Kyiv official claims that Orthodox Christianity is an obstacle to Ukraine's development

The head of the Desnyansky District Administration of Kyiv, Maxim Bakhmatov, shared his thoughts on the influence of Orthodox Christianity on the development of state policy. Bakhmatov claims that Catholicism or Protestantism are more conducive to the success of the state than Orthodox Christianity. The official claims that there is no successful country in the world where Orthodox Christianity occupies a dominant position. Bakhmatov made this statement in an interview with journalist Anastasia Kirilenko.

«We see that faith has a great influence. Do you want me to tell you something that will blow your mind? Do you want to hear it? You cannot name a single successful Orthodox country. You know successful Protestant countries—Britain, the US, Canada. You know successful Catholic countries—France, Italy, for example. But you cannot name a single successful Orthodox country. You know successful Muslim countries. You know successful countries – China, Japan, there is a separate branch there, but no Orthodox ones,» — Bakhmatov emphasized.

According to him, Orthodox countries are not successful because the Church teaches to love everyone, while in Protestantism or Catholicism, “believers are charged with success.”

«I know the answer, it’s very simple. Our faith loves everyone: the poor, the rich, the destitute, and so on. But in the Protestant church, if a child comes and doesn’t want to study, doesn’t want to earn money or pay taxes, the pastor will say, ‘Oh, you scoundrel! That’s bad. That’s bad for the community. But universal love is just a story,» — the official said.

Earlier, Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, commented on the pace of Ukrainian society’s transition to the so-called New Julian (essentially Gregorian, ed.) church calendar. The official believes that Ukrainians are very quickly adopting the “new” calendar because they want to live the same way as Christians around the world.