Christian Churches Concerned Over Inefficieny of Dialogue Betweeen State and Church

On November 1, 2012, a meeting of the Council of Representatives of Christian Churches of Ukraine was held under the chairmanship of Senior Bishop of the Church of Christians of  Evangelical Faith of Ukraine, Mykhailo Panochko, the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) reported.

It was noted at the meeting that as of late the authorities have increasingly often showed a lack of due attention to the proposals and initiatives of public institutions, including churches and religious organizations.

As examples of the inefficiency of the dialogue between the government and society, the participants mentioned the adoption of the language law, which led to an uproar in the society, development and adoption of alterations to the Law on Freedom of Religion (Bill 10221) contrary to the position of the religious community, the ambiguous content of the decisions of the government’s Committee on Ensuring Rights of Religious Organizations.

Representatives of churches arranged to hold a number of joint events aimed to renew constructive church-state relations. In particular, their position in the dialogue with state authorities in the future will depend upon the president’s decision regarding the call to veto the alterations to the Law of Ukraine on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations (Bill 10221).

Let us remind the readers that members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, Council of Representatives of Christian Churches of Ukraine, human rights campaigners, public figures and scholars forwarded an open letter to President Yanukovych asking him to veto the alterations passed without discussion and contrary to promises given to the heads of the denominations.

In addition, during the meeting, the participants discussed joint events to celebrate the 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Kyivan Rus. They have agreed to join proposals and coordinate them during the next meeting of the heads of churches.

The Council of Christian Churches also expressed concern over the popularization in Ukraine of the occult celebration of Halloween.