The information campaign against the UOC only temporarily increased the number of supporters of the OCU, after which there was a new decline, - professor at the KSAiS

Sergey Bortnik, professor at the Kiev Theological Seminary and Academy and employee of the Department of External Church Relations of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, noted that the information policy directed against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church benefited the OCU only in the short term, as evidenced by opinion polls. Bortnik explained that after a slight increase, the number of OCU supporters has again decreased, while the number of people who do not identify themselves with any denomination but simply consider themselves Orthodox has increased. The professor’s words are quoted by the publication Religion in Ukraine.

«The information campaign against the UOC due to its canonical connection with the ‘center in the aggressor country’ only temporarily increased the number of OCU supporters, after which there was a new decline; the number of UOC supporters, although relatively small, is quite stable; the group of “just Orthodox Christians,” that is, people who are relatively uninvolved in the church, has decreased the most. As is known from previous analyses, a significant part of them live mainly in the south and east of Ukraine,» — said Bortnik.

Serhiy Bortnik noted that this trend is related to the fact that the information and state policy regarding the UOC, as well as the aggression towards the Church on the part of the OCU, lead to people refusing to associate themselves with any denomination.

«These data are not an answer to the question about the role of society and the media, but about the conclusions that Ukrainian citizens draw for themselves as a result of a massive information campaign in the religious sphere. The answer is obvious to me: it is no longer a question of changing one’s denomination! A significant portion of believers are simply distancing themselves from the religious sphere, which is perceived as too conflictual,» — he added.

Earlier, we reported that the Ukrainian Institute for Sociological Research “Razumkov Center” conducted another poll on Ukrainians’ trust in public institutions operating in the country. According to the published data, the Church, as a collection of religious organizations, is trusted less than the Armed Forces of Ukraine and volunteer organizations.