VASIN M. The constitutional and legal basis for the cooperation of state and the religious organizations in Ukraine

For the first time in legal science of Ukraine, the research includes a holistic analysis of the constitutional and legal foundations of church-state interaction, including the academic rethinking of the modern model of church-state relations in Ukraine, determining its differences from the historical experience of the previous totalitarian regime of the Soviet Union, and clarifying the legal status of religious organizations in as subjects of civil society. The topicality of the research is due to the growing role of religious organizations in the civil society activity in Ukraine and in solving various social problems that the state is unable to overcome. As well, there is a need to ensure the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religion for persons in special conditions: at military and penitentiary, medical, and educational institutions. In addition, the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations", adopted in April 1991 (before the retrieval of Ukraine's state independence), today doesn't provide a proper legal basis for the participation of religious organizations in public life: those activities that go outside of the religious building and other places of worship. The negative experience and consequences of the repressive policy of the Soviet regime on religious organizations, analyzed in the dissertation, allow the author to conclude that it is necessary to improve the constitutional and legal basis of church-state cooperation to remove from public discourse grounds for manipulation of the definition of church-state separation and releasing the legal practice from the current legal uncertainties, ambiguous interpretations, legal conflicts. The dissertation includes the analyzes the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, documents of international institutions such as the UN, the Council of Europe and the OSCE on ensuring freedom of conscience and religion, focusing on aspects of church-state interaction and foreign experience in legal regulation of this relations. The scientific novelty of the research emerges in establishing and providing scientific justification for the fact that the church-state relations have changed in Ukrainian society and have transformed from an antagonistic separation to a cooperative model with its inherent great interaction between government bodies and religious organizations. It is also scientifically argued that the current constitutional and legal foundations of state-church relations have a lack of legal certainty, the absence of which negatively affects the church-state interaction, causes public tension during discussions important social problems, and complicates the process of reforming religious legislation considering that Ukraine refused from the totalitarian policy of the Soviet regime after the transition to a democratic political system.