International expert: Сreation of SLC must be done via referendum
The issue of creating a Local Church in Ukraine should not be resolved at the level of political ambitions but by popular vote, said international expert Knut Berg.
All Orthodox believers should take part in such a referendum. Such an opinion was expressed by the expert in the field of international relations, an employee of the Norwegian organization Human-Etisk Forbund, professor of law Knut Anders Berg to the portal GolosUA.
According to the expert, the idea of united Orthodoxy in Ukraine has recently turned into a PR tool of individual politicians who have no moral or legal right to hold consultations and debates on a religious topic.
“In Ukraine, the Church is separated from the state, however, at the same time, the authorities are engaged in lobbying their own election programs, the problem of faith being their nuts and bolts,” he stressed. “Local politicians should be literally disowned from participating in ecclesiastic battles.”
At the same time, K. Berg noted that Kiev’s governmental establishment has neither desire nor time to hold such a referendum.
As the UOJ reported, earlier parliamentary faction Renaissance Party proposed holding a referendum on autocephaly. Member of the faction Andrey Shipko, before voting in the Verkhovna Rada for the Ukrainian autocephaly, appealed from the rostrum to Petro Poroshenko and MPs and said the government should think hard before interfering in church affairs.
