UKRAINE: AMBASSADOR'S INTERFAITH DIALOGUE

UNCLAS KIEV 001061

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM KIRF PGOV SOCI
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: AMBASSADOR'S INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
LUNCH


(U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please handle
accordingly. Not for Internet distribution.

Summary
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1. (SBU) At a February 27 lunch hosted by Ambassador
(that included prominent clergymen, M.P.s, think-
tankers and journalists),participants in a recent
International Visitors Leadership Program on interfaith
dialogue praised the quality of their program. They
had been impressed, in particular, with examples of how
different religious communities worked together in the
U.S. to address pressing social issues. Echoing the
views of many of the guests, M.P. Volodymyr Stretovych
noted that, in terms of religious freedom, Ukraine had
made a great deal of progress since independence.
Stretovych also argued that, like other European
countries, Ukraine needed a unified, national church;
such a church had existed in Ukraine prior to the 1654
Treaty of Pereyaslav, but had been subjugated by the
Russian Orthodox Church. The former head of the
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and current
Tymoshenko campaign chief, Oleksandr Turchynov,
disputed that assertion. Turchynov, who is an ordained
Baptist minister, stressed that one of Ukraine's great
strengths was its tolerance and diversity; no single
denomination lorded it over society. End summary.

Interfaith Dialogue Lunch
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2. (U) Ambassador hosted a February 27 interfaith
dialogue lunch that brought together leading clergymen,
the head of the State Department for Religious Affairs,
two prominent M.P.s, as well as a leading journalist
and think-tanker who focus on IRF issues.

Three Cheers for IV Program
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3. (U) Five of the clergymen were participants in a
recent International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP)
on interfaith dialogue. They spent much of the lunch
recapping the trip for the other guests, effusively
praising ECA for the quality of the schedule and
meetings. They stressed that they had been impressed,
in particular, with examples of how different religious
communities worked together in the U.S. to address
social issues like homelessness, AIDS, and at-risk
children. The Muslim member of the IVP group, Kharkiv
Imam Rustam Gafuri, specifically thanked Ambassador for
including him and for "paying attention" to the
concerns of Ukraine's Muslims.

Much IRF Progress Since Independence...
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4. (U) Echoing the views of many of the guests, M.P.
and Christian Democratic Party leader Volodymyr
Stretovych noted that, in terms of religious freedom,
Ukraine had made a great deal of progress since
independence. Countering the effects of 70-plus years
of militant Soviet atheism was difficult. Stretovych
argued that, like other European countries, Ukraine
needed a unified, national church; such a church had
existed in Ukraine prior to the 1654 Treaty of
Pereyaslav, but had been subjugated by the Russian
Orthodox Church, he explained.

..."But"
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5. (SBU) While seconding Stretovych's views on
Ukraine's post-independence IRF progress, the former
head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and
current Tymoshenko campaign chief, Oleksandr Turchynov,
disputed the assertion that Ukraine needed a national
church. Turchynov, an ordained Baptist minister,
stressed that one of Ukraine's great strengths was its
tolerance and diversity; no single denomination
dominated society. Turchynov, no friend of the
Kremlin, quipped that if the State created a single,
national church "we'll wind up looking like Russia or
Belarus."

Gwaltney