The Russian Orthodox Church disagrees with the decision made by the French authorities to ban religions symbols in schools and universities.
"All this very much resembles the Soviet system, where children could not wear crosses in schools, but only pioneer ties could be worn," Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy head of the External Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, told Interfax on Wednesday.
The attempt to ban headscarves, skullcaps, and large crosses indicates a crisis of secularism in France, he said.
"When those who want to drive religion into a ghetto have no more legal and philosophical arguments to prevent believers from openly manifesting their religious convictions, they resort to restrictive tactics," Chaplin said.
Chaplin said secularism is also a religion, which preaches faith in man and puts him at the center of the universe.
"It is unclear why representatives of this religion, the religion of freedom and emancipation, can wear their symbols, for example, bow-ties and heavy makeup, in schools, and believers cannot wear their symbols," he said.
"In this system, there is no equality of rights or true pluralism, but only ideological dictatorship," he said.
Chaplin expressed his solidarity with most religions leaders of Europe and the world who have opposed the French initiative.