Government religious administration

GOVERNMENT RELIGIOUS ADMINISTRATION – bodies within the structure of government administration competent to settle issues related to the realization of freedom of conscience and religion, to which individuals and religious associations (r.a.) are entitled. Such supervisory bodies exist in countries with different political regimes. Their structure, scope of competence and the nature of the supervision (repressive, preventive or informative) result, among others, from the state-church relationship model adopted in the given country (linkage or separation model). The central religious administration (r.adm.) may be located: 1. in a separate ministry for religion, or for church affairs; 2. in a separate body (e.g., committee, office, representative) who is subordinate to the government or to one ministry; 3. in the ministry, which has r.adm. within its scope (e.g., education, justice, culture, interior) – the last option is the solution applied in most countries in the world. In Poland since 1919, the second and third options were used. From 2015, the specialised central body of r.adm. is the minister competent for internal affairs. Other ministers (e.g., competent for education, finance, foreign affairs, national defence, social policy, health) are entitled to supervisory powers when the activities of r.a. fall within the scope of their subject matter. Functions of the territorial bodies of r.adm. are held by the voivodes. Supervision mainly concerns the establishment of r.a., the worship activity outside the places of worship, the creation by the r.a. of new organisational units, appointment of foreigners to managerial positions in r.a. The Department of Religious Denominations and National and Ethnic Minorities is responsible for the tasks of the minister responsible for internal affairs in the area of religious denominations; for the voivode – the department of civic affairs and migration of the voivodship office [ B. Górowska ].

Literature: P.A. Leszczyński, Administracja wyznaniowa wybranych państw współczesnych – zarys zagadnienia [Religious administration of selected modern states – an outline of the issue], [in:] Prawo wyznaniowe w systemie prawa polskiego: materiały I Ogólnopolskiego Sympozjum Prawa Wyznaniowego [[Religious law in the system of Polish law: materials of the 1st National Symposium on Religious Law], ed. A. Mezglewski, Lublin 2004 ■ K. Walczuk, Rządowa administracja wyznaniowa w Polsce [Government religious administration in Poland], „Studia z Prawa Wyznaniowego” 2006, nr 9.