Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian
Orthodox Church, has blamed increasing support for gay rights for the
rise of ISIS.
“Many honest people,” Kirill said
in a television interview, have joined the terrorist group to flee a
“godless, secular and even radical in its secularism”
civilization.
“We can have parades for the sexual
minorities – that is supported, but a million French Christian
protesters defending family values are broken up by police,” he
said. “If you call nontraditional relationships a sin, as the
Bible teaches and you are a priest or pastor, then you risk not only
your ability to serve but you may be sent to prison.”
Young people, Kirill said, respond to
ISIS' invitation to “build God's world.”
“You become a fighter for the
caliphate. So what's a caliphate? It is a society centered around
faith and God where people follow religious laws. You are creating a
civilization that is new by comparison to the established one that is
godless, secular and even radical in its secularism.”
Valery Sozaev, founder of the
Russian-based LGBT Christian group Nuntiare and Recreare, denounced
Kirill's remarks.
“Patriarch Kirill is justifying
religious terrorism,” Sozaev
said. “This religion has nothing to do with Christ. It is the
religion of human hatred, not love.”