Expert: In the last 2 years, Ukrainians have had more trust in Church

On May 26, the director of the sociological service of the Ukrainian Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies Andrei Bychenko said at a regular Roundtable on "Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan" that the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians are faithful, reports the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC.

Also Andrei Bychenko noted a very high level of public confidence in the Church. "In the minds of people the Church must be above the situation, in particular in conflicts, it should offer a constructive way out of the problem in terms of moral authority. The credibility of the church institutions is still very high and the number of those who trust it significantly predominates, unlike the situation with the state institutions," said the sociologist.

He added that, according to sociologists, 70.4% of Ukrainians call themselves believers. At the same time, 58% of Ukrainians go to church, and 51.7% of them attend it only for religious holidays. Also, 55% of respondents believe that the Church should not interfere in state affairs.

At the same time, 79% of Ukrainians are fully confident that religion must take responsibility for helping the poor and needy in case the authorities should violate their rights.

The Roundtable "Religion, Church, Society and State: Two Years after Maidan" was attended by the Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC Archpriest Nikolai Danilevich. The priest noted that in crisis, people are turning to God. According to him, this is confirmed by the dynamics of growth of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church parishioners: "despite the information attacks of some Ukrainian media, the number of parishioners in churches and monasteries has increased in the last 2 years."

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