The separation of the church/religious communities and the state is enshrined in the Constitution of Serbia. However, with today’s news that a draft anti-discrimination law was withdrawn [in Serbian] from adoption procedures in the Serbian Parliament under pressure from the Serbian Orthodox Church, it seems somebody didn’t get the memo.
The Serbian Orthodox Church has taken a dislike to two articles in the anti-discrimination law, which needs to be adopted to qualify visa-free travel to the European Union. The articles disputed by the church are:
- Article 18 which ensures the free expression of religion or belief and the right that a person or group of people can practice, express and change their religion or belief, as well as the right to publicly or privately express their religion or belief.
- Article 21 which states that gender identity and sexual orientation are a private matter and that nobody can be asked to publicly declare their gender identity or sexual orientation, that everyone has the right to express their gender identity or sexual orientation and which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. This article also covers transsexualism.
The Serbian Ministry for Human Rights is not happy and Marko Karadzic, a ministry state secretary, has said that it will not allow any changes to the law and that nobody has the right to change the way in which laws are adopted. The law had already been passed by the government and relevant ministries.
Okay, so the Serbian Orthodox Church is protecting its own religion and is peeved off about those pesky homosexuals being treated like everybody else. I don’t have anything against religion. It brings comfort and meaning to many millions of people – that’s fine. I do get annoyed, however, when the church thinks that it is above everyone else and that it has the right to set the benchmark for so-called ‘morality’ – particularly when it tries to limit the rights of human beings who should be equal. What’s even more worrying is that the Serbian Parliament bowed down to pressure and actually withdrew the law from procedure!
There’s no details at the moment as to why the Orthodox Church has a problem with the article on religion.
I must say that I’ve been quite impressed recently with the Serbian Ministry of Human Rights and its support for one of the most discriminated against minorities in Serbia, the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual community.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this unfolds and I’ll provide an update in due course.
What do you think about the church interfering in the adoption of anti-discrimination law in Serbia? Let us know by leaving a comment.
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on Mar 4th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
LDP condemned government’s decision to withdraw antidiscrimination law http://www.ldp.rs/vesti.84.html?newsId=1867
on Mar 4th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
LDP condemned government’s decision to withdraw antidiscrimination law
on Mar 5th, 2009 at 12:29 am
You said all there is to it, Adam. If there was any doubt for a moment that this news is true, see this – the church have just confirmed that they did send a letter of complaint. They didn’t say, however, what was it that they didn’t like in the proposed law.
on Mar 5th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I share your opinion. Religion is a comfort for some, but I resent having it shoved down my throat. I don’t think the church should have a say in the adoption of the law in the matters you speak of.
on Mar 5th, 2009 at 11:43 am
@Viktor
Thanks for the link to the church’s confirmation. Click here for the article in English.
@Bibi
Yes, the church and its followers have the right to teach, support and opppose who and what it wants, but has no right to define law for everyone in the country.
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Church didn’t define the law. Did it? It did send critics to govorment regarding some articles and they (govorment) removed law proposal from its parliament procedure, or however it’s called. Serbian Ortodox Church did that in the name of all religious communities/churches registered in Serbia (with their consent).
I don’t know what they don’t like there, but I heard that they think ’some articles are contrary to others, either from that law or other laws or constitution’.
Anyway, some 90-95% of people in Serbia are religious. Any politician would be fool if (s)he would ignore their representatives, in this case The Church. None political party or all of them together have that much supporters.
Btw, nice blog
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
@Obelix,
True, the Church has every right to have its opinion heard and taken into consideration
However, the church should not have the right to suddenly step in after years of discussion on the law and have it pulled from parliamentary procedure just with the click of a finger.
Glad your enjoying the blog!
on Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Erm.. yep, that sounds a bit odd.
Anyway, more info here:
http://www.politika.rs/rubrike.....di.lt.html
on Mar 11th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
[...] (besides celebrity Big Brother and Eurosong contest, that is): the anti-discrimination law and the problem it created for the traditional religious organizations in Serbia – Serbian Orthodox Church, [...]
on Mar 12th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
This whole thing is quite stupid. The MPs should either befriend the church and allow it to meddle the affairs of the legislative branch, or they should completely disregard its comments. Anything in between is unethical.
If they are willing to allow the church to interfere, they should publicly announce that, and amend the Constitution to allow for such manipulation. If, on the other hand, they choose to respect the Constitution of the country they serve, they should not grant any religious institution the right to obstruct its legislative procedures.
Their current behavior is unethical because they are not doing their jobs properly, and that is to vote on laws in accordance to the Constitution or the Republic of Serbia.
on Mar 27th, 2009 at 4:09 am
Although the two rules don’t seem too anti-Church compared the alot of stuff in Europe, I have to say, I respect Serbians for respecting their religion, instead of flushing it down the toliet like their western neighbors. I hope they are doing this stuff to get free visas, and not try to become another godless clone country. Eurocentrism=destroy your culture.
on Dec 4th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
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