The Long Dark Night (A. Vrdoljak) as a National Epic

Religious Symbols in the Public : Sphere Analysis on Certain Central European Countries

“…56 Various constitutional documents show that the cooperation model has been followed and developed. The key document that covers this is the Law on Religious Communities, 57 alongside international treaties signed between the Republic of Croatia and the Holy See. Similar contracts were subsequently signed between the republic and various religious communities.…”

“…56 This area is completely illimitable. 57 With the legal recognition of human rights by the state, they have become public, subjective rights. They either ensure the autonomous sphere of the individual, protected from the interference of public power (freedom), or the ability of individuals to behave in a certain way (rights).…”

“…Several former churches that lost their status turned to the courts and finally challenged the regulation at the ECtHR. 57 The applicants submitted that the loss of their proper church status because of the 2011 Church Act had constituted interference with their freedom of religion. The proper functioning of religious communities necessitated the enjoyment of a specific and appropriate legal status, that is, church status in the legal sense.…”

“…56 Therefore, the position presented in the doctrine of constitutional law, from which it follows that the subjects of religious relations have their objective value seem fully legitimate. 57 The fact that the principle of respect for the autonomy and independence of the state and the Church implies that power vesting in each of these subjects to legislate their own law is not tantamount to consent to the infringement of the law established by the other subject. Churches and other religious associations are required to respect the state legal order and vice versa, as they are subjects operating in the state and in accordance with Article 83 of the Constitution, they are under a constitutional obligation to observe the law: "Everyone shall observe the law of the Republic of Poland.…”

“…56 It includes the right of every individual to not manifest his or her religion or belief, to not declare them, and to not be forced by legal procedures to even partially reveal his or her religious beliefs or their non-existence. 57 The literature generally argues that the right to not declare one's religious beliefs belongs to the forum internum of freedom of religion, a category of rights that must not be restricted. 58 The question is whether the use of religious symbols in the public sphere can violate the negative aspect of protection of freedom of religion.…”