Church and State Collide in Ukraine

The Prague Post ^ | 10/24/12 | Anna Shamanska

[marshmallow]

Calls for clergy to stay out of politics go largely ignored

The separation of church and state is sometimes not as simple as it sounds, particularly in a country as religious as Ukraine. And despite calls from church leaders for congregations to stay out of upcoming elections, such a scenario seems unlikely.

Recent polls conducted by the Razumkov sociological center indicate about 71 percent of Ukrainians are religious, with almost 52 percent associated with the Orthodox Church and about 11 percent Greek Catholic. Both churches have recently issued statements forbidding clergy to campaign for any candidates.

The statement issued by the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church read, "The church must unite people with different political views, therefore political slogans must stay outside of the church walls." The Greek Catholic Church has taken a similar position. "A priest has no right to praise anyone but God," the church said in its own statement.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has also chimed in. "We have to agree for it not to happen, for the church not to participate in the political process. It will only work to split society," he said.

Still, in a country where religion is so intertwined with politics, those calls are largely being ignored.

"It's a tradition in Ukraine for the church to be involved in the political life of the country in one way or another," said Taras Antoshevskyi, head of the Religious Information Service of Ukraine. "Nowadays, the church is dependent on politics, and politicians often use the church for their own purposes."

So far, clergymen from both major congregations have been actively involved in countless political campaigns. Yanukovych said the reason is simple. "Politicians have one of the lowest rates of trust in society, while the church has one of the highest," he said.

[Wings-n-Wind]

"...SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE (SOCS)"....

....ISN'T what the western secular/atheists and ACLU wants it to be... and they want you to be silenced by these false perceptions

The UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE OF SOCS (that's all it is... NOT CODIFIED)..
... SOCS was intended to prevent the government from establishing an officially sanctioned branch of Christianity...
.. in order to control or manipulate the populace by "divine endorsements" or policy proclamations.... etc..by some (official branch) of "the church"...

***************

SOCS was NOT INTENDED to deny the faithful their basic rights of expression.....

Priests, Pastors, Rabbis, Imams & Ministers have their own opinions, mature knowledge and spiritual discernment---

And being ordained to ministry does NOT OBLIGATE spiritual leadership to refrain from expressing their own rights, convictions and opinions...

... or speaking truth to deception...
... preaching righteousness to corruption...
....calling sin exactly what it is...
....and shining God's light into darkened hearts and lands....

....Like Chicago... and D.C..... San Fran....
... oh yeah....
... and Philly...

IMO --- AS FOR THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH....

WE NEED TO BE A LITTLE LOUDER....

A LITTLE MORE DIRECT THROUGH PREACHING AND PROPHESYING...

--AND--

WE NEED TO VOTE FROM THE HEART OF OUR JUDEO-CHRISTIAN CONVICTIONS AND MORAL CONSCIENCE...

**************

The "Johnson Amendment" which "established" IRS rules for 501(c)3) non-profit charities...

This stuff was a crock when Texas Senator LBJ appended as a rider to surefire legislation...
...in order to silence some very vocal TX pastors who KNEW all about his political baggage....
And were advocating his defeat.

These provisions have never been truly tested in a court of law....
...Only used as threats and intimidation by the enemies of Christ...
...and as a cudgel by administrative law judges to "enforce" the provisions...

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and other Christian advocate law firms -- are spoiling for a court fight in order to have these same (bogus) provisions FINALLY overturned as un-Constitutional...