wfn.org | Slovak State-Church Agreement Guarantees Equal Recognition

["Frank Imhoff" <franki@elca.org>]

Slovak Republic: State-Church Agreement Guarantees Religious
Bodies Equal Recognition  
A Sign of Growing Ecumenism, Says Lutheran Bishop Filo 

BRATISLAVA, Slovak Republic/GENEVA, 26 April 2002 (LWI) - Eleven
non-Roman Catholic churches and religious societies signed a
State-Church Agreement with the Slovak Republic, April 11 in the
capital Bratislava, legislating the equal recognition of all
religious bodies in their relationship with the state. 

State President Rudolf Schuster, who together with Prime Minister
Mikulas Dzurinda and the Slovak Parliament chairperson Josef
Migas, signed for the government, said the entire process was a
sign that collaboration between state and religious communities is
possible. The accord assures cooperation between the state and
churches and religious societies for the benefit of all citizens
in cultural, educational, health, social and pastoral concerns.

The Minister for Culture, Milan Knazko said the "agreement
modifies the relation between the government and the registered
churches and religious communities on a general level, taking into
account the differences which exist between church and religious
societies."

Rev. Dr. Julius Filo, general bishop of the Evangelical Church of
the Augsburg Confession in the Slovak Republic (ECAC-SR) described
the accord as a sign of a "growing ecumenical spirit." For Filo,
that 11 churches and religious societies could agree on signing
the same text together as independent legal bodies "could also be
appreciated by the Slovak society and European community of
countries and churches." Filo who serves as chairperson of the
Ecumenical Council of Churches in Slovakia headed the process from
its beginning in Spring 2001.

In autumn 2000 the Roman Catholic Church, to which 60 percent of
the 5.4 million Slovak population belongs, signed a similar
agreement with the state. Protestants make up around 8 percent of
the population. Besides ECAC-SR, other signatory churches included
the Apostolics, Baptists, Brethrens, Hussites, Methodists,
Orthodox, Reformed, Old Catholics and Seventh-day Adventists; and
the Jewish society.

The ECAC-SR, with 329,117 members joined the LWF in 1947.

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now
has 133 member churches in 73 countries representing over 60.5
million of the 64.3 million Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human
rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and
development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the information service of
the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Unless specifically noted,
material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the
LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article
contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced
with acknowledgment.]

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