The Church teaches students "hate the sin and love the sinner"

Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), together with representatives of other religious communities in Russia took part in the development of HIV / AIDS prevention program for schools, said Interfax.

"The primary objective of this program - building images of Christian ethical values and creating conditions in which these values are used in life," - said at today's Moscow press conference the representative of the working group on the program, the head of the department of preventive Studies of the National Addiction Research Center Roszdrava Natalia Sirota.

According to her, this program, despite its participation in the establishment of religious leaders is obviously secular in nature and "poses no problem , but contact with a wide variety of spiritual values." The expert also emphasized that students undergoing training under the program in no way imposed a system of beliefs, but given the right to free choice.

The program includes a series of thematic seminars, which are specially trained school psychologists in the year spend with students. At each of the classes on such topics as "The Family", "Friendship, Love," "Good and evil", "values", one way or another affected by HIV and drug addiction. The program already has been tested in Bryansk. "You can not divide the very information techniques its and moral dimension", - said N. Sirota. Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate (MP OVTSS) Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin stressed during his conference that "this program is not designed only for Orthodox children and teachers, but the values that it has, in tune with those who profess other religions."

He also recalled that one of the main principles of the Orthodox Church against AIDS is the point: "hate the sin and love the sinner." "To explain again and again that the destructive sin, the Church has always merciful to the suffering sinner", - said the priest.

Participated in a press conference President of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations of Russia (KEROOR) Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, and the first deputy chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims Russia Albir Krganov blessed the Russian Orthodox Church for an active social policy in the prevention of HIV and expressed the willingness in the future to take it participation.