History of State and Church Relationships in Latvia

HISTORY OF STATE AND CHURCH RELATIONSHIPS IN LATVIA RINGOLDS BALODIS Separation of Church and State has never implied segregation of religion from society or the complete exclusion of the Church from social life. This would not be possible in a democratic country, as religion and religious associations form one of the main elements structuring society. The official attitude of the traditional Church towards political processes within the state is neutral. However, the Church, which by its nature is a polygamous community, has the power to influence the political regime within the state, especially due to the fact that it often receives strong external support. Many examples can be quoted in order to support this statement – for example the Holy See, is now seeking to sign a Concordat with the Republic of Latvia. The supporter of the Latvian Orthodox Church is the Orthodox Church of Russia. Its position often concurs with the official government position of Russia. New non-traditional religious organisations come to Latvia only with the help of strong foreign backing. Muslim support is based in Saudi Arabia, the metropolis of Islam Mission, which is even prepared to finance the con- struction of a mosque in Riga. Mormons are supported by the United States. Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses reinforce their status in Latvia with aid from the US and the European Union. If we ignore these links and enforce an imprudent government policy with respect to these Churches, we may face serious foreign policy problems, which in the long run can affect the economy of our country. Indeed, investors may turn away from an unattractive image of the Republic of Latvia. A good example to illustrate the above is the weakly established refusal by the Ministry of Justice to register Jehovah’s Witnesses in Latvia. The reason behind this refusal was the fact that the Latvian president and the Parliament (Saeima) wanted to demonstrate to the public that they “truly cared” after the tragic death of a young follower of this religious group. The consequence of this decision, however, was strong and lead to pressure from international human rights organisations. If the Government 296 R. BALODIS of the Republic of Latvia had made an effort to properly study the phe- nomenon of sects and cults in the mid ‘90s, it would have been prepared for such incidents. Imperfections in legislation in this area would have been eliminated and the public would not have reacted as negatively as it did now. At present, due to a lack of professionalism in state policy, foreign experts have difficulty to understand Latvian legislation, which seems to consistently discriminate against new religious movements. Also, the role of the Church in the internal national processes should not be underestimated. Public polls show that 70% of Latvian citizens and 60% of non-citizens believe in what Churches teach. Embracing this potential, the Church seeks to influence state policy and laws. The relevance of this topic is further strengthened by the fact that actions of some Latvian religious organisations are largely connected with social integration problems of national minorities. The organisations serve as a catalyst or stabiliser of social conflicts. For instance, the world’s largest community of Old Believers is now located in Latvia, and almost the entire Russian community belongs to the Orthodox Church. These are not just “simple” religious organisations. Instead, they are the largest and most consolidated Russian organisations in Latvia. By making mistakes in establishing a regulatory framework or with regard to relations between the Government and national minority churches, we could provoke an out- burst of national hatred. Problems relating to these Churches can create religious conflicts, which may be efficiently used to achieve political goals. In order to avoid of a repetition of the sad experience of Yugoslavia or Ulster, Latvia should make a serious effort leading to involvement of these religious organisations in the minority integration process. Just to prevent tension in international relations and to provide Russia with no cause to interfere with Latvia’s internal policy, we should thoughtfully shape co- operation between the state and the said Churches, only by such a process can Latvia ensure its factual national independence. In this respect, sound legislative norms and their enforcement are of great importance. The relevance of the religious issue increases as new religious movements and cults expand, rapidly increasing the number of their followers and establishing themselves in the traditional cultural and historic envi- ronment of Latvia. Sometimes it happens that destructive activities of some of these movements carried out under the covering and protection of human rights, raises doubts in the public mind about the Government’s intention to protect its citizens. This feeling is strengthened by a lack of information by governmental institutions. Most Latvian residents, whose HISTORY OF STATE AND CHURCH RELATIONSHIPS IN LATVIA 297 experience and conception of the world were formed under an absolute lack of freedom, find it difficult to accept that there may exist unconven- tional religious movements, which have a constitutional right to operate and to freely disseminate their doctrines. Therefore quite often absolutely harmless religious groups are mistreated. The incompetence of the police and courts result from a lack of unprejudiced research as well as from insufficient co-operation between state authorities. This is a consequence of ignorance in theoretical aspects provided in the Latvian Constitution (Satversme) article 99 related to the freedom of religion and separation of the Church and state. No thoughtful and successful state administration is possible without an adequate theoretical background. I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON STATE-CHURCH RELATIONS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES The Latvian State is characterised by religious tolerance, which is an important factor in the enforcement of human rights. This can be explained by the historical situation, in which Latvia has developed as a multi-confessional country. Although the Latvian State was established only in the beginning of the 20th century, the legal basis of Latvian State and Church relationship goes back to the development of European countries, because in Western Europe – and Latvia is past of it – state law was initially connected with canon law. Taking into account that the Latin theory of “two swords” was also accepted by Russia in the 17th century – and Latvia was part of Russia before independence – this subject deserves special attention. The dissemination of religions came with the religions of the invaders. Catholicism, brought by the German crusaders, was the dominating religion from the 7th through the 8th century. It continued afterwards, under the influence of German landowners. Before the German expansion, the territory of Latvia was inhabited by many Baltic tribes (zemgali, kurschi, latgali). The most widespread religion among these tribes was paganism. The Latvian paganism Dievturiba cannot be considered as a “faith” (religion) in the generally accepted meaning of that word. Indeed, belief is not emphasised. It is rather an awareness of God or a sense of what God is and how that can help peo- ple. The traditional mythological systems (Greek, Roman) are not fully adequate to analyse the Latvian mythology, although many Latvian leg- ends and images find their roots in the Indo-European culture and in history of humanity as a whole. The dievturi believe that the Latvian world 298 R. BALODIS outlook and spiritual heritage is a value common to all Indo-European peoples and that it embodies in itself an almost ideal balance of spiritual and material values, i.e. something the contemporary world is badly seeking for. Taking into account that Latvia is a neighbour of the orthodox Russia, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to convert latgali tribes to the orthodox faith. According to historical records, Russian priests started to preach the orthodox religion in Latvia already in the 9th and 10th cen- turies. The Chronicle of Hendrix informs us that in 1209 German Cru- saders destroyed several orthodox churches in Jersika (Latvia). The author adds that a number of Talava inhabitants became orthodox. In 1180 the German Monk Meinhardt, who had a special approval from the Knyaz of Polozk (as Latvia fell in the Russia’s sphere of interest), started to preach in Latvia. When he failed to convert the pagan tribes to Christianity, he approached the Roman Pope with the request to start a crusade in the Baltics. The aim of this war was the introduction of Christianity in the Baltics. The request was approved, and led to the German invasion in Latvia. Despite some isolated freedom fights, Latvia remained under Ger- man control until the 18th century. Nevertheless, the paganism did not vanish, and after the German invasion Latvian tribes remained isolated from the influence of other cultures. This helped to preserve the ancient Indo-European and the specific Latvian distinction. Also, new features appeared, with a recognisable Christian influence. However, until the Lutheran Reform in 1517 the prevailing religion in the territory of Latvia was Catholicism as imposed by German invaders. When in 1517 Mar- tin Luther called for the creation of a new church as a protest against the Roman Pope and his system, many German towns and cities responded, including Latvia, where Lutheranism started to spread out starting from 1521. From 1523 onwards a spontaneous mass liquidation of Catholic monasteries began. As soon as in 1524 the general meeting of all land estates in Riga decided to join the “pure evangelic teaching”. The year 1524 is therefore considered as the year of the foundation of the Latvian Evangelic Lutheran Church. Lutheran doctrine spread out, which later served as a good soil for other branches of Protestantism. When the Swedes conquered Riga and a part of Latvia in 1621 they banned Catholicism by law.

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