Petition against anti-church bills appears on Verkhovna Rada website

A petition which collects signatures for the abolition of anti-church bills № 4511 and № 4128 has been published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada.

"The bills are aimed, above all, at the interference in the activities of the UOC," the petition reads. "The authors propose, among other things, to assign leaders to religious organizations, "whose governing centres are located in the state recognized by the VR as an aggressor-country as agreed with the authority responsible for state policy in the religious sphere. Another bill deals with changes in Article 8 of the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations". Legislators propose to enter the term "self-identification" into it and specify the minimum number of representatives of the religious community, under whose decision the affiliation of churches to denominations can be changed. This will lead to a huge increase in tension throughout the country. Repressions against the UOC are discrimination, this contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine".

574 signatures have already been collected. 24 426 remains to be collected by August 17, 2017. You can vote here.