Names of Churches and Religious Associations in Poland

Mieczysław Różański is a professor at the University of Warmia and Mazury, in Olsztyn (Poland).

Piotr Szymaniec is a professor at Angelus Silesius University of Applied Sciences, in Wałbrzych (Poland).

The Polish Constitution of 2 April 1997 regulates relations between the state and churches and religious associations in Article 25, located in the first chapter, titled Rzeczpospolita (The Republic). The positioning of this regulation at the beginning of the Constitution demonstrates the importance the Constitution’s authors attached to the community dimension of freedom of religion. Article 25(3) specifies that state-religion relations are to be shaped in accordance with principles of respect for the autonomy of churches/religious associations and the state, and their mutual independence, as well as cooperation between churches/religious associations and the state “for the good of an individual and the common good.” Thus, the Constitution establishes a model of relations between the state and churches/religious associations based on cooperation rather than strict separation.

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Law, Religion, and Decolonization

This series aims to explore the roles of colonialism and decolonization in the interaction of law and religion.

Religion and religious institutions can be employed by the state to support its imperial expansion and facilitate the loyalty and cultural homogenization of colonized territories and populations. Historically, these processes are often combined with proselytizing the imperial religion. They can, however, also preserve some religious freedom or autonomy for the domestic population.

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Communist Law and the Protection of Religious Freedom in Poland

Piotr Szymaniec is a professor at and the director of the Institute of Socio-Legal Studies, Angelus Silesius University of Applied Sciences, in Wałbrzych (Poland).

For 123 years, between 1795 and 1918, maps of Europe contained no independent Polish state. In the second half of the nineteenth century, former Polish lands were subject to quasi-colonial policy (with the exception of Galicia, which gained autonomy within Austria-Hungary). This policy was reflected in enforceable law; legal orders of all states ruling Polish lands defined crimes against religion, the most serious of which was blasphemy. The Austrian Criminal Code of May 27, 1852; the German Code of May 31, 1870; and the Russian Code of 1903 all introduced the crime of blasphemy.

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