Research Paper on Religion in Ukraine

Introduction

Religion is an integral part of society's way of life. In Ukraine, religion is a critical part of people's livelihood. Most of the citizens of Ukraine believe in God and keep the traditions and the rituals of the Orthodox Church. Religion is diversified with some of the people belonging to other confessions such as Judaism and Catholicism. Before Christianity was established in Ukraine, the people believed in gods such as Perun, Svarog and Veles which are pagan Slavic gods. Later on, in the early years, Prince Volodymyr decided to make Rus lands a Christian society; hence Paganism was declared illegal.

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Today, about 31.5 million of Ukrainians are religious with 76 percent of these religious people being Christians. There are five major church divisions of Christianity in Ukraine. The first is the Orthodox Church of Moscow which is believed to be the largest, and it is also self-governed making it autonomous (Krindatch, and Alexei D, 53). It has a significant influence on the country. The second is the Orthodox Church of Kiev which is also recognized in Ukraine mainly in the Western parts.

The third division is the Autocephalous Orthodox Church which was revived during the struggles to liberate the nation. This has a less significant influence on the society; hence it is not recognized by the other churches. The disregard for this church has made the church seek recognition and aim to be a member of other churches entirely. A survey done in March 2018 by Razumkov Centre in Ukraine revealed that 67 percent of the Ukrainians consider themselves orthodox.

By the number of believers, after orthodoxy, Catholicism takes second place with most of the Catholics belonging to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. This religion is in union with the fifth division which is the Roman Catholic Church. Both have many followers especially in the Western regions of the nation. Most individuals who subscribe to Catholicism are of Polish origin.

Some of the religious people in Ukraine are protestants, so their churches include the Adventist church and the Baptist Church. Though the dominant religion in Ukraine is Christianity, some communities practice Judaism and Islamism. Ukraine also has the fifth largest population of Jews in the world. According to the statistics, about 400,000 Jews are in Ukraine concentrated in the main large cities. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Paganism account for 0.1 percent of the Ukrainian Population.

The Significance and Impact of Religion on Ukraine

Past

Religion had a profound effect on the ethnic development as the Christianity of Kiev Rus strengthened the development of the ethnic community of Kiev Rus'. Slavic tribes which formed the basis for the formation of Ukrainian ethnic tribes united the Pagans, and thus paganism is practiced up to date. Despite the religion coming along with some positive influence, religion brought about a split in Ukrainian society (Mitrokhin, and Nikolai, 182). This is because the different confessions were brought from different countries, for example, Orthodoxy was from Byzantium, Catholicism from Rome and Protestantism from various European countries.

New religion led to the loss of religious, social and cultural unity of the society. The society was divided based on the religions people took up be it Christianity, Islam, Hinduism or Paganism. There were divisions even within Christianity with some people adopting the Orthodox traditions while others took to Catholicism. There were continuous confessional contradictions.

In the Soviet times, religion did not have a significant impact on politics and government policy making because instead of making decisions based on the religious affiliations, the politicians made decisions based on political motives in their entirety. However, the government took part in all undertakings of the churches. In USSR, partial separation of the church and the authorities had been declared in that the church could not influence the state functions while the state could impact the churches.

After gaining independence, the separation was still imminent, but the church had great material and human resources hence with the direct access to the electorate, the church not only became an integral part of political and social activities but also began a kind of struggle to get a recognized place at the political scene. This way, the churches managed to spearhead the development and integration of the Ukrainians during times of political turmoil by playing a leading role in integrative practices.

Present

Indeed, religion has a profound impact on the political affairs of Ukraine because the state is not mono-religious. Its influence as an institution of civil society has more effect than the importance of political parties or politicians. This has led to some of the latter turning to the church to advocate for the needs of the electorate since, without due consideration to the cultural, social and ideological imperatives of a believing population, one cannot expect effectiveness of the state authorities. However, the impact of the church on the political views of the believers is not high.

Politicization of religion in Ukraine is evidenced by the formation of political parties which have ideologies and programs with a religious foundation, for example, there is the Republican Christian Party of Ukraine and the Party of Muslims of Ukraine. Religion has led to the division of Ukraine into separate regions based on religious affiliations. This has been undermining the role of the churches in national unity. The intra-Orthodox, as well as the Orthodox-Catholic, have a conflict of interest with other religious affiliations leading to multilateral conflict situations in the people's spiritual way of life. In as much as this is a negative influence, there is more unity among the people that subscribe to the same religious affiliation as the religion is a uniting factor among them.

The different confessions have brought about competition between the various affiliations (church competition theory) for example the Protestants have been competing with the Orthodox Church in carrying out evangelization and providing charity to the needy. This has both a positive and a negative influence with the positive side of it being that neediest people in the society get material support from them. The negative impact with this is the competition that comes along when trying to win over these people to subscribe to either of the religious affiliations through evangelization. There has been an ongoing debate about coming up with a state Orthodox Church to solve the division in the Ukrainian society (Yelensky, and Viktor, 221). This idea is not being supported since it may violate the freedom of religion and make it hard for other religions to function freely.

Future

Religion in Ukraine will remain to have a significant impact in the political arena as the best way for politicians to gain the trust and the votes of the electorate are by appealing to their religious interests. So far, studies have shown that the politicians and the political parties that appeal to a large number of religious people are more popular. Hence, constant consideration to the religious groups will promote the associated politicians.

There may be continued disunity between the different religious affiliations if there are no steps taken towards uniting them. The church-related disputes are likely to not cease shortly. There may be a continued uproar following the recent enthronement of Metropolitan Epiphanius of a primate of the Orthodox Church as many suspects that the reason behind this formation is political. Religion will also be significant in promoting unity between those who belong to the same faith or confession so religion one of the factors that could positively boost the Ukrainian society.

Conclusion

There are more freedom and religion is more acknowledged in the present times in Ukraine as the confessions have obtained the freedom to evangelize and have catechism without obstruction, the religious organizations can get support from the centers abroad, and there is a priest training system for religious trends in Ukraine

Work Cited

Krindatch, Alexei D. "Religion in Postsoviet Ukraine as a factor in regional, ethno-cultural and political diversity." Religion, State & Society 31.1 (2003): 37-73.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0963749032000045846?journalCode=crss20

Mitrokhin, Nikolai. "Aspects of the religious situation in Ukraine." Religion, State & Society 29.3 (2001): 173-196.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09637490120093133?journalCode=crss20

Yelensky, Viktor. "Religiosity in Ukraine according to sociological surveys." Religion, State & Society 38.3 (2010): 213-227.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09637494.2010.499280