Excerpt
SUMMARY: In Ukraine, religion is another battlefront in the conflict between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine supporters. Special correspondent Kira Kay reports on the political pressures that have divided congregations.
HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour): We turn again now to a country which has dominated headlines for much of the last year, Ukraine.
While much has been reported about the overthrow of its former leader, new government, annexation of Crimea, the Russian incursions into the country, tonight, special correspondent Kira Kay brings us a story on the less-known battle that’s happening in the former Soviet republic over religion.
The story was produced in partnership with the Bureau for International Reporting.
KIRA KAY (special correspondent): In the Western Ukrainian village of Butyn sits a picturesque blue church. It has survived two World Wars and the communist and atheist Soviet Union.
Now, in 2014, with its nation gripped in war, Saint Nicholas has become another battlefront in the conflict, one of beliefs and even political influence. It used to belong to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, the country’s largest denomination, with a direct link to Russia’s own politically influential Orthodox Church.
But villagers in Butyn say it all began to unravel when their priest refused to pray for the protesters, who were calling for the overthrow of a pro-Russian president in Kiev’s city center a year ago.
SVETLANA EVGENIEVNA, Ukraine (through interpreter): That was my child there. They were students and children of other parents that were residents of our village. That was the last straw.
KIRA KAY: Svetlana Evgenievna and her neighbors felt they had to remove their priest.
SVETLANA EVGENIEVNA (through interpreter): There was a gathering of the village. There were shouts and quarrels, and we weren’t sure what to do. One man proposed a referendum, how many for and how many against?
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