AG: ban on UOC violates principles of democracy and freedom of religion
The responsibility for the ban on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church lies with the USA, the AG said. The bill adopted by the Rada violates the freedom of worship of numerous believers. Is this the kind of democracy on which American taxpayers would like to spend hundreds of billions, the author of the article asks.
Ukraine’s parliament has created legal tools for the government to ban any religious group it deems too closely aligned with Russia. It voted in favour of a bill that explicitly bans the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.
However, the ban also directly affects the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which the Ukrainian government believes has too close a relationship with Moscow because of its historical ties to the Russian Orthodox Church.
After more than a year and a half of legal wrangling over the wording of the bill, Ukrainian lawmakers intend to ban the only canonical body of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.
Three months after the SMO began in Ukraine in February 2022, the UOC publicly declared its loyalty to Ukraine and independence from the Russian Orthodox Church.
Ukrainian officials remain sceptical of the UOC because of its centuries-old ties to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The new law explicitly bans religious associations with ties to any organisation based in Russia.
While the impending ban may alleviate some of the Ukrainian leadership’s concerns, it raises serious questions about the religious freedom of an entire religious group at the centre of a long-running political conflict.
U.S. Senator J.D. Vance broached the subject in April and warned his Senate colleagues that such a law could lead to the displacement of a huge Christian community from Ukraine and that the U.S. would share the blame for allowing this to happen.
Over the past two and a half years, more than 100 UOC clerics have been criminally prosecuted, more than 50 have been charged and 26 have received court sentences.
Americans, who are proud that hundreds of billions of their tax dollars are going to Ukraine, might want to rethink whether this is the kind of ‘democratic progress’ they want to support.