THE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATIVE REGULATION ABOUT THE FREEDOM OF FAITH AND ABOUT THE LEGAL POSITION OF RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA, THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA AND IN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

Abstract

The three laws analyzed and compared in this work, although dealing with the same issue of religious rights and freedoms, show the conceptual differences in their approaches. These differences are mirrored in the priorities or preferences they give to various issues, or sets of issues, visible, among other things, from the amount of attention they dedicate to those issues. At the same time, and leaving these differences aside, we could say that these laws are very similar, especially in terms of the form and the choice of the issues they regulate. Probable reasons for this are: same or similar sources used - previous legislative regulations, of the common state they were all members of; international standards, about which everyone is concerned mostly because of the same aspirations of joining the European integrations; similar, if not the same, experiences and temptations, which young democracies and countries in transition usually face. However, there are several questions that are not explicitly regulated by any of the three laws. They are regulated differently in the three legal systems, through contracts or other legislative documents. For example, in Croatia a religious wedding is also a civil act, while in Bosnia-Herzegovina it is impossible to have that without changing the Family law. Croatian and Serbian laws have positively regulated the religious service in national institutions, while Bosnian law has completely ignored that issue. In the end, we must say that all these laws could be seriously criticized because none of them has penalties, nor does it define the degree of responsibility or offence, against those who violate the right of freedom of faith and belief, which all of them explicitly and strictly protect.