[cunning_fish]

A vocal supporter and close ally of Vladimir Putin, Patriarch Kirill has helped spearhead Russia's turn toward conservative values. He supported the case against Pussy Riot, the anti-Kremlin feminist punk band tried after performing a song criticising Putin and the church's explicit support of him, inside a Moscow cathedral. During their trial, prosecutors argued, successfully, that feminism when proclaimed inside a church was heretical.

Speaking to a meeting of the Union of Orthodox Ukrainian Women in Moscow, Kirill slammed feminism for leading women to look beyond the traditional family for fulfilment. According to Kirill, woman are first and foremost "the guardians of the family fire, the centre of family life". He accused feminism of being opposed to "family values".

He said he was not opposed to women pursuing careers in politics or business or other professions "that today are mainly done by men", but said they should get their priorities straight.

He also said that it was "no accident" that most feminist leaders were unmarried. "I noticed this when I worked in Geneva, at the World Council of Churches, when the feminist theme was just starting to develop," he said, speaking of the early 1970s.

Sexism runs rampant in Russia and women's rights appear nowhere on the political agenda. Putin has made boosting Russia's low birth rate a key platform of his administration, often cheering women's role as mothers.

[CMB_polarization]

The new agenda is the destruction of everything traditional.

[GraceG]

Well, if pooty poot stays in power I think they will end up being the one super power left to challenge china......

[surroundedbyblue]

“Feminism could destroy Russia, Russian Orthodox patriarch claims.”

No!!! It’s done wonders for the U.S. /sarc

[1010RD]

I’d say destroying Russia in order of importance:

Communism

Kleptocracy

Vodka

Feminism would perhaps make the top 50.

[MachIV]

Russia’s demographic projections make it pretty much toast already.