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Dispute Over the State: Between “A Confessional State” and “A Secular State”

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Dispute Over the State: Between “A Confessional State” and “A Secular State” Fr. Wojciech Guzewicz, Poland 1 Dispute over the state: between “a confessional State” and “a secular State” ABSTRACT For a long time lawyers and politicians have been divided in the sharp dispute over what should be the relation between the state and the Church: “secular state” or “reli- gious state”. Meanwhile, both meanings are vague and sometimes misconstrued. It is known that today are unacceptable extreme solutions: on the one hand “theocracy”, where the Church exercises control over the state, as it used to be over Israel and, on the other hand, a “totally anti-religious state” sometimes occurring in the twentieth century. It seems that the relations between the Church and the State should adopt the principle of the Second Vatican Council, that “the political community and the Church are, on their own territory, independent and autonomous”, and that the Church and the political community will be able to perform their ministry “for the good of all, the better, the more they will lead a healthy cooperation with each other, taking into account the circumstances of time and place”. KEYWORDS: the relations between Church and State in Poland, autonomy of cooperation Introduction It is a long time since the lawyers and the politicians have been divided by the strong discussion about how the relationship between the state and the Church should looks like: like “the secular state or like the religious state”. However, both of that names are not clear enough and sometimes there are misunderstood. It is clear that extreme solutions are unacceptable: on the one hand, “theocracy”, where the Church exercises control over the state, as earlier kahal over Israel, and on the other hand “a total anti-religious state” what sometimes happened in the 20th century2. 1 Professor Wojeciech Guzewicz, University Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn; email: wojciech. [email protected] 2 P. Sobczyk, Katolicka koncepcja państwa wyznaniowego, [in:] Państwo wyznaniowe. Doktryna, prawo i praktyka, J. Szymanek (ed.), Warszawa 2011, pp. 113-119; R. Mojak, Zasada autonomii i wzajemnej niezależności oraz współdziałania w stosunkach między państwem a Kościołem i innymi związkami wyznaniowymi, [in:] Polskie prawo konstytucyjne, W. Skrzydło (ed.), Lublin 2008, p. 110 ff.; M. Pietrzak, Prawo wyznaniowe, LexisNexis, Warszawa 2010, p. 232 ff. 5 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MATTERS N o. 2/2018 I. Separation of the state and the Church? Both the Second Vatican Council and the EU’s creators had to face this problem. The concept of separation of state and the Church has been established in the secular theory of the state. However, it turned out that this separation can be also really different: legally pure, hostile and friendly.3 The Council was afraid that the extreme separation of “the secular state” could provoke the appearance of ”the atheistic state”4. It is so often today that a a believer is treated like a schizophrenic, who has split personality: in a private forum, he can believe in God and keep his commandments and laws, but in the public arena, especially in the state, he must strictly be an atheist and obey only state law, even if it was against his religion. For example, he may privately consider abortion, which is a violation of another’s life, like a sin, but in public life, if the state permits killing, and he is a public official, then he hasto kill. To top it all, he is not guilty, but even he has merit for the implementation of the secular law. It must be noted that the law of some states allows believers to apply the conscience clause5, although there is no lack of such turbidity. They think that the law is beyond the doctor’s conscience clause. For example, even if he killed thousands of the unborn, even right before their birth, there is no fault in his conscience6. II. Proposal for autonomy of cooperation However, the problems are very serious, the Council proposed a general solution in the form of the autonomy of cooperation. There is not an absolute separation of the state of atheism, which is demanded by whole parties and also by individual atheists. The Council says that “The Church is in no way affiliated with the political community and is not linked to any political system. It is a sign and the defence of the transcendence of the human being. The political community and the Church are, on their own territory, independent and autonomous. However, they serve the 3 M. Sitarz, Zasada równouprawnienia kościołów i innych związków wyznaniowych, ”Kościół i Prawo”, 2015, No. 4, pp. 141-168. 4 Sacrosanctum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II, Declaratio de libertate religiosa Dignitatis humanae (7.12.1965), AAS 58 (1966), pp. 929-946; Polish wording in: Sobór Watykański II, Konstytucje, dekrety, deklaracje, Pallottinum, Poznań 2002, pp. 410-421 and Sacrosanctum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II, Constitutio dogmatica de Ecclesia Lumen gentium (21.11.1964), AAS 57 (1965), pp. 5-67; polish wording”, [in:] Sobór Watykański II, Konstytucje, dekrety, deklaracje, Pallottinum, Poznań 2002, pp. 104-166. 5 R. Sztychmiler, Spór o klauzulę sumienia w Polsce, ”Kościół i Prawo”, 2015, No. 4, pp. 185-210. 6 K. Lepczyński, Hartman: Lekarze popierający „Deklarację wiary” powinni poszukać pracy w Watykanie, <http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/1,114871,16060848,Hartman__Leka- rze_popierajacy__Deklaracje_wiary__powinni.html>, [access: 9 October 2017]; T. Brzeziński, Etyka lekarska, Warszawa 2012. 6 I . ARTICLES personal and social vocation of the same people, and if they are able to cooperate for the good of all, taking into account the circumstances of the place and time, their work will be more efficient. A human is not limited to the mundane order, but he lives in human history, integrally maintaining his vocation to eternal life... The Church uses temporal things as much as it is required by his mission... The Church has to promote and to uplift everything in the human community that is true, good and beautiful. He also respects and supports the political freedom of the citizens and their responsibility... Everywhere and everywhere, let him be obliged to proclaim the faith of true freedom, to teach about his social doctrine, to carry out his task effectively among the people, and to give moral judgment on things that concern the political order, especially when required by the fundamental rights of the person or the salvation of souls”7. The state’s autonomy over the Church cannot denote the negation of the Church, or put it into a private and purely internal forum. The state has to be tolerant of religion and atheists, if one or another do not seriously threaten societies, but cannot favor one at the expense of the other. Moreover, the separation of Church and State is not to be understood as a struggle between them or the superiority of one. The state should be religious, but not churchly. It does not control the Church and also does not listen to it. It is subject to God and His laws, but is not subject to the authority of the Church. There must be positive cooperation between the Church and the state, and the autonomy or independence of the Church and the State in their respective affairs is needed so that each individual who is both a citizen of the State and a faithful Church can fulfill his civic and religious obligations according to his own conscience. The proper and lasting settlement of the relationship between the State and the Catholic Church in Poland will allow for fruitful co-operation not only of individuals, but also of both communities, of the State and of the Church, for the common good8. In the teaching of the Church, the state cannot be “religious” in the sense that it is subject to the institution of the Church or it has been on the same plane with it. But the state and the constitution are not removed from the power of God as the Creator and the refuge of all created reality. The constitution of the state should be autonomous in relation to the institution of the Church, but not independent from religion in general, namely means, from God. This is a clear reference to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council and to the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church 7 Sacrosanctum Concilium Oecumenicum Vaticanum II, Constitutio pastoralis de Ecclesia in mundo huius temporis Gaudium et spes (December 7th, 1965), aas 58 (1966), pp. 1025-1115; Polish wording in Sobór Watykański II, Konstytucje, dekrety, deklaracje, Pallottinum, Poznań 2002, pp. 526-606 (here citation. KDK 71). 8 W. Guzewicz, Prasa diecezjalna w Polsce północno-wschodniej jako źródło wiedzy o społecznej nauce Kościoła (1989-2009), Ełk 2012, pp. 326-328. 7 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC MATTERS N o. 2/2018 Lumen Gentium, where is stated: “If the words – the autonomy of the temporal things – are so meaningful that the created things are not dependent on God, and man can use them without referring them to the Creator, then everyone recognizing God senses how false they are. The creation without the Creator disappears. Moreover, the creature itself falls into the darkness by forgetting about God”9. Thus, the lifting of the mortal life from the God is annihilating this life. The separation of the constitution from God’s order deprives it of the power and meaning of it. Moreover, it can be seen that the secularity understood as the autonomy of the civil and political spheres in relation to the religious and ecclesiastical sphere – but not in relation to moral principles – it s a value already recognized and respected by the Church. When confronted with politics with moral principles, the latter, according to the Church, cannot be abrogated, exceptions or compromises cannot be allowed.
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