PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES PROPOSE SPECIAL STATUS FOR UPTsMP
Institute of Religious Liberty, 12 May 2016
Several members of parliament have put forward an initiative to provide special status to religious organizations whose administrative centers are located in the Russian federation as an aggressor state.
The draft of law No. 4511 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on 22 April by people's deputies Oleg Petrenko, Alexander Briginets, Andrei Levus, and others, the Institute of Religious Liberty reports.
In the event that the law takes effect, the above mentioned religious organizations will have to conclude with the government contracts (agreements) about the special status of these organizations. It is obvious that the authors of the initiative had in mind the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is in canonical unity with the Moscow patriarchate.
The bill proposes to carry out the appointment of church leadership only after clearing the corresponding candidacies with the Ministry of Culture. It should be noted that such an approach violates article 35 of the Ukrainian constitution about the separation of the state and religious organizations.
In addition, the draft of the law provides that religious organizations with special status "are required to clear with a state agency the carrying out of the registration of a charter (statute) and inviting foreign religious figures for them to conduct preaching and other canonical activity."
However, part 4 of article 24 of the Ukrainian law "On freedom of conscience and religious organizations" already provides for the obligation that all religious organizations of Ukraine clear the religious activity of foreigners, upon whose invitation such religious figures come.
Bill No. 4511 also provides that registration and reregistration of charters (statutes) of religious organizations with special status "is carried out after the conduct by independent specialists of an expert assessment of registration documents and on the condition of their presenting a positive expert conclusion to a government body that carries out that registration."
At the same time, the bill does not delineate the range of questions that must be clarified as the result of the expert assessment and just who may act in the role of "independent specialists."
The authors of the initiative also propose to change the period of registration and reregistration of charters (statutes) of religious organizations with special status. However at the same time there is no proposal to make any changes in the Ukrainian law "On freedom of conscience and religious organizations," which regulates the procedure of registration of charters of religious organizations.
As is known, according to Ukrainian legislation, religious associations do not have the status of legal entity, although they are represented by their own religious centers (administrations).
The proposed changes have already been subjected to criticism not only on the part of the UPTsMP but also from religious studies experts. (tr. by PDS, posted 17 May 2016)
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/.