Draft Laws of Ukraine on Spirituality and Health Discussed in Ukrainian Parliament

KYIV – On April 15, 2010, the committees of the Supreme Council of Ukraine held a consultation with expert councils of public organizations of the Interfractional Deputy Group of the Supreme Council of Ukraine "For the Spirituality, Morality, and Health of Ukraine." Along with the various public organizations and youth centers present at the meeting were also representatives of Christian confessions. The priest Victor Yatsenko, assistant to the plenipotentiary representative of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) to the Supreme Council of Ukraine, rector of St. Vladimir Church at the Supreme Council of Ukraine, also attended the meeting, reports the official website of the UOC-MP.

One of the issue discussed was the introduction of amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Prevention of AIDS and the Social Protection of the Population. The introduction of amendments to this law was brought about by the continued spread of AIDS in Ukraine; the legislators believe that current law does not provide the proper support and promotion of the spiritual and moral factor in overcoming this disease.  The new amendments stipulate for the support of the churches and religious organizations in their struggle against AIDS together with the state, since in spite of the existence of five anti-AIDS programs the spread of this disease has not decreased. 

Also discussed by the representatives of the churches and religious organizations was the law on introducing amendments to some legislative acts on Prohibiting the Activity of Paranormalists, Soothsayers, Fortune-tellers, Chiromancers, and the Services of Fortune-telling.  All present had similar opinions and statements regarding this law. Today the Ukrainian information space suffers from enormous amounts of advertisement for services by paranormalists, charlatans, fortune-tellers, and other diviners.  Speeches by priests and civil researches of this problem noted that a high percentage (up to 90%) of paranormalists are miracle-mongers and cheaters who feed off the naivety of the common people and that 5-10% of them practice magic and communicate with evil spirits. These people bring about spiritual danger and impoverish the psychic health of Ukrainians, since the victims of the occult spiritual practices have to restore their health and enter rehabilitation with the church. Adoption of this law was positively received by those attending because this law will also remove from the list of the State Classifier of Ukraine, the profession classifier DK 003-95, the following professions: 5151 - astrologist, 5152 - soothsayer, 5152 - chiromancer, who entered the list through dishonest means, in spite of the fact that there is still no profession of a priest on this list.