Legal expert of the UOC: bill #4128 is not agreed with the religious community

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine did not agree bill #4128 with the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, which represents the religious community of Ukraine, says the head of the Synodal Legal Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Archpriest Alexander Bakhov in his interview to the newspaper "Segodnya".

"The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Culture and Spirituality recommended the deputies to pass bill #4128 in the first reading. The danger is that it creates a negative precedent when the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) is selectively excluded from participation in the discussion of draft laws on freedom of religion. In this situation, there is a question on amendments to the law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations". At the same time, nobody got interested in the opinion of the AUCCRO. It is not excluded that in the future bills that deal with religious organizations will not coordinated with the religious community," explained the lawyer.

The presence of some representatives of religious organizations at the meeting of the Committee does not express the opinion of the entire religious community, which is represented in the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches. Representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church have drawn attention to this negative trend earlier. In the meeting of the AUCCRO held on March 1, 2016, chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Anthony of Boryspil and Brovary expressed concern that this legislative initiative hadn’t been previously discussed or agreed with the members of AUCCRO, which it directly relates to.

It is to be recalled that bill #4128 suggests amending Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations" regarding the jurisdiction of religious communities.

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