Communique of joint meeting of Interreligious Council in Russia and Christian Inter-Confessional Consultative Committee

We, participants in the joint meeting of the Interreligious Council in Russia and the Christian Inter-Confession Consultative Committee representing Christian, Islamic, Jewish and Buddhist communities in Russia, have gathered in Moscow on the invitation of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

1. We are pleased to note the participation of the Russian society, including believers of our religions, in the discussion on the Constitution of the Russian Federation and introduction of amendments to it. We consider it as a testimony to the civic maturity and responsibility for the destinies of the Motherland.
2. Asserting peace in a multinational and multi-confessional country, we support the proposal to mention God in the text of the renewed Constitution as we see it as fixing the value of religious beliefs of the peoples of our country tied historically and culturally with the religions that we represent and as spiritual succession to our ancestors.
3. We believe those constitutional amendments to be important which fix the conception of marriage as a union of man and woman, which are aimed to protect traditional family values, including rights of parents to provide for an education and training of their children that correspond to their religious and philosophical beliefs, to protect the history and culture of our country and the status of the Russian language, to support our compatriots, and to preserve the memory of the defenders of our Motherland.
4. We remind you that the support of the family, as follows from the stance of the Interreligious Council in Russia and the Christian Inter-Confessional Consultative Committee, is an indispensable condition for making our country prosperous, morally strong and spiritually rich.
5. We welcome those amendments to the Constitutions that will create additional conditions for ensuring the socio-economic welfare of the people of Russia and the unity of the Russian Federation.

Patriarchia ru./

DECR Communication Service