MINSK, 21 December (BelTA) – It is essential to preserve inter-religious and inter-church peace in the country, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he appointed Aleksandr Rumak Belarus' Commissioner for Religions and Nationalities on 21 December, BelTA has learned.
“We do not interfere with faith, I want to emphasize it once again, we do not interfere with people's feelings. But we must protect our state. Our believers live in the Belarusian state. All leaders of religious denominations live in this state. I will say even more, and I have always insisted on that: all public organizations, including religious organizations, operate on the territory of our state. Therefore, your post now becomes a key one, a crucial one. And, of course, we have been selecting a candidate for this positon very carefully,” the president said.
“We have agreed that you, as a smart and experienced person with an equal attitude to all nationalities and religious denominations, will be able to work with all of them. And in a very close contact with the Belarus President Administration. Not to destroy the things that we have always been proud of. One of such things is the inter-religious, inter-church peace. We must preserve it. Some people will try to destroy and deteriorate it. But we must prevent these attempts,” the Belarusian leader stressed.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also spoke about the situation in the field, with which Aleksandr Rumak will have to deal with. “You see what is going on in the country. Let's be honest, some high-ranking officials have been acting, mildly speaking, in an anti-state way. High-ranking officials. I am not speaking about people, they have nothing to do with it. Some officials have been acting not in the best way. Let's assume that they have made a mistake. But to blame them and not to see our own problems and drawbacks is not our way. Therefore, you need to sort things out and to determine that things that we need to improve,” the president said.
The head of state deems it necessary to respect the feelings of believers. “Orthodox and Catholic believers are people, and they are devoted to our state. Every person has chosen their own road to church. Including Catholics, I emphasize that. Therefore, we must treat people with huge respect, we must not violate religious feelings of people. As soon as we interfere with people's souls, we will hurt their hearts. This is the main objective for us. And we must prevent any attempts to deteriorate the creative life of our people and to do things that are damaging for our state. There are not many such people, but we must see them, including in the field of religion,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
