Some Peculiarities of Regulation of State and Religious Relations in Ukraine: History and Our Days

Abstract

In the article theoretical background has been studied, and tendencies of public policy in the field of regulation of the state and church relations and protection of the rights and freedoms of the person at different stages of development of our state have been analysed, and practical recommendations for improvement of the organizational mechanism of interaction of the state and church in the sphere of freedom of conscience and religion in Ukraine have been offered. It has been established that: 1) public policy in this sphere de jure is based on legal principles which follow the international standards, but de facto a lot of gaps in the legislation still exist, they allow officials to interfere in the activity of the religious organizations which is carried out within the law; 2) the mechanism of providing freedom of conscience and religion which exists in Ukraine in the form of the national legal system, considerably makes the religious organizations dependent on state body for affairs of religions. For the purpose of improvement of the organizational mechanism of interaction between the state and church it is necessary to create the relevant consulting councils within executive agencies, and also in the apparatus of the President of Ukraine.