The Relationship Between Church and State in Slovakia

During our stay here in Slovakia we have witnessed a number of public holiday celebrations, including All Saints Day (Sviatok vsetkych svatych) on November 1, and Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day (Den boja za slobodu a demokraciu) on November 17. We are now entering the Christmas season. We will soon be observing the celebration of Christmas Eve (Stedry den) on December 24, Christmas Day (Prvy sviatok vianocny) on December 25, and St. Stephen’s Day or the second day of Christmas (Druhy sviatok vianocny) on December 26. Before we leave in January we will witness the observation of the Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic (Den vzniku Slovenskej republiky) on January 1, and the Epiphany (The Three Maji) and Christmas Day of Orthodox Christians (Zjavenie Pana or Traja krali a vianocny sviatok pravoslavnych krestanov) on January 6. Nine of the 15 Slovak public holidays are Church holidays (Public holidays in Slovakia, 2006).

The practice in Slovakia of designating religious holidays as public holidays is quite different from what occurs in the United States. The first amendment of the United States Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances” (The U.S. Constitution Online, 2007a). This amendment has been interpreted in various U.S. Supreme Court Decisions over the years to mean that there must be a “wall of separation” between Church and State. As a result, only one of the eleven public holidays (Christmas Day on December 25) celebrated in the United States is also a Church holiday (Public holidays of the United States, 2007).

The Slovak Constitution also provides for freedom of religion. Article 1 of the Slovak Constitution provides that the Slovak Republic is not linked to any ideology or religion and Article 24 guarantees the freedom of thought, conscience, and religious creed and belief (Gogineni, 2000; U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2007).

While there is freedom of religion and no official state religion in Slovakia, Catholicism is the dominant religion in the country. According to the results of the 2001 Slovak census about 70 percent of the census population indicated that they were Roman Catholic (Central Intelligence Agency, 2007). In 2001, the Slovak Government signed an international treaty with the Vatican that established the legal framework for relationships between the Slovak Government, the Catholic Church in Slovakia, and the Vatican. The government signed similar agreements with 11 other registered religious groups in 2002 (U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2004).

Religious organizations in Slovakia are not required to register with the state. However, if a religious organization is registered (religious groups must have 20,000 permanent resident supporters in order to register with the government), it is eligible to receive various forms of financial assistance from the government. This assistance includes subsidies to provide salaries for clergy members and office expenses and subsidies to religious schools. The Church Department of the Slovak Ministry of Culture oversees relations between Church and State (World Council of Churches, 2007). The Slovak Statistical Office conducts surveys and maintains data on various aspects of church and religious affairs (Slov Stat Online, 2007). A 2004 law passed by the Slovak Parliament requires participation in religious or ethical education for students in elementary and secondary schools between the ages of 6 and 18 years (Pisárová, 2004). The law also allows government‑funded religious schools to remove material inconsistent with Catholic beliefs from the curricula (U.S. State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2005).

Differences in the State-Church relationship between Slovakia and the United States are a reflection of the different historical backgrounds of the two countries. Slovakia’s Catholic heritage dates back to the 9th century when the Christian missionaries Cyril and Methodius brought Christianity to the region. Slovakia evolved into a predominantly Catholic region while under Hungarian rule from the 11th century until the early 20th century. The Church continued to play an important role in Slovak society after the Czechs and Slovaks became the independent Czechoslovak Republic at the end of World War I in 1918, and survived the period of Communist rule from 1948-1989 (Allen, 1999; Slovakia.Org., 2007; The Catholic Encyclopedia, 2007; World Council of Churches, 2007). Today about 70 percent of the Slovak population indicate that they are Roman Catholic (Central Intelligence Agency, 2007). A World Values survey conducted by Religious Tolorence.Org and reported by Nationmaster.com indicates that 47 percent of adult Slovaks claimed that they attend Church services one or more times per week (NationMater.com, 2007).

In contrast to Slovakia, there is a clear separation of Church and State in the U.S. The establishment of this separation originated with the early American settlers who fled from Europe because of religious persecution in their home countries (Separation of church and state in the United States, 2007). This desire for a clear separation of Church and State is perhaps best expressed by Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of 1802 in which he wrote “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state”( The U.S. Constitution Online, 2007b).

References

Allen, John. (1999, October 1). After Cold War Cold Peace: The Communist Rule in Eastern Europe Did Not Eradicate The Influence Of The Church, But Polls Indicate That More Eastern Europeans Are Becoming Disenchanted With The Church. Free National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved December 11, 2007 from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-56249663.html.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2007). The World Factbook: Slovakia. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/lo.html.

Gogineni, Babu. (2000, May). Discrimination Against Humanists. The Humanist. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1374/is_3_60/ai_62111873.

Library of Congress Exhibit Website. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic. (2007). Retrieved December 12, 2007 from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html.


NationMater.com (2007). Church Attendence by Country. Retrieved December 11, 2007 from http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_chu_att-religion-church-attendance.

Pisárová, Martina. (2004, February 2). Religious Education Treaty Passes Amidst Protests. The Slovak Spectator. Retrieved December 11, 2007 from http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/14942.

Public holidays in Slovakia. (2006, September 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 12, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Public_holidays_in_Slovakia&oldid=73828766.

Public holidays of the United States. (2007, November 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11:33, December 12, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Public_holidays_of_the_United_States&oldid=174752494.

Separation of church and state in the United States. (2007, December 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 12, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_United_States&oldid=176324878.

Slovakia.Org. (2007). Six Part Historical Overview of Slovakia. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.slovakia.org/history.htm.

Slov Stat Online (2007). Demography and Social Statistics. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.statistics.sk/pls/elisw/MetaInfo.explorer?cmd=go&s=1002&sso=2&so=32.

The Catholic Encyclopedia. (2007). Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04592a.htm.

The U.S. Constitution Online. (2007a, January 30). Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am1.

The U.S. Constitution Online. (2007b, January 30). Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter. Retrieved December 10, 2007 from http://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html.