wfn.org | Poland Set to Monitor New Religious Movements

[APD <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

July 16, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Poland Set to Monitor New Religious Movements  

Warsaw/Poland.    Measures against new religious 
movements are being considered by Poland's 
Interior Ministry, reports Keston News Service 
(KNS).  Plans were announced  to establish a 
special department to monitor new religious 
movements amid growing public concern over the 
activities of such groups in the country.

Speaking at a news conference on June 28, 
Krzysztof Wiktor, the head of Poland's existing 
Inter-Ministerial Team for New Religious 
Movements, said that "the problem of sects is 
smaller here than in other European countries-at 
least for now.  But if a religious or para-religious 
group violates fundamental human rights and 
causes destruction consciously and intentionally, the 
state must intervene."

Mr. Wiktor said that the new Interior Ministry 
department is to be formally established in 
September, will have no "executive or operational 
instruments," and that its tasks will include 
"preparing assistance and prevention programs and 
legislative changes," as well as "co-ordinating 
actions by state organs and co-operation with non-
governmental organizations." 

Reacting to the announcement, Wladyslaw Polok, 
president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 
Poland said that his church is "decidedly opposed to 
any curtailing of religious freedom of individuals or 
organizations in our society."

"The government's business is to guarantee 
religious freedom for any religion or belief, above 
any other consideration. If a law is broken there are 
ways to deal with that," he said.  "We hope that 
religious liberty in Poland will not be threatened by 
this move of the Interior Ministry." 

Jan Krysta, president of the Adventist Church in 
Southern Poland, said that "the young democracy in 
Poland should not follow in the footsteps of the past 
communist system which scrutinized who did what 
in society.  We hope that the Interior Ministry will 
not follow the infamous practices from the past." 

Krysta cited several instances where religious 
freedom in Poland is restricted by local government 
officials. "Even the long-established and legally 
recognized religious minorities are having real 
problems in exercising their religion in public in 
today's Poland. So, you wonder what it all will mean 
for the not-so-known religious groups."

Keston News reported that in Mr. Wiktor's  
estimation there are perhaps between ten and 
twenty dangerous sects in Poland and several dozen 
others, which he called "destructive groups which 
do not threaten society directly."

"Religious or cultic activities undertaken in good 
faith do not come under our assessment. But acts of 
a harmful character or destructive intentions must 
interest us, since the state is the guardian of order 
and public security." (216/2000)