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29 October 2009, 17:31Russian Orthodox Church urges U.S. crackdown on religious extremism
Moscow, October 29, Interfax - A senior Russian Orthodox Church official called on the United States to take action against "extremist ideas that are cloaking themselves with religion."
"If American foreign policy sees bans on Nazi ideas in some countries as normal practice, it should in the same way come home to the U.S., in my view, that some extremist ideas that are cloaking themselves with religion are no less dangerous, and not only for Russia and Europe but for the United States itself as well," Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations, told the Interfax-Religion.
"We should combat these ideologies together, respecting the right of society to self-defense," he said.
The main point "that we should continue debating with the authors [of the U.S. State Department's 2009 religious freedom report] is the right of society to defend itself against destructive religious ideas," Father Vsevolod said. "Society, and consequently the state as well, must have such a right."
"When we are speaking about extremist interpretations of Islam, about attempts to equate Orthodoxy and aggressive ultra-nationalism, about extremist movements that use pagan ideas in seeking to justify themselves, society and authority must react," the priest said.
The public action against radical political ideas such as Nazism is considered natural and normal practice all over the world, he added.
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