Vice President Mike Pence Met Privately With Top Russian Cleric

[deminks]

http://time.com/4776717/mike-pence-russian-cleric-hilarion-alfeyev/

A top cleric of the Russian Orthodox Church and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin met privately with Vice President Mike Pence Thursday morning and urged the U.S. to cooperate with Russia to combat terrorism in the Middle East.

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev of Moscow, who chairs the Russian Orthodox Church’s external relations department, spoke with Pence backstage at evangelist Franklin Graham’s Washington summit on religious violence against Christians.

“It is only one united, international anti-terrorist coalition which can combat terrorism and win,” Hilarion told TIME during an interview in a suite at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., a few blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. “The two countries should put these political differences aside.”

A White House spokesman confirmed Pence's meeting with Hilarion and said the cleric's comments also reflected President Trump's views. Hilarion says that after talking with Pence, he feels “very positive” about the future of the relationship between the U.S. and Russia.

(snip)

Pence addressed Graham’s summit on Thursday morning. He told the crowd that the topic of violence against Christians was of “enormous importance to this administration,” and called ISIS guilty of “genocide against people of the Christian faith.” Hilarion says he found Pence’s speech “exceptional,” and expects to meet with Putin when he returns home to discuss his conversation with Pence.

The backstage conversation was two years in the making. In late 2015, as refugees fled the war raging in Syria, Graham huddled with Hilarion at the cleric's home in Moscow. By the fireside, they brainstormed a global conference to raise awareness of violence against Christians in the Middle East—“the most burning issue of our time,” Hilarion says. Graham also met on that trip with Putin, who promised he would do all he could to help their cause.

(end snip)

[deminks]

1. last graph is chilling

(snip)

Hilarion is encouraged by Russia's growing ties with U.S. evangelicals. “We will continue to work closely with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association but also with the larger evangelical community of this country,” he says. “We have many allies.”

(end snip)

[VigilantG]

3. Yes it is. And Drumpf signed EO to loosen requirements on religious entities

And political contributions...and to let religious organizations conduct more political activities.

Pence is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He lied about not knowing about Flynn's activities and he lied multiple times about why Comey was fired. Deceitful!

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/05/11/what-everyone-is-missing-about-donald-trumps-executive-order-on-religious-liberty/

https://www.google.com/amp/thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/civil-rights/332776-trumps-religious-freedom-order-nothing-more-than-a-symbolic%3Famp

[Tanuki]

2. I googled this Hilarion Alfayev....he has a history of meddling in Ukraine,

pitting the Russian Orthodox Church against the Greek Catholics, with an obvious political agenda. Also, from his Wikipedia page, it seems he is a brilliant polymath. Mike Pence will be played like a fiddle
https://risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/confessional/interchurch_relations/58006/
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Re: the OP, Franklin Graham solicited and received a $100k "donation" from Trump's phony charity foundation prior to the election. I will be pleased as punch if the corrupt SOB is also found to be guilty of laundering Russian oligarchs' money through his evangelical organization.