UOC is the only structure to unite the whole country, – Expert

Church and state should coexist rather than interfere into each other’s work. It was said by the Director of the Ukranian Politics Fund Kost Bondarenko at the UNIAN press-conference “Antireligious bills: challenges for the Ukrainian Society”, reports the UOJ correspondent.

"History does not teach our Parliamentarians anything. The state should not determine who should serve in this or that church,” said Kost Bondarenko. “The Church is not a state institution. It is a social structure and it cannot be defined as "governed by an aggressor country".

The political expert stressed that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church today is the only institution that unites the whole of Ukraine.

"The UOC unites the West, the East, and even the Crimea," Bondarenko said. “And by adopting anti-church bills deputies want to break a single umbilical cord that connects our state. Such rhetoric of the Parliament is absolutely incomprehensible. With constant calls for unification, they want to destroy the only unifying factor."

Bill No.4128 proposes that membership in a religious community be determined on the basis of "self-identification". Bill No.4511 introduces a special status for Churches whose administrative bodies are located in a country recognized by the Rada as an aggressor country.