Polish Court Approves Parliament Crucifix as Symbol of 'National Identity'

Lest one begin to think the battles seen here in America over the use of nonspecific religious symbolism are unique to us, the Polish court system heard a case against its Parliament using a crucifix to decorate its halls. The court ruled against the opposition party objecting to the adornment.

The Your Movement Party, a minority group the newspaper ABC describes as a “liberal-anticlerical force,” sued in court to have a small cross removed from above a door in the lower house of Parliament. The court disagreed with the general argument that the symbol was merely religious and as such had no place in a public setting. “Although the cross is a religious symbol,” wrote the majority of the Warsaw Appeals Court, “its importance as a symbol of national identity and Polish culture cannot be ignored.” They further noted that the cross does not “violate any rights” by simply being in Parliament. 

Poland is a majority Catholic country, and proudly the birthplace of Pope John Paul II. A 2011 survey found that 71% of Polish citizens favor the presence of the crucifix in Parliament. Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland, also welcomed the news, suggesting that “fights over whether the cross should be put up or not” are not the proper way to discuss the greater political question of religion’s role in the public square.

The specific crucifix in question, the Sejm Cross, has been displayed in the Polish Parliament, according to the Associated Press, since 1997. MP Tomasz Wójcik, along with a colleague, placed the cross atop the door of Parliament as a symbol of the restoration of the will of the Polish people after the end of communism and a manifestation of the Polish people’s faith. The Catholic Church is considered to have had a lead role in fighting communism in Poland.

Although the news comes at an appropriate time for Christian celebrations, the litigation had been ongoing since 2011. It may continue into the future as well, though the crucifix must remain in Parliament until such disputes conclude. The Movement Party plans to bring their claim to the multinational European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The party’s leader, Janusz Palikot, tweeted earlier this week that he will see the case through, calling it a matter of “freedom from coercion.”

Whether they succeed at the ECHR’s regional level is not at all certain, the court’s decisions being something of a grab-bag of ideals. The ECHR has recently upheld a ban on burqas in French schools, ordered the release of more than 60 convicted terrorists in Spain over human rights violations, and that governments cannot exclude same-sex couples from filing for civil unions.