The situation of freedom of conscience and religion

    in Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom of religion is one of the basic law which has been the most often used in the past. It is connected with a very important social role of religion, religion is a kind of model to evaluate social behaviors and a factor to alleviate the pain. Freedom of  religion is a guarantee to obtain  freedom of thoughts, what protects society from dictatorial behavior.

 

Legislation of EU do not guarantee acceptance for Churches and religious organizations on the institutional level, to make possible practicing and gathering in accordance to internal rules. There is also a lack of legislation in EU concerning status of churches and faith, which is common in every country separately.

In most of the European countries constitutions guarantee freedom of  religion for individuals and  for religious institutions. Religion is not only a private matter. We can also notice, that more and more often, not a regulation including in the articles decide about religious freedom but constitutional practice. Nowadays all the European countries are secular and accept different attitude towards religion. No matter what is the  state-religion relation, jurisdiction works on the basis of similar rules. Autonomy of  religious organizations is respected everywhere, although no legislation defines what religion or religious organization is.

The faith issue is presented in European Union legislature in detail and because of the present stage of integration process it does not play important role.

Present legislation of EU guarantee individual freedom of conscience and religion, but does not guarantee it for religious institution. Freedom of conscience and religion is one of the union’s standards.

Holy See appears as an advocate of freedom of religion and supports the idea of finding religion an appropriate place in union legislation. Episcopal jurisdiction of Catholic Church in Rome postulates also for a dialogue between European Union , Church and religious organizations.

Catholic Church and groups connected with it will do their best to include invocatio Dei and the article about universal values in the future version of European Constitution. They have already presented the critic of final version of  the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

The issue of invocatio Dei may turn into the wider European discussion and  the attempt to include this words in the document may become the part of political fight.

In accordance to the evolution of European integration process, the matter of religion may more and more often appear as a discussion issue. It may require more interest of this topic from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

 

Northern Ireland consists of six of the traditional nine counties of the historic Irish province of Ulster. It was created as a distinct division of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, though its constitutional roots lie in the 1800 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland. For over 50 years it had its own devolved government and parliament. These institutions were suspended in 1972 and abolished in 1973. Repeated attempts to restore self-government finally resulted in the establishment of the present-day Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly. The Assembly operates on  democracy principles requiring cross-community support.

Northern Ireland was for many years the site of a violent and bitter ethno-political conflict—the Troubles—between those claiming to represent nationalists, who are predominantly Roman Catholic, and those claiming to represent unionists, who are predominantly Protestant. Unionists want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, while nationalists wish it to be politically reunited with the rest of Ireland. It started in the late 1960s, consisted of about thirty years of recurring acts of intense violence between elements,  during which 3,254 people were killed.

Since the signing of the "Good Friday Agreement" in 1998, most of the paramilitary groups involved in the Troubles have ceased their armed campaigns. Two creators of the ceasefire John Hume and David Trimble were awarded Nobel Peace Prize .

Nowadays most of the population of Northern Ireland are at least nominally Christian. The ethno-political loyalties are allied, though not absolutely, to the Roman Catholic and Protestant denominations and these are the labels used to categorize the opposing views. This is, however, becoming increasingly irrelevant as the Irish Question is very complicated. Many voters (regardless of religious affiliation) are attracted to Unionism's conservative policies, while other voters are instead attracted to the traditionally leftist and Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) and their respective party platforms for Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy. For the most part, Protestants feel a strong connection with Great Britain and wish for Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom.

 John Hume (born 18 January 1937) also known as Londonderry,  is a former Northern Irish politician from Derry, founding member of the Social Democratic and Labor Party and co-recipient of the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with David Trimble. He  was a student at St. Columb's College and at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, the leading Catholic seminary in Ireland and a recognized college of the National University of Ireland, where he intended to study for the priesthood. He did not complete his clerical studies, but did obtain a M.A degree from the college, and then returned home to his native city and became a teacher. He was a founding member of the Credit Union movement in the city. Hume became a leading figure in the civil rights movement in the late 1960s along with people such as Hugh Logue. Hume was prominent in the unsuccessful fight to have Northern Ireland's second university established in Derry in the mid-sixties. After this campaign, John Hume went on to be a prominent figure in the Derry Citizen's Action Committee. The DCAC was set up in the wake of the 5th of October march through Derry which had caused so much attention to be drawn towards the situation in Northern Ireland. The purpose of the DCAC was to make use of the publicity surrounding recent events to bring to light grievances in Derry that had been suppressed by the Unionist Government for years. The DCAC unlike Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), however, was aimed specifically at a local campaign, improving the situation in Derry for all, and maintaining a peaceful stance. The committee also had a Stewards Association that was there to prevent any violence at marches or sit-downs. Hume was a founder member of Derry Credit Union. At the age of 27 he became the youngest ever President of the Irish League of Credit Unions. He served as President from 1964 to 1968. He once said that "all the things I've been doing, it's the thing I'm proudest of, because no movement has done more good for the people of Ireland, north and south, than the credit union movement." On 4 February 2004, Hume announced his complete retirement from politics. He is considered as one of the most important people in the peace process in  Northern Ireland.

Piotr Żaba, Marzena Dziurzyńska

 

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