“This tug of war cannot go on forever, at the expense of belittling other countries, nations and groups of people. The logic of life in this globalizing world actualizes the importance of the Christian message because there is nothing else that we can use as a foundation for the co-existence of billions of people so different in their culture and many other respects,” the patriarch said at an annual award ceremony organized by the International Foundation for the Unity of Orthodox Nations last Friday.
Persecutions against Christians, ethnic and religious conflicts, aggressive secularism and offensive attacks on religious shrines, propaganda of moral relativism and consumerism have become a reality again in the early 21st century, he said.
“Present-day extremism and terrorism using, among other things, religious rhetoric, often thrive on the intolerance and provocative behavior of the secular world,” the patriarch said.
He then called on world rulers and mass media “to assert peace, develop cooperation and dialogue, show care and attention towards neighbors.”
