Polish media: The law banning the UOC is a political and moral mistake

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Paweł Lisicki, editor of the Polish publication Do Rzeczy, wrote that the Ukrainian Parliament made a moral and political mistake by passing the law banning the activities of religious organizations associated with the Russian Orthodox Church.

“I do not understand how, after adopting this law, the government in Kyiv can still be considered a defender of 'Western values'," writes Lisicki.

He points out that this “egregious violation of the fundamental right to freedom of religion has encountered virtually no loud condemnation from various Western human rights organizations.”

According to the editor, this decision by the Verkhovna Rada is a total mistake because agreeing to repression against the Church means that the West is acknowledging a breach of principles that are supposedly inviolable.

“In the end, if we agree that the state can arbitrarily, in the name of rather vague accusations, dissolve a traditional Christian community, and if we accept that such behavior does not exclude this government from the generally accepted Western system (as I understand it), given that Ukraine should meet the standards of Western rule of law, since it is a candidate for the EU, then we are accepting a situation where other authorities in other countries could declare that another religious community (e.g., the Catholic Church) should be dissolved because of its official moral teachings that contradict contemporary liberal ideology,” he explained.

Lisicki believes that Zelensky’s actions are a “sort of test balloon”, and “consenting to repression against the Church means that the West is acknowledging a breach of principles that are supposedly inviolable.”

As reported by the UOJ, the Pope has urged the Ukrainian authorities not to ban the Church.

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