Ku ustawie z 17 maja 1989 r. Ewolucja postaw władzy wobec Kościoła i idei wolności sumienia i wyznania w Polsce

Abstract

Freedom of conscience and belief belongs to basic human rights. Furthermore, they stay under the influence of individual generations of human rights, European and international law, judgments of courts and constitutional tribunals. Freedom of conscience is identical to liberty of thoughts and beliefs. These rights are guaranteed by countries and are determinant of their rule of law. On the 17th of May 1989, the Sejm of the Polish People’s Republic adopted a law on guaranteeing conscience and belief freedom. The purpose of this elaboration was to present the evolution of the attitude of the socialist country authority towards the Church and the idea of the freedom of conscience. There were also selected premises that contributed to the elaboration of this act: documents of international law and political trials that had an impact on the authority’s attitude. Attention was paid to the difficult relationship between the Church and the country in the 40s and 50s and the effect of human rights development, that was implemented by international organizations, particularly by ONZ, UNESCO, and CSCE on warranty policy for conscience and belief freedom in Poland. The country-Church relationship was shown in the declining period of PPR. The process of preparing the law from 17 May 1989 was examined.