge of religious fanaticism and extremism coming to Europe today. Secularism will always lose to religious or pseudo-religious extremism. Even if secularism successfully beats off religious and public radicalism with the help of power and money for some time, it won't last long, only for 20-30 years," the priest said at the conference Cults, Neopaganism, Secularism: Danger of Christian Ethos' Decay in Slovenia.
According to the Russian Church official, lack of principles will always lose to the idea, lack of faith to faith. To illustrate his words he pointed to the history of the Soviet Union as the country had a "tough economy, the strongest authorities, and violent repressions, but all these things faded away because it did not have faith." Father Vsevolod believes that secularism will always lose to religious and public forces.
In order not to empower the darkest fanatics, we have to remember that Orthodoxy as well as Islam shows the way to an "integral lifestyle" that includes economy, social order, culture, education, and "everything society lives by."
According to him it is necessary to suggest such a vision of society, Orthodox lifestyle, and social order to "at least, Orthodox countries, as the only working alternative for us to secularism and pseudo-Islamic extremism."
