Vandalism against religious sites growing in Europe – Russian Church
Vienna, July 10, Interfax – The Moscow Patriarchate has pointed out that the number of acts of vandalism against religious sites in Europe has been growing and called for measures against this.
“The instances of vandalism against churches, mosques, synagogues, and cemeteries in many European countries have grown manifold in the past years. It is believed that acts of vandalism do not have explainable motives and are related to economic problems and routine disorderly conduct,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for Relations between the Church and Society, said at an OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) human dimension meeting dealing with freedom of religion or belief in Vienna on Friday.
“Profound social reasons” also stand behind such actions, Fr. Vsevolod said. “Not the last one among them is the development of youth subcultures propagating an extremely negative attitude to life and morals, the idea of senselessness of existence, and the suicide cult,” he added.
The meeting in Vienna is dealing with laws on religion, activities of religious organizations, presence of knowledge about religions in the education system, legal status of religious communities in various countries, etc. Taking part in the event are government officials and diplomats from dozens of OSCE member-states as well as members of religious communities and NGOs.
It is the first time the issue of religious buildings and other religious sites is being discussed at such meetings.
