New draft law on chaplaincy ignores the rights of UOC believers at military service

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered the draft Law “On the Military Chaplaincy Service” No. 4626 dated January 22, 2021. Religious experts draw attention to the fact that this draft law is discriminatory against military personnel – believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who may be deprived of the access the spiritual life of their Church. This was reported by the Information and Education Department of the UOC.

The authors of the legislative initiative were the deputies of the “Golos”, “EU”, “Sluga Naroda” and other Parliamentary fractions. When developing the bill, representatives of various confessions were invited, except for representatives of the UOC.

“First of all, because of the confessional bias of the main initiator of the bill, People’s Deputy of Ukraine R. Kostenko, who stands on the position of not allowing the clergy of the UOC to the spiritual care of the military personnel of the military formations of Ukraine – the faithful of the UOC,” the experts explain.

Despite the fact that the bill notes the poly-confessional nature of our state, and speaks of “equality of representatives of all religions <…> in meeting their religious needs”, the same bill contains a number of discriminatory provisions regarding the faithful of the UOC.

In particular, Article 6 “Interfaith Councils on Military Chaplaincy” notes that the Interfaith Council on Military Chaplaincy under the Ministries of Defense and Internal Affairs of Ukraine includes representatives from those churches and religious organizations whose clergy already hold the positions of military chaplains in the Armed Forces Ukraine, the National Guard and the State Border Service.

Considering the prohibition of the clergy of the UOC to exercise pastoral care and, accordingly, the prohibition of their employment as military chaplains, these provisions automatically deprive the UOC and the right to participate in such interfaith councils, despite the fact that the representatives of the UOC were members of the Council on Pastoral Care under the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the whole history of its existence.

According to religious experts, the draft Law “On the Service of Military Chaplaincy” not only does not solve the problem of discriminatory deprivation of the faithful of the UOC – military personnel of the military formations of Ukraine of the right to pastoral care by the clergy of their Church, and therefore ensuring the constitutional principle of equality of citizens regardless of religious beliefs, but on the contrary, it only deepens the problem.

The adoption of this bill will further increase the tension in interfaith relations in society, lead to further incitement of interfaith confrontation and the formation of bias against the believers of the UOC.

These manifestations of confessional bias in relation to the UOC completely exclude the possibility of support for this legislative initiative on the part of the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.