Religion and the Law: Eastern and Central Europe [Volume: 7(1988), pp. 75-86]

RELIGION AND THE LAW
81
In Poland, the government maintains two theological academies,
subsidizes "registered" religious instruction centers, and pays salaries to
chaplains in the Polish People's Army. Hungarian legislation provides for
large annual subsidies to "cover the material and personnel expenses of
the churches," in accordance with the agreements concluded with each
of the major denominations.
The state also maintains nine denominational gymnasia and finances
the after-hours teaching of religion within church buildings. In East Germany, the churches are also receiving state subsidies, while in Yugoslavia,
which has come closest to implementing the principle of church-state separation, local authorities are allowed to offer material aid to religious communities.
In return for this financial support the authorities in Bulgaria, Romania,
Hungary, and Czechoslovakia require the churches to submit for government
approval their annual budgets and financial reports; and, of course, the
governments make the continuing financing of religious associations and
the clergy dependent on their fulfillment of state laws and directives.
Yugoslavia alone in Eastern Europe has done away with preliminary
censorship on publications, though judicial reprisals have been applied
in recent years against ecclesiastical editors for publishing "objectionable
materials." Formally, but not in practice, preventive censorship has also
been discontinued in Hungary. All other Soviet bloc regimes have placed
ecclesiastical publications under their general censorship regulations. In
addition, the Romanian, Bulgarian, and Czechoslovak codes prescribe
that all general communications and orders of the churches must be submitted for scrutiny to the government agencies in charge of religious affairs.
The Romanian and Bulgarian laws empower these agencies to ban any
pastoral letter or circular and suspend any church order or instruction
if they are found to be "contrary to law, order, or public morals."
Except for the Bulgarian and Romanian codes, the East European
regimes have not approximated the extremely narrow definition of religious
activities contained in the Soviet legislation on religious cults which prohibits
churches from engaging in any charitable or welfare activities (even for
their members only), and from organizing special prayer, Bible catecheticals
or other meetings, circles, or groups. The widest scope for such activities
is provided by the GDR, though its new (1968) constitution has removed
the juridical basis for the numerous social service and other establishments
of the Protestant and Catholic churches. East Germany and, since 1980,
Poland, are the only Communist countries allowing regular religious broadcasts over the state radio.
All East European countries, in one form or another, restrict the
foreign contact of their churches. The Romanian and Bulgarian codes
require explicit government approval for such contacts and provide that
they must be channeled only through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.