The fight for a secular state in the Second Polish Republic. Memorial of the Polish Association of Free Thought from 1933 Cover Image

Walka o świeckie państwo w II Rzeczypospolitej. Memoriał Polskiego Związku Myśli Wolnej z 1933 r.
The fight for a secular state in the Second Polish Republic. Memorial of the Polish Association of Free Thought from 1933

Author(s): Bartosz Truszkowski
Subject(s): History, Cultural history, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Interwar Period (1920 - 1939)
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku
Keywords: The Second Polish Republic; Polish Association of Free Thought; freethinking; secularization; vital records; state-church relations

Summary/Abstract: The article aims to outline the issues involved in attempts to secularize the Polish state in the interwar period, with particular emphasis on the activity of the freethinking movement. Through a brief description of how the freethinker’s attitude evolved over the years, propagating its ideas in Poland during the partitions, and the history of the Polish Association of Freethinkers and the Polish Association of Free Thought, the author presents the PAFT memorial sent to prime minister Janusz Jędrzejewicz in 1933. The letter outlines the problems which irreligious citizens and citizens being members of unrecognized religions had to struggle with, as well as arguments for the development of secular regulations on marital law, registration of civil status and burial of the deceased. The author then attempts to answer the question why these postulates were never implemented on the basis of an analysis of the further fate of PAFT and relations between the Catholic Church and the Polish state.

  • Issue Year: 17/2018
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 61-74
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Polish