Substantive and legislative comments to the Order of the Minister of National Education of 1992 regarding teaching religion and ethics

Abstract

The main normative instrument of the model of catechesis in state educational institutions adopted in Poland after 1989 is the Order of the Minister of National Education of April 14, 1992 on the conditions and method of organizing religious education in public kindergartens and schools. This is a legal act that does not meet the standards of a democratic state of law, especially those specified in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997. In addition to the issues of catechesis, it also regulates matters related to the subject of ethics.The Order of 1992 in particular regulates matters reserved for the parliamentary Act, contains provisions on matters not referred to by the Act for legislation, deeply interferes with the freedoms and rights of students / pupils, parents (legal guardians) and school staff, and poorly protects the rights of catechists. In many ways it also violates the principles of correct legislation.It is an example of legislative nonchalance serving one social group, while neglecting the protection of all participants of the education system in Poland, especially people not interested in participating in religious education. The legal solutions contained therein are also harmful, among others: for pupils participating in Catholic catechesis, if only because they are exposed to a mechanism based on social and peer pressure. Against the background of criticism of this Order, it is necessary to repeal it and replace it with a detailed statutory regulation (parliamentary Act) corresponding to the norms of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, ensuring adequate protection of the rights of persons involved in teaching of religion and persons not participating in this process, and at the same time preventing the expansion of the religious factor into the spheres of activity of state educational institutions, within which the principle of impartiality (neutrality) in worldviews should apply.