MOLDOVA GIVES ORTHODOX CHURCH SPECIAL STATUS. Moldova's parliament on July 27 passed a new law on religion, incorporating amendments demanded by President Vladimir Voronin, Moldovan and Russian media reported. Voronin had specifically called for a clause that "the state recognizes the special significance and primary role of the Orthodox Christian religion and the Orthodox Church in the life, history, and culture of the people of Moldova."
At Voronin's demand, parliament struck out a provision stipulating that "property rights on buildings of worship belong to the religious communities that founded them." The absence of a provision enshrining the Orthodox Church's special status had roused the anger of Orthodox leaders, but some parliamentarians opposed Voronin's intervention, arguing it would anger the Council of Europe, the continent's leading rights watchdog. When parliament passed the unamended bill in its second reading, religious minorities were critical of the suddenness with which the long-delayed bill was pushed through its final phases, of a ban on "abusive proselytism," and of the bar on religious communities with fewer than 100 members gaining legal status. The clauses regarding proselytization and small groups remain in the amended bill. The bill was first sent to parliament in October 2004. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has twice fined Moldova for denying religious communities legal status, and one of Moldova's Orthodox churches -- the Bessarabian Orthodox Church -- only gained registration after an ECHR ruling in 2001. The newly stipulated special status for the Orthodox Church does not distinguish between the various Orthodox communities. However, Voronin, a Communist, made his allegiance clear at a gathering of bishops earlier this month, at which, according to a July 19 report by the news agency Interfax, he likened the Communist Party to the Moldovan Orthodox Church, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the opposition to the Bessarabian Orthodox Church, which answers to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Voronin also called Jesus Christ "the first communist." AG xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright (c) 2007 RFE/RL, Inc. ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." (Carlo Goldoni) "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix) Aboneaza-te la <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ngo_list> ngo_list: o alternativa moderata (un pic) la [ngolist] Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
