Deputies bring grist to the mill of religious confrontation, - politologist

Bill № 5309 shows that the current government does not leave attempts to intervene in the life of the Church in Ukraine, said to a UOJ correspondent the head of the analytical centre "Third Sector", political analyst Andrei Zolotarev, commenting on the amendments proposed by deputies to the law "On freedom of conscience and religious organizations".

"All this demonstrates that the state continues to intervene in the affairs of the Church, – said political analyst Andrei Zolotarev. – State authority wants to indicate the Church what and how to do and what name to write. That's all we have been through."

The expert noted that today's policies are aimed at breaking any whatsoever ties, not only economic but also humanitarian, religious, between Ukraine and Russia.

"Politicians forget how many parishioners the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate has, – said Andrei Zolotarev. – After all, it is the UOC the bill is directed against. Again, it brings grist to the mill of religious confrontation. But it seems to me that in the near future it will be difficult for representatives of the "party of war", who initiate such bills, to find allies in this endeavor. I hope that common sense of the majority of deputies will prevail."

Bill № 5309 submitted to the Verkhovna Rada reads that a religious organization, whose governing center (management) is situated outside Ukraine in the State, recognized as carrying out military aggression against Ukraine and temporarily occupying part of the territory of Ukraine is obliged "to show in its full name, indicated in the statute (regulations), the affiliation with a religious organization (association) outside Ukraine, in which it is included (of which it is part), by mandatory reproduction in its name of the full statutory name of the specified religious organization (association) with the possible addition of the words "in Ukraine" and / or designation of its place within the structure of a foreign religious organization."