Bishop Clement (Vecheria): Bill #4128 Hits all Ukrainian Denominations (VIDEO)
Those who developed bill #4128 pursued one aim – to hurt the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and millions of the UOC faithful. However, its adoption will have negative consequences for all religious denominations in Ukraine, says the head of the Information and Education Department of the UOC Bishop Clement (Vecheria) in his interview to the “Union of Orthodox Journalists”.
According to Bishop Clement, in the case of the adoption of the bill, it will have a general character. Therefore, its force will applied to other denominations, creating a situation of violation of religious rights, regardless of the religious affiliation.
"For example, a village has a Protestant community or a Jewish community, or any another community. If these communities are in the minority, and they are disliked by someone, so at the meeting of the villagers those who have nothing to do either with Protestants or with anyone else will be able to decide that these communities go under jurisdiction of the Kiev Patriarchate, for example”, stressed the bishop of the UOC.
We recall that on March 25, a press conference "The Church Raiding and Violations of the Rights of the UOC Religious Communities", which discussed bill 4128 "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations" dated February 23, 2016, in terms of changing religious jurisdiction was held at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.