SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT MEETS WITH RELIGIOUS LEADERS OF UKRAINE
The special representative for religion and global affairs of the State Department of the USA, Dr. Shaun Casey, conducted a series of meetings in Kiev with religious leaders, officials, and experts.
In the past week, the American official met with the primate of the UPTsKP, Patriarch Filaret, in his residence; the primate of the UAPTs, Metropolitan Makary; the chancellor of UPTs, Metropolitan Antony; and Archbishop Emeritus of the UGKTs, Liubomir Guzar, the Institute of Religious Liberty reports.
During his visits in Ukraine, Dr. Shaun Casey described the activity of the Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives, created in the State Department of the USA in August 2013. Participants in the meetings discussed the interconfessional situation in Ukraine, the condition of state-church relations, religious aspects of the Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine, and instances of violations of the rights of believers in occupied Ukrainian territories in Crimea and the Donbass.
The guest was accompanied by the deputy political counselor of the American embassy in Ukraine, K. Toko, and a worker in the political department of the American embassy in Ukraine, B. Campbell, and assistant J. Vistrand.
The Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives was created with the goal of formulating the policy of the American State Department in the sphere of cooperation with religious communities and cooperation on a regular basis with other governmental structures and offices on religious questions, including the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom and the Office of International Religious Freedom of the USA State Department. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 September 2015)
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.