Most Ukrainians do not support the idea of state church
More than half of Ukrainians (56%) do not support the idea of creating a state church, which would have a privileged position. Such data was made public by the Razumkov Center, according to RISU. Only 12.4% of Ukrainians would like to have a state church maintained at the expense of the church tax. Among those who support this idea, 38% see the status of the Kyiv Patriarchate, 22% - the united autocephalous Orthodox Church, and 8% of the UOC-MP and the UGCC. Among those opposed, thoughts were divided almost equally. 42% believe that it is contrary to the right to freedom of conscience and will lead to discrimination, while 38% are sure that Ukraine is historically a multi-confessional state and giving priority to any Church will provoke tensions in society. However, 42.6% of respondents believe that the very principle of separation of the Church from state and school from the Church is necessary for democracy and the right to freedom of conscience. 29% of Ukrainians disagree with this. In this context, as compared to previous years, the number of those who do not want to teach religion in schools of general education is gradually increasing. From 2010 to 2018 their number gradually increased from 31% to 43%. At the same time, the number of adherents of teaching religion in schools gradually diminished. During the same period, it gradually decilnes from 38.4 to 31.5%. The poll showed that a quarter of Ukrainians believe that Orthodox Churches should unite in one church and seek independence. As reported, today the Razumkov Center has presented the results of a sociological study “Peculiarities of Religious and Church-Religious Self-determination of Ukrainian Citizens: Trends in 2010-2018.” The survey was conducted from March 23 to March 28, 2018 throughout Ukraine, with the exception of the temporarily annexed Crimea and the occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. 2016 respondents aged above 18 were interviewed, the theoretical error is not more than 2.3%.
