75 of 100 victims of religious intolerance are Christians - Metropolitan Hilarion

Moscow, March 24, Interfax - Head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion cited data according to which Christians prevail among victims of religious intolerance.

"According to the data of non-governmental organization Aid To The Church In Need 75 of 100 victims killed from religious intolerance have been Christians in recent years," the Metropolitan said in his interview to Izvestia daily on Thursday.

The Metropolitan points out that in the majority of states where Christian minority is being persecuted, Christians have lived for many centuries, "even when local political regimens declared themselves more radical than today."

"It is today when all states have undertaken obligations to protect human rights, outflow of Christians from certain countries has increased. I believe it proves the failure of modern world policy on religious freedom and lack of interest to religious education," the Metropolitan said.

According to him, Christians are often fell victims of political mistakes made by Western states.

"The situation is difficult in Iraq. According to some data, half of 1,4 million Christian population has left the country since 2003. 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," the Metropolitan said.