The legal department of the UOC commented on the manipulative opinion polls of KIIS

The legal department of the UOC published a commentary on the conduct of a pseudo-sociological survey by KIIS, during which citizens of Ukraine were asked a provocative question: “What do you think the policy of the Ukrainian authorities should be now regarding the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate?” This was reported by the Information and Educational Department of the UOC.

As noted in the text of the commentary, the very wording of the question in this opinion poll contains a manipulative thesis about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate. Such a formulation of the question not only misleads the interviewee, but also indicates a deliberate manipulation, the purpose of which is “to obtain the expected answer.”

The Legal Department of the UOC emphasized that there is not a single registered church of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine, and all religious organizations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church registered in Ukraine under the current legislation do not contain provisions in their constituent documents regarding belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate and cannot in any way relate to it .

“It is quite obvious that this manipulative opinion poll is intended to form, and not reflect real public opinion. The main goal of such manipulations is to incite religious hatred and intolerance in Ukraine,” the commentary says.

Also, the Legal Department of the UOC draws attention to the fact that during this opinion poll, as indicated in the above press release, 1029 respondents were interviewed in 25 regions, that is, an average of 40 people per region. Of this number of respondents, an average of 26 people in each region support a positive answer to a provocative question, however, based on the number of adults in each region, which is approximately equal to one million people, it is quite obvious that to conclude that the population of the region UOC from the opinion of 26 people is incorrect.

“Based on the foregoing, the UOC officially appeals to KIIS with a demand to immediately remove information about this survey from its official website and not to engage in manipulations in the field of religion in the future. If there is no response to this appeal, the Legal Department of the UOC will be forced to contact law enforcement agencies with appropriate notice,” the post reads.