VR Committee approves antichurch bill

On July 12 the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Culture and Spirituality considered and approved bill No. 5309 “On introducing amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations.”

Bill No. 5309 proposes to amend the Law "regarding the name of religious organizations (associations) that are part of a religious organization (association) whose governing center (management) is located outside Ukraine in a state that, according to the Law of Ukraine , recognized as carrying out military aggression against Ukraine and / or temporarily occupied part of the territory of Ukraine."

Head of the Law Department of the UOC Archpriest Alexander Bakhov on his Facebook page commented on the Committee's decision as follows: "This bill is supposed to deprive the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of its own name! As it turns out, they want to deprive the UOC believers not only of the opportunity to pray in their own temples, but also to take away the name of the Church! Perhaps Denisenko Mikhail Antonovich (UOC-KP “patriarch” Ed.) thinks that the name will give him the recognition of other Churches and canonicity? "

Experts note the discriminatory nature of bill No. 5309 towards the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.