{"id":898,"date":"2021-03-10T22:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/?post_type=publication&p=898"},"modified":"2025-12-10T22:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T21:16:14","slug":"religious-symbols-in-the-public-sphere","status":"publish","type":"publication","link":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/en\/publications\/religious-symbols-in-the-public-sphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Symbols in the Public Sphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion about the presence of religious symbols in the public sphere is often characterized by emotional intensity, reflecting the attitude of society toward the basic values on which European culture and civilization are based and also testifying to the Christian identity of many European nations. This discussion has been gaining momentum, particularly in recent years, and undoubtedly requires proper structuring, in which legal arguments may prove helpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The historical, social, and religious experiences of Central European states as well as international and supranational guarantees in the field of protection of the freedom of conscience and religion have influenced particular solutions of individual legal systems. As a rule, the use of religious symbols in the public sphere by private and public entities is not prohibited, and their significance often exceeds the religious dimension (Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the research team established by the Ferenc M\u00e1dl Institute of Comparative Law adopted a relatively broad perspective of comparative law research that consists of the following elements: (1) introduction: scope of research, methodology, basic concepts; (2) historical, social, cultural, and political context of the presence of religious symbols in the public space: political transformation of state after 1989 and its impact on the protection of freedom of conscience and religion; (3) axiological and constitutional foundations: values and principles related to the presence of religious symbols in the public space; (4) model of relations between the state and the Church: general principles, practice of cooperation between the state and religious associations; (5) constitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience and religion: basis, subject, object, limits, means of protection; (6) guarantees according to other sources of universally binding law: the subjective and objective scope of the possibility of manifesting religious beliefs through religious symbols; (7) limits of religious expression through religious symbols: public offices, schools and universities, hospitals, workplaces, business activities, the Internet, social networks; (8) the system of legal protection: the practice of the judiciary, case studies; (9) conclusions: conclusions de lege ferenda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current research also takes into account the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Through the adopted structure of individual chapters, we attempt to formulate comparative conclusions that are presented in the summary. The main aim of this research is to show the normative aspect of the presence of religious symbols in the public space of selected European countries and outline this issue within the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights to indicate the relevant European perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This monograph is composed of studies made by religious law specialists, who were invited to be the co-authors of this publication: Dr Hab. Csink L\u00f3r\u00e1nt PPKE (Hungary)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in Hungary\u2019s legal order; Ass. Prof. Dalibor \u0110uki\u0107, PhD (Serbia)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in Serbia\u2019s legal order; Prof. lic. Dami\u00e1n N\u011bmec, dr (Czech Republic)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in the Czech Republic\u2019s legal order; Prof. JUDr. Mgr. Vojtech Vlad\u00e1r, PhD. (Slovakia)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in Slovakia\u2019s legal order; Izv. Prof. Dr Sc. Frane Stani\u010di\u0107 (Croatia)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in Slovenia\u2019s legal order; Izv. Prof. Dr Sc. Vanja-Ivan Savi\u0107 (Croatia)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in Croatia\u2019s legal order; Prof. UO Dr Hab. Pawe\u0142 Sobczyk (Poland)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in Poland\u2019s legal order; Dr Micha\u0142 Poniatowski (Poland)\u2014religious symbols in the public sphere in ECHR\u2019s jurisprudence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis allowed to not only conduct the first international comparative study of issues related to the legal aspects of the presence of religious symbols in the public sphere of seven Central European countries but also to draw extremely important conclusions and de lege ferenda postulates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The editors and authors of the publication express their sincere gratitude to Prof. Dr. J\u00e1nos Ede Szil\u00e1gyi, PhD Head of Ferenc M\u00e1dl Institute of Comparative Law, and his colleagues, for having been invited to participate in international research; this publication is a product thereof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreword by Pawe\u0142 Sobczyk, Micha\u0142 Poniatowski<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOI: <\/strong>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.54237\/profnet.2021.psrs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

keywords: <\/strong>public law, rights and freedoms<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the author<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pawe\u0142 Sobczyk is a Polish lawyer, an expert in constitutional law, human rights and religious law, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Opole, and Deputy Director of the Institute of Justice in Warsaw from 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The discussion about the presence of religious symbols in the public sphere is often characterized by emotional intensity, reflecting the attitude of society toward the basic values on which European culture and civilization are based and also testifying to the Christian identity of many European nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":899,"template":"","publication_category":[44],"class_list":["post-898","publication","type-publication","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publication_category-other-publications"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication\/898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/publication"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"publication_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mfi.gov.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_category?post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}