COUNCIL OF CHURCHES EXPRESSES TO CHAIR OF VERKHOVNA RADA CRITICAL COMMENTS ON SOME DRAFT LAWS
Religiia v Ukraine, 8 February 2022
A meeting of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (ACCRO) with the chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, was held on 4 February under the chairmanship of the president of the Ukrainian Bible Society, Grigory Komendant. The religious leaders explained their comments with regard to a number of legislative initiatives during a meeting with the leadership of parliament of Ukraine, Religiia v Ukraine reports, citing the website of the Council of Churches.
They talked about the inexpediency of ratifying the Istanbul Convention and the need for banning commercial surrogate motherhood, improvement of the state family policy, and promotion of the unity of society in the circumstance of the Russian aggression.
Explaining the position of the ACCRO opposing the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, Archbishop Evstraty of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (UPTsMP) emphasized that the churches and religious organizations are actively involved in the process of providing help for victims of domestic violence and they have created an interconfessional website, "Stop Violence!," and have developed a guide for priests and lobbied for the adoption of pertinent legislation in 2017 and they are ready for further work on improving it. At the same time, he said, the religious community does not accept the ideological burden of the Istanbul Convention, in which a "gender ideology" is advanced and the development of national legislation is promoted.
Metropolitan of Nezhin and Prilutsk Kliment of the UPTsMP spoke critically relative to the government's draft of the Ukrainian law "On Assisted Reproduction Technologies" (No. 6475 and alternatives No. 6475-1 and No. 6475-2), which proposes legalization of surrogate motherhood. After all, its text includes items on which the opinion of the religious community was not taken into account by the developers.
"Of course, we want for the demographic crisis in Ukraine to be halted, but by the proper means, by supporting the family and responsible maternity and paternity," noted Bishop Vitaly Krivitsky, the ordinary of the Kiev-Zhitomir Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine.
Archpriest Oleksa Petriv of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGKTs) emphasized that parliament must seriously consider whether it is expedient to voice slogans about supplementing the budget by the services of commercial surrogate motherhood, covering this, in his words, immoral, shameful activity, which is essentially trade in Ukrainian children and the sexual exploitation of women. "It is necessary to improve the state family policy, but for this it is necessary to create a ministry for affairs of families, children, and youth," the UGKTs priest stressed.
The senior bishop of the Ukrainian Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, Mikhail Panochko, called the lawmakers' attention to the necessity of reviving the National Expert Commission for Public Morality so that the pertinent law in this area will again have an effective mechanism for practical implementation. "A state that does not devote attention to the moral health of the nation will not succeed," the bishop noted.
The representatives of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations also raised questions about developing draft laws regarding the registration of religious societies in the circumstances of the administrative reform, the rights of permanent land use, and r
eduction of the cost of heating and natural gas for private noncommercial educational institutions—day care and schools, including those created by religious organizations.
"In these difficult times it is necessary for us to be united. For this, it is necessary to remove from the agenda of parliament those questions that arouse our society and divide us instead of working together on matters where there is agreement," declared Gennady Beloritsky, the legal counsel of the president of the Association of Jewish Religious Organizations of Ukraine.
On his part, the chairman of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet, Ruslan Stefanchuk, assured the religious leaders of his openness to dialogue, discussion, and joint adoption of decisions. He noted that the most simple questions can be resolved right away, particularly matters of registration, land, and fees. For complex matters, consultations with representatives of ACCRO and standing committees of parliament will continue.
In conclusion, the chairman of the Supreme Soviet emphasized that right now is a very important period and everybody must realize that both the government and religious organizations must be primarily concerned about the welfare, security, and calm of our people.
"We do not have the right to sow panic, because this only engenders a breakdown of trust, and trust is the most valuable thing in society. Therefore we will work and we will advance in this direction together," Ruslan Stefanchuk said.
Participants in the meeting also included the first deputy chairman of the V.R., Alexander Kornienko; the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Matters of the Organization of State Authority, Local Self-government, Regional Development, and City-planning, Andrei Klochko; the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Matters of Regulation, Deputies' Ethics, and Organization of the Work of the Verkhovna Rada, Sergei Kalchenko; the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Matters of Anti-corruption Policy, Anastasia Radina; Minister of Culture and Information Policy Alexander Tkachenko; and the head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, Elena Bogdan. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 February 2022)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
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,
https://www2.stetson.edu/religious-news/