Obraza uczuć religijnych katolika w Polsce – czy to możliwe?
An offence against religious feelings of a catholic in Poland - is it possible?

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the issue of offending religious feelings in the light of Polish penal code. It is an attempt at answering the question of whether the standards really protect the values they were supposed to protect when they were instituted. And if they do, to what extent? Is the protection of religious feelings in Poland real or is it just a formal and legal illusion? An analysis of art. 196 of the penal code, as well as existing view on this doctrine shows a number of variances in interpretation. This leads to a conclusion that religious feelings may be protected under constitution, but the protection seems largely illusory in practice. Apart from the legislative and legal reservations, the low level of protection of religious feelings seems to also stem from the existing public attitudes, including the acceptance of the progressing insensitivity to Christian symbols. This acceptance is only seemingly harmless. In fact, it depreciates the sacred character of such objects. This results in a certain blurring of the notion of insult towards the objects of religious worship.

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