On 10 September 2019, a conference on “The Family and Family Values in Traditional Religions of Russia. Protection of Family in Religious and Public Dialogue” took place at the Centre of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS) in Moscow. The conference was organized by the Interreligious Council of Russia (ICR) and the IOPS.
Opening the meeting, Mr. Sergey Stepashin, IOPS chairman and head of the ICR Committee of Trustees, reminded all those present about the challenges facing the traditional family values in the modern-day society. “Today we are facing completely new threats, unknown before, with the very foundations of family and love being questioned. In this regard it will be interesting to hear how traditional religions of our country perceive and address this problem,” he said.
Among the keynote speakers of the conference was Mufti Albir-Khazrat Krganov, head of the Spiritual Assembly of Muslims of Russia, member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. He delivered a presentation entitled “Islam and modern threats to family well-being in society.”
In his presentation, Mufti Albir-Khazrat Krganov emphasized that the family is the most important primary institution of society and the well-being of the family largely determines the well-being of society. The Concept of the State Family Policy of the Russian Federation until 2025 pointed out that “the priorities of state family policy at the present stage are the approval of traditional family values and family lifestyles, the revival and preservation of spiritual and moral traditions in family relations and family education, and the creation of conditions for ensuring family well-being responsible parenthood, increasing the authority of parents in the family and society, and maintaining the social sustainability of each family. ”
Mufti Albir-Khazrat Krganov also drew attention to the fact that the ongoing crisis of Western civilization affected our society, new challenges and threats to our sustainable development took shape. Today we can talk about worldview, spiritually moral, ideological and informational aggression against Russia. The main basic institutions of our society are under attack: the state, church, school and family, whose sustainability directly affects the sustainability of society and the prospects for the development of Russia.
Islamic religious leaders, in solidarity with the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional religions, preserve, revive and protect the family, the traditional culture of family life and raising children, all traditional spiritual and moral values associated with the family - the most important task of modern society, without solving the survival of our people, the spiritual, moral, intellectual and active revival of Russia is impossible.
Among those taking part in the conference were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, member of the ICR Presidium, Bishop Serafim of Istra, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Synodal Department for Youth Affairs; Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for the Family and Protection of Motherhood and Childhood; Archpriest Lev Semenov, head of the Religious Education Centre of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University of the Humanities; Mr. S.V. Melnik, staff member of the DECR Secretariat for Interreligious Relations and of the ICR Secretariat; Mr. Sh.A. Pshikhachev, president of the International Islamic Mission, plenipotentiary representative of the Coordinating Centre of the Muslims of North Caucasus in Moscow; Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, vice-president of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations of Russia; Rabbi Yonatan Feldman, head of the Education Department of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia; Did Hambo Lama Dashi-Nima, representative of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia; Ms. A.A. Sharapova, head of the Working Group of the Council for the Implementation of State Policy on Family and Childhood under the President of Russia; Ms. I.A. Yumasheva, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, member of the Committee for International Affairs; and Deacon Iliya Kashitsyn of the DECR Secretariat for Interreligious Relations.
The conference brought together heads and members of youth organizations and non-governmental associations, as well as the faculty and students of religious and secular higher education institutions, scholars and experts.
SOURCE: http://www.ippo.ru/news/article/pod-predsedatelstvom-sergeya-stepashina-sostoyalas-406162 and https://mospat.ru/en/2019/09/10/news177355/
