Moscow hosted the international forum “Religion and peace: religion and digital society”

Photo: vk.com/4thchristianforum

October 24, 2018 in the multimedia press center MIA “Russia today” in Moscow was held the IV international forum “Religion and peace: religion and digital society”.

The organizer of the forum is “Union for promoting the preservation of traditional spiritual values, “the Christian world”” with the support of the Moscow Government. The event discussed the role of digital technologies in the modern world and their influence on the interaction of religion and society.

Participation the meeting was attended by religious and public figures, representatives of state authorities, experts from Russia and abroad, delegates from Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Serbia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Kazakhstan and other countries.

Speaker of the plenary session were made by Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan Theophanes, the press service of the Tatarstan Metropolitanate.

The Presidium consisted of the head of Department for cooperation with religious organizations Department of the President of the Russian Federation on domestic policy Evgeny Eremin, the Deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the state Duma Committee on civil society development issues, public and religious organisations Sergey Gavrilov; the mufti of Syria Ahmad Hassoun Badreddin; a member of the party “New democracy” of the Hellenic Republic Maximos Charakopoulos; Professor at the Department MIEM, national research UNIVERSITY “Higher school of Economics”, doctor of technical Sciences Alexander Schmid; President of the International public Fund of unity of the Orthodox people Valery Alekseev.

Metropolitan Feofan addressed the congregation with welcoming words.

“Religious leaders who are gathered here, together with politicians, statesmen, philosophers must pay attention to what is happening in the world, including the West, the Archbishop said. — Where every effort is made to banish religion from the public space. When public discourse on freedom, tolerance and democracy is trying to drive religious person in the ghetto, arguing that religion is a private matter. And this is the norm in the world of so-called freedom and democracy.”

“We see this as a threat to all religions of the world. We see lawlessness being built in the framework of the law — even that which is contrary to physiology, and the nature of man, same-sex “marriages”. But today they have become a kind of marker of “democratic consciousness”: if you do not accept them, then you are not on the “democratic way”, — continued the Bishop theophane. We, representatives of religions have a lot to rethink and give the answer, what is good and bad in the moral world”.

“Recent developments in Kerch raised the question whether it is time to prohibit anonymous presence on the Internet, — said the head of Tatarstan Metropolia. — We are for the preservation of the most valuable — human life, so we don’t destroy each other.”

    

“If to speak about the relation of religion and the world, our position is simple: all the positive we take into consideration, but if we see negativity, we can not accept. An example of this is nuclear energy. We may run out of oil and gas, and then she will help us. On the other hand, created a terrible weapon. And when asked how to treat this, the answer is obvious — you need to be reasonable and moral to come,” said the ruling Bishop.

Metropolitan theophane recalled the words of his Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill said at the opening of the XXVI Christmas readings in Moscow: “Charity, compassion, conscientiousness, virtue must be cultivated since the early childhood. Unfortunately, most families are not able to protect children and youth from the corrupting and soul Eustachio the impact of the Internet and other modern technologies. But we can and should oppose this reality, Orthodox education and upbringing in all their variety of forms and methods”.

“If people, especially the young, to properly take advantage of the wide opportunities offered by the digital development of society?” asked His Eminence. “The first thing you need to think technical development is ahead of the moral state of society. On the basis of religious thinking we have to pay attention to what is happening in the world,” concluded the head of Tatarstan Metropolia.

The forum had four thematic sections, within which were discussed the issues regarding the place and role of religion in the modern digital society, new communication technologies as a tool for social and missionary service, methods of countering religious extremism in the world wide web, the religious beliefs of young people. The clergy shared their experience in the information space.

Participation in the work of the section “Dialogue of religions: countering religious extremism on the net” took the first Pro-rector of the Kazan theological Seminary of the Abbot Euthymius (of Moses). The priest made a report on “Combating religious extremism in social networks”.

The forum — an important discussion platform to discuss issues of interethnic and inter-religious dialogue, protection of traditional values, education of youth, information security, and the persecution of Christians in the XX-XXI centuries

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