Under the guise of a Single Local Church they create a quasi-governmental one, – expert

Lately we’ve been witnesses to the more increasingly fused politics and religion than before, whereas the efforts to create a Single Local Church disguise building of the quasi-governmental Church and lead to the even more split Orthodoxy. This opinion was expressed in an interview with ”Fraza” by former Chairman of the State Committee for Nationalities and Religions, PhD Yury Reshetnikov.

”An apex of the ongoing process towards the fusion of politics and religion, attempts to establish a quasi-governmental Church in Ukraine (the notion of the governmental church per se is prohibited by the Constitution) can be a clause in the supplement to the latest Annual Pesidential Address, where directly (and for the first time in the history of Ukraine) it is proposed to create a single local church not by promoting the unification of parts of Ukrainian Orthodoxy, but on the basis of only the UOC-KP, while the UOC and UAOC are charged with false accusations," the expert said.

Touching upon the capture of the UOC temples by supporters of other faiths, Yury Reshetnikov stressed that "in all cases such raider attacks occur at best with the connivance of local authorities, and often with the direct participation of officials, something that has never been before."

"Representatives of the Ministry of Culture and some MPs, instead of halting such seizures, practically cover this, and therefore, facilitate such unlawful actions, trying to assure the public that no raiding takes place. Like, simply "the communities themselves change their confessional identity," the religious scholar said. "Let's also say that the process of re-registration of religious organizations of the UOC is blocked by the Ministry of Culture."

"The religious map is already actively used by various political forces. I think this will only step up in the future, given the desire of some politicians to demonstrate to their electorate the actual implementation of their slogans," Reshetnikov explained. “For someone it is "a struggle with the Moscow Church", for others - "the creation of a single local church." The only problem is that this "creation" in practice leads not to unity, but to an even greater division and to the same struggle against the UOC."

Yury Reshetnikov predicts that the result of the interference of politicians will be the growth of local inter-confessional confrontation, which will adversely impact the entire society and the state. "And above all, it is going to affect ordinary citizens, involved in such a confrontation under the influence of ideas, invented by politicians in beautiful and comfortable offices."

The expert expressed his confidence that only deepening the dialogue will make it possible to turn the slogan for the creation of a Single Local Church into a real process.