Church and State in Croatia: Legal Framework, Religious Instruction, and Social Expectations

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of Church-state relations in Croatia since the collapse of communism. Our focus is mainly on the general development of the legal framework, and on the introduction and development of religious instruction in public schools. The issue of religious instruction serves to illustrate and discuss the main dilemmas about how to frame Church-state relations in the post-communist era, or more precisely in a country with a high level of religiosity, with the marked social role of the Catholic Church. Yet, in spite of that, Croatia opted for the separation of Church and state, for equality of all religions before the law, and for respect of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. Therefore the presentation of different aspects of religious instruction is followed by a summary of public debates on the introduction of religious instruction in public schools in the 1990s. In addition, the chapter touches on social perceptions and expectations from religion in the public sphere, as the development of Church-state relations largely reflects the overall social climate in a country, an important part of which are the social expectations of people from different religions.