Odluka cirkvi od štátu – podmienka a nevyhnutný predpokad rozvoja modernej občianskej spoločnosti
Disestablishment – Condition and Necessary Assumption of the Development of Modern Civil Society

Summary/Abstract: The qualitative change in the political system in Slovakia after 1989 could but reflect both on the position of churches and clerical societies and on the internal focus and intuitional accomplishment of ecclesiastic policy of the state under the conditions of democratic organization of social relations. It turned out that the fundamental question of the post-November ecclesiastic policy of the state would be the problem of shaping the new approach to churches and ecclesiastic societies, the problem of their financial and material support, respect of their autonomous positions and operation, etc. Or, put differently, the democratic transformation of the Slovak society brought the need for a new definition of how the state and church should coexist in a plural democratic system. Therefore, quite logically, the fundamental topic of a multitude of discussions and statements of competent ecclesiastic and political actors became the problem to work out the principles and methods for the accomplishment of various models of coexistence; the most popular being the separation of churches from the state. This liberal model, answering the needs of modern democratic state for mutually settled relations between them, due to various, mostly subjectively determined factors, did not find support from either clerical or political subjects. This, therefore, predetermined, to quite a large extent, the character of development and orientation of the state, weakened its laic essence and at the same time, fortified the clericalization of the political and public life in our country.

• Details
• Contents