The cross in Polish parliament - Does it bother you?

This is a diversion and just what anyone who voted for the assclown party should have expected.

Old predator mouth is making a stink not because he cares but because he knows the usual suspects will expend a lot of time and energy in countering his assinine proposal. And the other usual suspects will make grumbling noises and no one in the sejm has to really think about more pressing issues.

FTR I'm not catholic or christian (or anything, I'm basically incapable of religious faith) and the cross doesn't bother me at all.

No it does not. However the fact that Palikot and PIS give the issue so much prominence, demonstrates the dearth of any real policy ideas among these two parties, that's why the choose to engage in silly symbolism instead of focusing on the real needs of the country.

So maybe it will be better if there are no symbols at all? Since it is a public space and in Sejm then according to Polish constitution act Poland is not a religious country so cross removed - problem solved. No one is favourised and cross will stop being traded or used as a tool to gain more publicity or again divide people ofer such a stupid thing as two pieces of wood.


Exactly.


Can't agree with you on this one. The right place of all religious symbols is in places of cult. Once they are taken out of those places it causes division, quarrels and sick debates. Polish parliament is not supposed to have religious symbols because it should work accordingly to Polish constitution which says clearly that no religion is to be favourised in Poland. Also, this cross was hung at night, in secrecy by a bunch of religious radical MPs. How does this stand for objectivity and fairness, not to mention common sense and tolerance?

It hasn't been touched so what does that tell you, Olaf? Poles cause division, not crosses ;) 2 Poles, 3 opinions ;)

Catholicism is favoured here, Olaf.

A cross could mean different denominations.

Tolerance can still exist whilst stating preferences.

Olaf wrote: Polish parliament is not supposed to have religious symbols because it should work accordingly to Polish constitution which says clearly that no religion is to be favourised in Poland[/quote]

Exactly!

What does it mean favouritised, rybnik? What's your interpretation?

I think a country needs to make decisions dependant on society, to a degree at least. In Saudi Islam is obviously the dominant religion and you have to conform to it. In Poland Catholicism is the dominant religion. If Poland lets in loads of foreigners and other religions, it might eventually lose its Catholic majority, forget its past, and have no crosses, obviously if the majority of the country are against it, but they are not, for now. If plenty of Europeans moved to S Arabia and the majority of the country was not made up of muslims, I am sure the law, eventually, would be different there too. Who decides in a country? The minority or majority? I mean does democracy not work by what the majority want? So in Poland the cross has to stay, if most people who have an opinion on the matter, want it to stay.

Good post, WP. It isn't harming anyone.

[quote=WielkiPolak Yes some people are not religious [/quote]

but the vast majority of us are still religious and it shouldn't bother anyone here. Remember what was giving us hope and kept our hearts warm anytime Poland was in a deep trouble or when it was no Poland at all (partitions). Now that we're doing much better, it would be very ungrateful to turn our backs on religion. If something is good in bad times, it should be good in good times too (and the other way around).

The newest poll:
70% would like the cross to stay in the Sejm.
20% want to remove it.

Most Poles rejects the idea of ​​Janusz Palikot to remove the cross from the meeting room of the Sejm - TNS survey shows the "Gazeta "

Removal of the cross from the parliamentary meeting room is one of the first demands of Janusz Palikot after entering the parliament , which is transformed into a political war. Yesterday Ms Wanda Nowicka Palikot Movement after acute exchange of views on this issue with John ...

Good results. The bad news is that every decade the opponents` number rises by 10%. In 50 years` time it will be 60% against and 20% for the cross.

bberlin62:


No one is turning his or her back on religion. Just remove the religious symbol from the Sejm (or add an Orthodox cross and a Star of David and an Islamic crescent etc alongside the crucifix).

excellent in-depth article regarding same

iheu.org/trackback/1124

If democracy is representative, why can't a cross be? I'd argue that a cross is far more representative and actually has Polish interests at heart.

Because of precisely what a crucifix represents!

If it can instill some morality into politics, I'm all for it!

But it doesn't. .....Don't you get it? The cross' original religious association has been usurped by the politicians. It has morphed into a political symbol.

Yes but it's the same wherever you go, rybnik. In that case, you can remove the cross wherever it may hang as people, without fail, completely miss the point of religion. Politicians have their own spin, they don't need crosses.

I would agree with this.

Poland does have strong foundations based on the Judeo-Christian inheritance, but it also has another inheritance concerned with religious toleration and freedom of worship-or non worship-as is guaranteed by the Polish constitution. Making one religion institutional in a country is quite medieval, for example like Anglicanism in the UK. In a true pluralistic society no religion should be favored at the expense of the others.

Let the churches put Christ first for the sake of its flock, and the politicians the nation's people for the sake of Poland.
To Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Jesus saw governance as a separate issue to faith, ime.

[quote=rybnik Just remove the religious symbol from the Sejm (or add an Orthodox cross and a Star of David and an Islamic crescent[/quote]

this is not America rybnik. We have one main religion here. It's a totally different situation.

Not according to the law, the constitution being its supreme act.
None should be favored so... why insist on this?


Read the constitution first and you'll know.

could not agree more

well said

I believe that the cross should stay in parliament. If there is a place that needs the divine intervention of the Almighty
it is a parliament

It only needs competent polititians, economists and lawyers, not a piece of voodoo hanging on the wall.
If you want a symbol representing a corpse of a martyred man and his death tool hanging there - then there's something wrong, or this is a place of cult of death, not a working place of MPs.

I'm an atheist, and I think they should just leave it. I'm against both throwing it out, and laying down the law to guard its place..

Well if the majority wanted it removed then that would be only fair. As for now, the majority seem to want it, so the wishes of the majority ought to be respected: )

ie the Constitution be damned! Look. All I'm saying is that if Poles want the crucifix to hang in public places(where the people's business takes place) then they need to reconcile this with their Constitution.

what's more important? What Poles want now or what Poles wanted then?
The question is obviously too simplistic but there is an aspect of it to consider before erring with alternative but equally simplistic judgment.

then listen

In all Slavic countries, including Poland (and including my own country- Serbia), people mistaking. We mistaking because we abandoned our ancient symbolism. i mean, its ok to put Christian cross in parliament. It is even good. But, i think that side by side with cross, we Slavs needs to promote other symbols of our deep culture. We needs symbols of Swetowid, sun, solstice,.. and our other old symbols that connects us with nature and with each others.

Olaf, the law is an a*s! That's an English expression. How many people make such laws? A handful, yes. How many people are Catholics here? Many many!! Please try and not overstate the importance of law, esp as it concerns religion and matters of faith.

I don't insist on anything. Catholicism is very important here, no sense in denying that.

Olaf, I worked on the Polish Constitution with a Polish legal executive but I don't see it as being relevant here. If the cross being there is so unconstitutional then why hasn't it been removed? Doesn't Poland respect its own traditions and Constitution?? You might get some answers from asking yourself that, Olaf my friend.

Obviously I'm not going to support Paligłup, however "Polish parliament" is such a pieace of crap that it doesn't deserve to have any cross hanging there, you could as well hang it in the closet...

Seriously, there's a simple solution, Cross with Jesus on it is a religious symbol and should be limited to churches and few other places, Cross without Jesus is a cultural symbol and that's it, as one would have to be a total moron to deny largly Christian roots of European culture.

The problem is that Polish politicians are not interested in solving this issue, they want it to go on, they will have countless discussions about it... It's much easier than talking about the global crisis, strategical challenges ahead of Poland and so on.