Religious Leaders From Former USSR Meet

[La_Serpiente]

Religious Leaders From Former USSR Meet

MOSCOW - Religious leaders from former Soviet republics are meeting this week with the aim of strengthening religious tolerance — but the meeting excludes Catholics, accused by the Russian Orthodox Church of trying to poach converts.

More than 300 religious leaders from the Commonwealth of Independent States — a loose grouping of most of the former Soviet republics — are to participate in the conference beginning Tuesday, said Metropolitan Kirill, a Russian Orthodox official.

But the conference will only include what Russia recognizes officially as the "traditional religions" of Orthodox Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism.

"Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism have existed (in the region) for a thousand years ... the rest were exported to us," said Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church's external relations department.

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Religious Leaders From Former USSR Meet

[Sugarbleus]

1. Wow, I wonder what this portends? n/t