Existing comment:
THE COMMUNIST REGIME'S DISREGARD FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS
Having seized power, the communists immediately began attacking churches and believers. The harshest harassment and persecution was primarily directed at the Catholic Church as the largest denomination in Slovakia. However, the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, the Protestant Reformed Church, and several smaller churches and religious societies were also targeted. Such religious crackdown took place despite the Constitution of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic asserting every citizen's right to religious freedom.
The driving force behind these attacks was the fundamental Marxist- Leninist view of religion as 'the opium of the people', and belief in God, an old-fashioned relic. In Slovakia, the balance of power was also crucial: following the communist coup, churches and religious societies remained the only relevant and well-organized opposition in society. Initial sanctions developed into severe persecutions mainly in the 1950s, including harsh political trials against believers and church leaders (the most notorious of which concluded in 1951 with the conviction and long-term imprisonment of the bishops Vojtaššák, Buzalka and Gojdič). The 1949 Ecclesiastical Law gave the state full control over the churches, priests, and Church financing-with the implicit aim to cut back funding. Any violations of this law were met with severe penalties. Steps taken by the communist regime against the Roman Catholic Church-included the violent ending of both male and female religious orders (operation K, operation R) and the closure of the Greek Catholic Church (operation P) in 1950. The regime also supported organizations of collaborating priests (Peace Movement of the Catholic Clergy in the 1950s, and the Association of the Catholic Clergy 'Pacem in Terris' in the 1970s/1980s) with the aim of bringing the Church down from within. Believers were discriminated against for 40 years by having their social opportunities curtailed. Dealing with the religious question (i.e., the factual rejection of religion) became the key criterion for pursuing further education, getting a good job, and earning promotion. |