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Council of Churches Discusses With Deputies Prospects of Development of Law

10.04.2013, 16:22
Council of Churches Discusses With Deputies Prospects of Development of Law - фото 1
The heads of Churches and religious organizations are interested in establishing permanent dialogue with the Parliament. The readiness for constructive cooperation in the legislative process was confirmed also by the heads of the specialized committees of the Supreme Council and deputies.

parliament_Kyiv_itop.jpgThe heads of Churches and religious organizations are interested in establishing permanent dialogue with the Parliament. The readiness for constructive cooperation in the legislative process was confirmed also by the heads of the specialized committees of the Supreme Council and deputies.

These questions were discussed during a meeting of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) with the leadership  and members of the Committee on Culture and Spirituality and Committee on Science and Education, reported the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF).

The meeting was held on 10 April, 2013 in the assembly hall of the parliamentary committees. For the first time in the history of state-denominational relations, a dialogue was conducted in such format.

“Alterations to the Law on Higher Education, especially, in the context of state recognition of education provided by religious institutions are of significant to us. The present status of the law contradicts not only the experience of developed countries of many years but also the world history which shows that education is successfully developed exactly thanks to the activity of Church educational institutions,” stated the Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyivan Patriarchate (UOC-KP), Archbishop Yevstratii (Zoria).

According to him, it is necessary to continue the work on recognition in Ukraine of Theology as a scholarly discipline to overcome the consequances of the totalitarian past.

AUCCRO stated that it does not agree with the decision of the Government to liquidate the National Expert Committee on Protection of Social Morality.

“By this initiative, the state deprives itself of an effective expert body helping not only to protect children from immoral information materials presented by public mass media but also to regulate information activity to prevent the spread of xenophobia, stirring of the national and religious hatred. There is no other body with similar objectives in the state, and, therefore, we should not allow liquidation of NEC (National Expert Committee). The activity of the Committee should be only optimized and enhanced,” stated the Deputy Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Hennadii Bilorytskyi.

Other representatives of AUCCRO also spoke about the problems of establishment of high moral values.