It’s hard to believe serious news outlets, like the Associated Press, are delivering headlines like “Russian Orthodox Church embraces gays” when the Russian Orthodox Church is doing nothing of the sort.
The Church, led by Patriarch Kirill, still believes very strongly that homosexuality is a sin, will send you to hell, to burn in flames for eternity and all that fun stuff. But while you’re here on earth? Kirill thinks man should have the common decency not to discriminate against queers.
That’s not exactly “embracing.” As Ria Novosti reports:
Meeting with the secretary general of the Council of Europe, a pan-European human rights body, in his office in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow, the Russian church leader said: “We respect the person’s free choice, including in sex relations.”
But Kirill said “the religious tradition of almost all nations has treated homosexuality as a sin.”
“Those who commit a sin must not be punished… And we have repeatedly spoken out against discriminating people for their nontraditional sexual orientation,” Patriarch Kirill told Thorbjorn Jagland.
Kirill also said the Church is opposed to putting relationships between man and woman on par with homosexual ties.
But that doesn’t mean Kirill’s comments have now value, as they arrive from a conservative religious leader in a country that regularly oppresses and discriminates against gays. This, in a “Democratic” country.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Then again, Kirill is the same guy who has a serious problem with … nightclubs.
Josh NYC
Religion is a just another “story.” I prefer Snow White, others prefer the Bible. But, Snow White doesn’t have any bigotry or hatred.
Tom in Lazybrook
I’ll believe it when Gays in Russia can exercise their rights (even under Russian law – as if that has any value) to freedom of protest, petition, association, and assembly. Especially in Moscow.
The Russian Orthodox Church has even gone to the European Parliament to opine that Gays should be denied these basic civil rights.
My guess is that the Council of Europe has finally gotten around to investigating the literally hundreds of pending lawsuits against Russia on Gay rights and Kirill issued some statement in English (I’ll bet it isn’t publicized in Russian) that he has no intention of following up on.
I’d also like to see some sort of action against Orthodox organizations (such as the Union of Orthodox Garonfoliers) and easily identified Orthodox priests/auxiliaries that have participated in violent protests against Gay people in Russia.
Again, if Kiril is serious (and I doubt it) this represents a massive shift for the Russian Orthodox Church. But follow ups are in order.
Matthew
“The Church, led by Patriarch Kirill, still believes very strongly that homosexuality is a sin, will send you to hell, to burn in flames for eternity and all that fun stuff.”
This characture of Orthodoxy’s conception of hell is offensive. It is deeply disapointing to all Orthodox to pigeon-hole us into the Western (and from Orthodoxy’s perspective pagan) notion of heaven and hell. For Orthodox hell is not a place, nor is it merely a place for ‘bad’ people. For Orthodox Christians hell is a state of relationship, a condition of the heart that begins in this life and extends to the next. The same can be said of heaven. Hell is not a place where God sends bad people; it is the hearts of those who are so sick with the disease of sin that they are in a state of suffering. That suffering begins in this life and can extend beyond the grave. Additionally Orthodoxy’s God does not hate homosexuals or any person. From Orthodoxy’s perspective sin is not God’s problem, it is man’s problem. Man is not sent to Hell by God, man becomes his own hell by living a life that is less than that which God made him for. Orthodox Christianity is very different from other Western forms of Christianity. In the future please don’t attribute false attributes to the Orthodox faith.
hephaestion
Russian Orthodox priests redefine the word “thug.” They are evil, and blatantly and agressively so. Read up on the horrors they inflicted upon Russians before 1917. It is no wonder the Revolution of 1917 wanted to wipe out the Russian Orthodox church; they were 10 times more brutal than the communists. And they have not changed.
AL
No. 4 · hephaestion.
Fuck you! The commies killed more people than Russian Orthodox Church ever dreamed of. Fuck Russia! Russia has never been a truly free society. It’s a significant aspect of Russian mentality to blame the West, Jews, and gays for all social ills within Russia. I can’t wait till the Unites States bombs the hell out of this primitive and barbaric country.
Jeff K.
@ #5
As if that will ever happen. They have almost as many nukes as we do!
naghanenu
Duh? Queerty u realize when many religious groups say they
Embrace gays this is what they mean. They may not support the inhuman treatment
Of gays..hi Uganda, but it doesn’t mean they believe u will see heaven.
As far as they know the Bible makes it clear where u will end up so…..
Nikolai Alekseev
There is nothing really new in the statement of the Patriarch except that he made it public himself. We were already writing about this position of the Orthodox Chuuch long ago after we obtained a copy of a private correspondance exchanged between Kirill and the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Keep in mind the harsh interview Kirill gave to the German magazine Der Spiegel less than a year ago and even if you read his statement at the Council of Europe, he is considering homosexual siners.
The only interesting question to ask today is why Kirill made this statement especially that the General Secretary of the Council of Europe told the media that this point was not even raised by him but by Kirill directly…
Our analysis and a bit moe of background here :
http://www.gayrussia.ru/en/news/detail.php?ID=14787
Nikolai Alekseev
Moscow Pride Chief Organizer