INFORMATION REGARDING THE ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION ON THE SUBJECT OF PASSING THE BILL OF LEGAL REGULATION OF THE POSITION

OF THE RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

On 8 October 2005 the Center for Development of Civil Society organized in Zrenjanin an expert round table discussion entitled Legal regulation of the position of religious communities within developing of the project with the same title supported by Freedom House Serbia. The participants in the round table discussion were Professor Dr Dragoljub orevi, Mr. ivica Tuci, Mr. Miroslav Kevedi, Professor Dr Milan Vukomanovi, Mr. Mirko orevi, Mr. Tomislav igmanov, Dr Bojan Aleksov, Mr. Zdravko oran and Professor Dr Vladimir Ili. The discussion was led by Mr. Dragan Kalejski. The materials for the discussion were prepared by Mr. Miroslav Kevedi and Ms eljka Mani. The program coordinator was Ms Alisa Halak. Considering the fact that the whole issue of the religious life in the Republic of Serbia has not been legally regulated since 1993 and that in the practice the need for finding solution for many problems in this field has been clearly evident, the Center for Development of Civil Society has aimed its activities to giving contribution to regulate this legal chaos. In an atmosphere of mutual appreciation and awareness about importance of the issue, the participants exchanged information and opinions about the problem itself and about initiating legislative solution. By taking notice of this information the participants do not in any way express their full consent to the main topic, but they regard the presented contents as possibly useful for various factors. The participants of the discussion agreed in principle that legal regulation of the activities not yet regulated or not regulated in an adequate way, increased rationality in the society. The findings of different researches completed by the Center for Development of Civil Society indicate that most part of the population of Serbia is afraid of changes, hence every regulation and increase of predictability can only contribute to tension relieving and this applies to this field more that to the others. Religions or organizations and communities related to religion form a possible way of decreasing frustrations and potential social tensions. Legal regulation in this field can provide order in this chaos, and it can also release some existing social tensions. In this regard the need for passing this bill is of outstanding importance.
Center for the Development of Civil Society, 23000 Zrenjanin, Makedonska 11, www.cdcs.org.yu tel/fax:+381 (0)23 511 066; mob: +381 (0)63 81 47 011, e-mail: cdcsweb@cdcs.org.yu, zrcentar@yahoo.com

However, some doubts regarding the existence of this need were also expressed. On the other hand, the participants of the discussion clearly appreciated the attempts of the Ministry of Religions in establishing and enforcing the rule of law in Serbia. They also expressed the hope that the supreme legislative body of the Republic of Serbia would continue its fruitful activity to the benefit of the citizens. Actually, in 2004 the Ministry of Religions of the Republic of Serbia made a bill of law of religious freedom, churches, religious communities and religious associations. The bill was offered to the public for discussion in July while the opinions, remarks and suggestions should have been sent to the Ministry of Religions until 10 August 2004 so that the bill of law could be sent to the Government of Serbia for consideration and then to the Assembly of Serbia for passing. The bill has not yet been passed and in the meantime, there have been at least four suggested bills. The participants regretted because this process was insufficiently transparent. There is no website of the Ministry of Religions of the Republic of Serbia where the bill could be found with absolute certainty. People from the state institutions, like university, who should be involved by the nature of their work, cannot participate in this process nor can they obtain the latest versions of the bill. Some non-governmental organizations, which are extremely interested in regulation of this issue, can neither give their full contribute nor obtain adequate information. Some participants of the discussion asked a question as to how it was possible that some religious communities had access to this issue, they were even involved in working on the bill, while the expert public was excluded from that process. They underlined the possibility of a more productive debate and atmosphere where a dialogue between the religious communities regarding this issue would be intensified. Considering the content of the bill, the participants indicated to inconsistency in the bill itself. In this regard some participants suggested that it should be more transparently indicated who proposed and wrote the bill so that it could be clear who had a leading role in its writing which would be useful for the public discussion. In stating their opinion the participants unanimously followed the principles of equality before the law and absence of discrimination. In this sense some participants asked why some articles of the bill gave more privileged position to religious communities than to some other social institutions, for example civil organizations or initiatives. According to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia religious communities are separated from the state. It was underlined that this principle was in the Holy Bible itself where it was written that the Gods kingdom is not of this world. The state had accepted this situation and so had the religious communities. However, the opinion was stated that in the practice there were interferences which provoke controversies and tensions manifested in political relations as well. The influence of the religious communities in society was not disputable, but the state should not govern the religious
Center for the Development of Civil Society, 23000 Zrenjanin, Makedonska 11, www.cdcs.org.yu tel/fax:+381 (0)23 511 066; mob: +381 (0)63 81 47 011, e-mail: cdcsweb@cdcs.org.yu, zrcentar@yahoo.com

communities or vice versa. The need for a more sensible secularism was stressed where all relations were regulated as a reasonable mutual appreciation and a constructive relation between the religious communities and the state. The religious communities form a part of the society and it should be respected, but it was highlighted that as such they had the responsibility towards the other part of the society. On the other hand, some of the participants indicated that the public had neglected a more comprehensive relation between the state and the society while focusing on the relation between the state and the religion. Some of the participants focused their attention on the presence of a militant antitheism in a part of the public as well as to an unacceptable intention in a civility sense of some public factors to ridicule the church. Some legal solutions of the State Union which should lead the bill writers were also underlined. This applies to the Constitutional Charter of the State Union Serbia and Montenegro and especially to the Charter on Human and Minority Rights adopted together with the Constitutional Charter. It contains the articles which are almost identical to the articles of the international documents which the state has signed which refer to the right of religion. The importance of the freedom of religion for preserving the national identities was especially stressed. The discussion highlighted the discordance between the actual constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the Constitutional Charter. It was underlined that the Constitution defines Serbia as a democratic state of all its citizens which guaranteed equality of all citizens before the state institutions. Some participants in the discussion thought that it was not recommendable to favor seven traditional religious communities because, according to them, in that case others were discriminated. It could be heard in the discussion that this character of the bill, which was estimated by some participants as discriminatory one, was the common ground of all proposed bills which had appeared so far as well as of the previous Law which regulated this area. Some participants said that, regardless of the fact that the bill had not been passed yet, the provisions which favored a number of religious communities and discriminated the others, had been already applied, which led to further discriminatory practice. In this sense it was stressed that the future Law should ensure absence of any discrimination regarding exercising the right of freedom of religion by regulating the social context of religiousness: the right to own property, right to particular wear, ceremonies, gatherings, to act publicly, etc. Participants in the round table discussion particularly paid attention on the importance of the question of denationalization of the church property and on the absence of readiness of religious communities to accept control of all their receipts and expenses. The participants generally agreed that the solutions proposed in the new versions of the bill were considerably better than the ones in the previous versions. The fact that in the fourth version of the bill the extremely high census needed for registration of a religious community was abandoned was especially welcomed. At the same time the participants expressed worries because of the implications
Center for the Development of Civil Society, 23000 Zrenjanin, Makedonska 11, www.cdcs.org.yu tel/fax:+381 (0)23 511 066; mob: +381 (0)63 81 47 011, e-mail: cdcsweb@cdcs.org.yu, zrcentar@yahoo.com

that this census was reincorporated in the fifth version of the bill. On the other hand, the participants were well aware that for the first registration the newly formed religious communities should lodge documents which would evidence their teaching and doctrines. Some participants suggested omitting of some provisions from the bill which favored the Serbian Orthodox Church and separated protestant religious communities and omitting of any classification of religious communities. According to some participants it was unnecessary to determine the notion of church through the future Law because this problem should be left to dogmatics. The participants indicated to the unclear determination of the notions church, religious community and religious association in the bill, and the criteria used for classification. It could also be heard that the concept of establishing continuity was logically inconsistent and unproductive when connected to the previous systems regarding this area and considering a low level of respecting the rule of law and human rights in the history of Serbia. The participants said that the position of the religious communities should be legally regulated by the Law which should be shorter than the proposed one in compliance with the European standards and considering the idea of rightfulness and insisting on public welfare which could be made possible through solidarity of all, overall tolerance, respecting of civil principle of equality and avoiding politicization of this issue.

24 October 2005

Center for the Development of Civil Society, 23000 Zrenjanin, Makedonska 11, www.cdcs.org.yu tel/fax:+381 (0)23 511 066; mob: +381 (0)63 81 47 011, e-mail: cdcsweb@cdcs.org.yu, zrcentar@yahoo.com