The report The Moral Foundation of Modernization, published on the website of the Institute for Development of a Modern Ideology, has received largely negative reviews in Russian mass media. In recent times much concerning the role of the Orthodox Church has received such a reaction. The report, in part, suggests, “successful implementation of systemic reforms, development of corporate culture and growth in national prosperity are directly tied to the preservation of a society’s values foundation. In Russia this foundation lies in Orthodox ethics, an unalienable part of which are patriotism, community and serving for the common good.” Furthermore, patriotism is declared “the civil religion of modern society”, i.e., “the main driving force of believers in public life, providing the moral fundamentals of state policy.”
Despite the religious rhetoric, the Russian Orthodox Church was not directly involved in the creation of the report. The document was developed by experts of the institute for a meeting of the Center for Social-Conservative Policy of the United Russia Party. A rather critical review of the report has already appeared on this site (The Burden of Uplifting the Spirit by Mikhail Pirogovsky). To provide another viewpoint, we spoke with Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Synod Department for Relations between the Church and Society.
– The report’s authors speak about a “moral foundation of modernization”. Modernization itself is generally a technical term referring to certain technological changes needed in the Russian economy. Should modernization have a moral component? Should these two concepts be linked?
– Modernization should have a moral component, as neither the economy nor public policy can be successful without a moral component. Furthermore, the economy and public policy without a moral component is a recipe for disaster, and we know this well from past economic crises and the history of misanthropic political regimes. Any sphere of human activity that is devoid of morality leads to destruction and death. And we understand this very well.
Patriarch Kirill has said many times that modernization should be linked with our spiritual and moral traditions. Otherwise it is doomed to fail. It is impossible to make people happy against their will, and it is impossible to separate these modernization efforts from the people that are supposed to carry out this modernization.
We know that in Russia’s history attempts to modernize by breaking national traditions caused a great amount of human suffering. And history puts everything in its place. Those who tried to carry out modernization against the will of the people have gone down in history as negative figures.
– While recognizing that the constitution forbids a state ideology, the authors nonetheless suggest the formation of such an ideology. Do we need a state ideology?
– This is not about ideology. Ideology, in my opinion, is a political doctrine, and there can be many such ideologies in society. There are various interpretations of history, differing views on politics, different visions for the future. But fundamental national values are not an ideology. This is how we view ourselves as a community of people living in Russia. There are values which I would call undisputable, even if a certain group of intellectuals do not share them. This is a community of people, one which values not only the material but also the spiritual aspects of life and a readiness to serve one’s people and make sacrifices. This is not an ideology – these are values without which man and society would unlikely be able to survive more than 50 years, and that’s why I believe that they can be called indisputable.
– Thus we do not need to develop a state ideology?
– If we are talking about these values, then they should be part not just of one party’s program, they should be accepted by all parties, both ruling and opposition.
– One of the sections of the report is called “Patriotism – the civil religion of modern society”. The authors suggest that patriotism should become an important basis for the morality of modern man. Do you agree with this formulation?
– Patriotism is one of the moral values, perhaps not the most important, but it should exist in any society that hopes to have a future. I do not like the phrase “civil religion”. With all due respect to the authors, I think that it is an oxymoron. Nonetheless, the idea of patriotism is common to all normal religions, it is a part of civil consciousness and it can become one of the unifying ideas of people belonging to different confessions as well as nonbelievers.
See also: The Burden of Uplifting the Spirit by Mikhail Pirogovsky
