Source: Yle The Russian Orthodox Church has cancelled an official doctrinal dialogue with the Finnish Lutheran Church over the Lutheran stance on homosexuality. The Orthodox side wanted to pre-approve a communique before the meeting, but talks broke down over the Finns’ refusal to condemn homosexuality. Finnish and Russian attitudes to gay rights are poles apart, and that’s helping to derail doctrinal dialogues between the two countries’ largest religions. Archbishop Kari Mäkinen says that he was forced to cancel planned ecumenical dialogues when he met the Russia Patriarch Kiril in Moscow. The Russian Orthodox Church wanted to agree a statement in…
Browsing: gay rights
Source: Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty By Robert Coalson Many were shocked on May 17 to see a phalanx of black-robed Orthodox clergy break into a trot and lead an angry mob in an attack on a gay-rights rally in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Although the official Orthodox hierarchy in Georgia denounced the violence that left 17 injured, Georgian Patriarch Illia II had called on authorities the day before to ban the rally as an “insult” to Georgian traditions. Across Eastern Europe, societies in countries such as Georgia, Russia, Serbia, and Moldova are pushing, each in its own way,…
Source: The St. Petersburg Times By Yekaterina Kravtsova MOSCOW – A demonstration outside the State Duma on Tuesday ended in fisticuffs as Orthodox activists clashed with opponents of a bill targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Police and at least one Duma deputy intervened to halt the violence. About 30 LGBT activists met at noon on Georgiyevsky Pereulok for an event they called “Kissing Day” to protest a proposed ban on “homosexual propaganda.” Gay and lesbian couples posed for photographs at the entrance to the Duma building while kissing. But Orthodox activists showed up at the event and tried…