By Bettina Krause
Two senior Seventh-day Adventist leaders joined participants of a Russian government-organized conference on religious freedom in pledging to fight against a growing “perversion of religion” worldwide by those who use the language of faith to justify violence and terrorism.
The Third International Forum on Religion and Peace, a rare gathering of leaders from across Russia’s religious and political spectrum, met Oct. 29 in the Great Hall of Moscow’s President Hotel and included scholars, public officials, and religious leaders representing the Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic communities.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church was represented by Ganoune Diop, director of the public affairs and religious liberty department for the world church, and Oleg Goncharov, director of the public affairs and religious liberty department in the church’s Euro-Asia Division.
