engleski

Religious Freedom in Croatia: The Comparison of Research Results Among Representatives of Religious Communities Carried out in 1997 and 2003

The main goal of this paper is to give an overview of religious freedom in Republic of Croatia in period fom 1997. till today. During this period some important changes have occured. Namely, Croatian parliament passed a Law on Legal Status of Religious Communities in Croatia. Besides, the Government signed a number of agreements with particular religious communities. The central part of this paper consists of analysis of responds to two questionnaires carried out in 1997. and 2003., where high rank representatives expressed their opinion about religious freedom in Croatia.As the most important part of this paper, the comparison of responds obtained out of these two questionnaires tells us are religious communities content with their status in society and informs us about their mutual relations. Furthermore, it is analysed how other religios communities see the position of Catholic Church, the most influential religious community in Croatia. In that context we can ask ourselves: does the constitual stipulation « equal before the Law» really mean equal positionin society?, especially when we consider four agreements signed between Republic of Croatia and the Holy See. On the basis of the research results as well as on other facts and data, wecan conclude that religious freedom in Croatia made advance and that position of religiou communities considerably improved.

religious communities; religious freedom; Law on Legal Statust of Religious Communities; agreements between Government of RC and Religious Communities

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