Russia and European countries should adopt a law banning the expansion of religious extremism, which results in deaths, a senior Russian Orthodox Church spokesman said on Thursday.
International organizations, such as the Council of Europe, should equate the ban on religious extremism to the ban on Nazism, archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who is in charge of the Church's relations with society, said.
"The expansion of such ideologies should not take place. Those who call for the killing of civilians or justify the murders of civilians should be punished and their ideas must not be voiced in public," Chaplin said at a press conference in Moscow.
The press conference is held in memory of the victims of the March 29 terrorist attacks on the Moscow subway. The suicide bombings, carried out by women at two stations, killed 40 and injured 160 people. The two women are suspected of being linked to a radical Islamic movement in Russia.
"Modern Western ideologists believe a ban on spreading ideas is impossible. I am sure there is a need to restrict the expansion of such ideas as they justify the killing of civilians," Chaplin said.
MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti)
