Autonomy of Religious Associations as a Constitutional Principle and Right

In the existing body of literature on the autonomy of religious associations, little attention has been paid to the normative nature of the formula adopted in the Polish Constitution, including the relation of the principle of autonomy to freedom of religion and belief. In this article, it is argued that religious autonomy, as expressed in the Polish Constitution, should be understood both as a constitutional principle and as a right of religious associations. The right to autonomy is not absolute and may be subject to limitations, but the closer the connection between the area of autonomy subject to regulation and the spiritual identity of the community concerned, the narrower the scope of permissible interference. The protection of the most sensitive manifestations of religious autonomy is safeguarded by the constitutionnal prohibition of interference with the essence of freedoms and rights.

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland and Exorcisms

This article examines the determinants and consequences of the rite of exorcism from the constitutional law perspective. The study was limited to exorcism in the Roman Catholic Church due to its dominance in the religious composition of population in Poland. Exorcism is clearly a manifestation of religion, and it is argued that its performance should be subject to constraints justified by the need to protect the health and the right to humane treatment of the exorcised. Therefore, it is necessary to call for the establishment of legal restrictions, both preventive (mandatory medical consultation before performing the rite, mandatory medical examination for exorcists) and ex-post (ban on performing the rite on a given category of people). On the other hand, an absolute ban on exorcisms would violate the essence of the freedom to manifest religion and would not satisfy the requirements of proportionality.

The Constitutional Right to Change Religion

The right to change religion comprises two sub-rights: the right to join a religious community and the right to withdraw from it. The former requires that the consent of the individual and the religious group be a necessary and sufficient condition for establishing membership. Such a right is generally uncontroversial and respected in practice, whereas the right to leave a religious association is sometimes difficult to exercise. This is due to the fact that this matter is left to be determined by the internal laws of religious associations, resulting in fragmented regulation, unequal treatment, and insufficient procedural guarantees. The situation could be significantly improved by regulating the procedure for leaving a religious association in state law. However, a distinction must be made between the spiritual and legal dimensions of membership. The article is based on doctrinal research involving the Strasbourg requirements, national case law, and existing legal scholarship.