Dallas Baptist University’s K. Randel Everett Center for Global Religious Freedom marked two significant anniversaries during a June 29 webinar, highlighting both Ukraine’s longstanding constitutional protections for religious liberty and the destruction of religious sites since the war in Ukraine started.
Knox Thames, executive director of the Everett Center, said June underscored both Ukraine’s commitment to religious freedom and the challenges it faces amid war.
June 28 marked the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s constitution and its strong protections for religious freedom, Thames said.
Quoting Article 35 of the constitution, Thames noted it guarantees “everyone has the right to freedom of personal philosophy and religion” and declares “the church and religious organizations in Ukraine are separate from the state. No religion shall be recognized by the state as mandatory.”
“These constitutional protections over the last three decades have guided and benefited the country, placing it in stark contrast to Russia, which persistently limits its citizens’ religious freedoms,” he said.
The second anniversary, Thames said, reflected the cost of the ongoing war.
“Russia bombed the 150th religious site in the country,” he said, citing UNESCO’s tracking of damage to Ukraine’s cultural and religious heritage.
“The UNESCO number was further evidence of the dire situation facing religious freedom in Ukraine.”
Since then, the toll has continued to rise.
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Impact on religious sites
Maksym Vasin, executive director of Ukraine’s Institute for Religious Freedom, said his organization now has documented “at least 740 affected religious sites,” including churches, houses of prayer, mosques, and synagogues damaged, destroyed, or looted during the war.
“The number of destroyed churches in Ukraine continues to grow each month,” Vasin said. “At least 101 religious buildings sustained severe damage, and another 70 were completely destroyed, making it impossible to use them.”
Vasin said many sites were damaged during combat, while others were deliberately targeted.
“There are dozens of documented cases in which Russia has deliberately destroyed Ukrainian churches,” he said.
Testimony from church leaders
The webinar also featured firsthand testimony from Ukrainian church leaders.
Pastor Mykhailo Brytsyn, who served for three decades in Melitopol before the city was occupied, said Protestant churches flourished before the invasion.
“For 30 years, we’ve been enjoying this liberty and freedom in Ukraine,” Brytsyn said. “Ukraine was really free.”
He said Russian forces seized his church during a worship service in September 2022.
“They banned our church, and they forced us to leave,” Brytsyn said.
Throughout the webinar, speakers emphasized protecting religious freedom remains central to Ukraine’s identity even as churches and religious communities continue to face destruction and persecution during the war.
The webinar was hosted by DBU’s Everett Center, which seeks to equip students, churches, and policymakers to advance religious freedom worldwide.
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