Moldavian president refuses to sign a law on cults making no reference to Orthodoxy as traditional religion in Moldavia
Kishinev, June 28, Interfax – Moldavian President Vladimir Voronin has refused to sign ‘The Law on Religious Cults and Their Component Structures’ and sent it back to the parliament for revision, a source in the republic’s legislative body has informed Interfax.
‘The head of state’s principal objection can be boiled down to the fact that the law makes no mention of Orthodoxy as traditional religion of the Moldavian people’, the agency was told.
Besides, President Voronin considers it necessary to exclude from the bill such a notion as ‘propagation of faith’, which he believes ‘opens up a loophole for proselytism’ by sects and non-traditional religious organizations, the MP clarified.
The draft Law on Cults was adopted by the Moldavian parliament on May 11. Earlier the bill was subjected to sharp criticism by the Kishinev and Moldavian Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church claming that some of its provisions presented a threat to the traditional confessional balance in the country.