The Slovak press agencies SITA and TASR inform that with a two-third majority Slovakia's Parliament has approved an amendment regarding the freedom of religion and the position of churches and religious entities. While Slovak MPs say their motive was to protect state finances, foreign commentators say the real intention was to stop Islam from coming into the country.
The draft was submitted by the ruling Slovak National Party by MP Tibor Bernaťák. According to him, this amendment tends to eliminate speculative registrations of alleged churches and religious entities in order to receive state subsidies. The passed draft increases the minimum number of adult members of churches from 20 to 50 thousand in order to be registered. "In Slovakia, churches and religious entities can act freely de jure, even de facto, while the state sets limits to their activities by making them respect legal norms," said Bernaťák. The amendment will come into force as of January 1, 2017.
"Slovakia toughens church registration rules to bar Islam," reads the headline of a REUTERS agency report. According to its author Kateřina Jančaříková, MPs passed the legislation to effectively block Islam from gaining official status as a religion in the near future. The article quotes the speaker of Slovak Parliament and SNS nationalist party leader Andrej Danko as saying: "Islamisation starts with a kebab ... We must do everything we can so that no mosque is built in the future." Danko had called for steps to prevent the registration of Islam and ban the wearing of burqas in public and the construction of mosques and minarets. According to REUTERS, amending the change regarding the minimum number of adult members of churches is the latest sign of growing anti-Muslim sentiment across the European Union.
According to the latest census conducted in 2011, Roman Catholic believers make up 62% of Slovakia's total religious population, followed by Protestants amounting to 5.9%. In their Wednesday vote, however, lawmakers turned down a proposal by the opposition far-right party Kotleba - People's Party Our Slovakia to raise the religion membership bar to 250,000.
