Council of Churches Seeks Systematic Dialogue with President

The heads of Ukrainian churches evaluated the recent meetings with the president and vice prime minister positively. However, in their opinion, the dialogue should be conducted permanently in combination with systematic cooperation of the denominations with the authorities for the sake of settlement of urgent issues in the society.

This was discussed at the session of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) held on April 18 in the Spiritual Treasures of Ukraine Museum under the chairmanship of the head of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Mefodii, the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF) reported.

The participants analyzed the results of the meeting of the AUCCRO with President Viktor Yanukovych on March 16. It was announced during the discussion that the president has already instructed the authorities to settle a number of problems raised during the meeting with him.

The heads and authorized representatives of the denominations discussed the situation regarding the alterations to the Law of Ukraine on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations in the context of fulfillment by Ukraine of its obligations to the Council of Europe. They confirmed their position as to the inadvisability to make alterations to the law, which ensures interreligious peace today, at this stage.

The AUCCRO also passed an address to Ukraine’s president and the head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Oleksandr Popov, protesting against the intention of representatives of the LGBT community to organize a street march Kyiv Pride 2012 to promote homosexuality in Kyiv this May.

The participants also got acquainted with the program of visit of the delegation of the AUCCRO to Canada and USA planned for the end of April. It was decided to hold a session of the AUCCRO in Toronto, Canada.