Russian Orthodox Patriarch: The Face of Religious Base Hate

If one wants to see a main source of anti-gay hate and bigotry in Russia, look no further than the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, a church which for most of its history has worked hand in hand with repressive regimes and helped use religion to keep the Russian people docile and oppressed.  For centuries, the Russian Orthodox Church strove to indoctrinate uneducated Russians that the Tsar was God's anointed ruler who must be honored and obeyed.  The benefit to the Church?  Great wealth and power.  Now, in Vladimir Putin's Russia we are seeing a reprise of this long standing pattern.  And just as the Russian Orthodox Church once scapegoated Jews and helped fan antisemitism in Russia, the Church is now using the same poisonous type of bigotry towards gays.  RT.com looks at the standard bearer of this hate and bigotry, Patriarch Kirill (pictured at left) who continues to push for even more anti-gay extremism. Note how this hate merchant has been allowed to address the Russian Duma.  Here are highlights:

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has asked for a state-level ban on legal moves to allow same-sex marriage, noting that this position was based on the very nature of Christianity.

Speaking before upper house members, Patriarch Kirill said that the move would protect the family as a public institution.  

“In a response to the broad international discussion of this issue we would like to make a resolute statement – marriage is a union between a man and a woman, based on love and mutual understanding and made in order to give birth to children,” Russia’s head cleric stated. 

Patriarch Kirill promised that the church would provide support to all state and public institutions that seek to protect the traditional Christian values. He stressed, however, that such a move was not caused by a desire to influence politics, rather by the very nature of Christianity.


In addition the Patriarch noted that wider promotion of religious education could help the authorities tackle extremism and terrorism. Prepared citizens could offer ‘intellectual resistance’ both to Islamist extremists and to mass culture with its cult of hedonism and aggression, he added.

The Russian Orthodox Church has never accepted same-sex marriage, but statements from its representatives have become especially harsh as gay-related topics reached the top of the public agenda in the country. 

[T]he head of the Holy Synod’s department for relations between the Church and the Society suggested a nationwide referendum on introducing criminal responsibility for homosexuals (something that was abolished in Russia in 1993, soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union).