Photo: Tamara Markovic Nova.rs"For the Serbs, calling on the people is precisely calling on force, on an eternally threatened mass that should appear at any moment and resolve the matter by aligning itself with the speaker who claims to be its exclusive representative," said Bishop Grigorije
"Society and institutions that give up ideals and those who believe in them and live by that faith can count on surviving from today to tomorrow, but not on having a future," said Bishop Gregory of Dusseldorf and Germany at the international gathering "Intellectuals, yesterday and today" which was held in the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Speaking on the topic "Is there room in the Church for freedom of scientific research and speech", he pointed out that he sincerely believes that today in the Church there are people who have something to say and who are able to participate equally in social dialogue with intellectuals of the most diverse provenance, and that the Church should be proud of it.
"However, we that generation, I'm afraid, impermissibly often silence in the name of some kind of obedience and humility, although we ourselves are not ready to make that obedience and humility a principle of our own government. The consequence of that is that talented and young people, that is, intellectuals, who decided to devote their lives to the church, are now forced to give up their calling precisely because they took too seriously what they were taught. This must not be allowed."
When it comes to Serbian society, as Bishop Grigorije pointed out, although there are educated and critically-minded individuals in the local public, our culture of dialogue is at a very low level.
"This culture, or rather - its lack, is characterized by a conspiratorial atmosphere, and the main argument is, almost as a rule, the argument of force - with the Serbs, calling on the people is precisely calling on force, on an eternally threatened mass that should appear at any moment and settle the matter by siding with the speaker who claims to be her sole representative."
Therefore, the bishop believes that when one acts from such a position, no matter how educated an individual is and no matter how high a social position he is, there is no question of an intellectual and his social involvement.
He sees the main reason why we are in this situation today in the inability to critically assess one's own ideological and moral position and place in society. "In the first place, an intellectual must be critical of himself and his own views, in order for his word to be socially relevant," he concluded.
He also emphasized that intellectual abilities and character are God's gifts that are only shaped by the hands of the teacher, but freedom of speech is something that depends entirely on people and for which we must all work together constantly, if we want these gifts to serve us as a community. in other words - if we want to have a future.
He ended his presentation with a call to "again and again" individually and all of us stand up for what "is as necessary as clean air for every true intellectual, and that is freedom of speech."
JJ
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"I think that a bishop must be socially responsible. Being a bishop means having responsibility for the community you serve, for the well-being of its members, but also for the entire society in which they live and in which that community operates. I don't pretend to be necessarily right when it comes to my political judgments, but I'm sure the only thing worse than being wrong would be to sit idly by and watch blatant injustice and abuse. My civil rights give me the possibility to refrain from participating in political life. However, my episcopal duty requires me to take care of the welfare of all people"
