Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has underscored the importance of separation of church and state, Report informs via Armenpress.
He made the comments during a meeting with the representatives of the Armenian community of Switzerland when asked about the relationship between the government and the church.
“The state should not interfere in church affairs and the church should not interfere in state affairs,” Pashinyan said. He added that the current relations are the way they should be, except for a few nuances.
Pashinyan said that a representative of the diaspora has asked him whether there are problems in the relationship between the government and the church. “I said that in my opinion, the church should be transparent. Everyone demands transparency from the government. And we agree with this. And now we say, not just us, but also our friends, our family, those who we have greeted just once should be transparent,” Pashinyan said, referring to the new universal income declaration system. “And why shouldn’t the church be transparent too?”
As an example, the PM noted that printing a POS receipt is mandatory whenever anything is sold. “So there is a question, if you are selling candles, why shouldn’t you print a POS receipt? They counter by saying you want to tax the church. We answer that we want the tax legislation to function in Armenia. But we are assuming an obligation, the entire taxes generated as a result of the church activities will be returned to the church, none of it will stay in the budget. Moreover, if it turns out that the church functions require additional funding in Armenia, we will also consider having additional funding,” the PM said.