U.S.
Department of State Human Rights Report 1998
Although the Constitution provides for freedom of religion, the Government
restricts this right in practice for some non-Orthodox religious groups.
The government requirement that groups whose activities have a religious
element register with the Council of Ministers remained an obstacle
to the activity of some religious groups, such as the Unification Church,
prior to or in the absence of registration. The lack of registration
was an obstacle to the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses early in the
year, prior to the group's registration in November. Local authorities
cite the lack of registration as a pretext for interference against
some groups and employ arbitrary harassment tactics against others.
The ability of a number of religious groups to operate freely continued
to come under attack, both as a result of action by local government
authorities and because of public intolerance.
The National Assembly passed a law on alternatives to military service
in October, which entered into force on January 1, 1999. Under this
new law, alternative service is to be twice as long as military service
(military service is 9 months for university graduates and 12 months
for others). Passage of this legislation led to the registration of
Jehovah's Witnesses. A member of Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to
serve in the military was sentenced to a jail term before the registration
occurred, but he is appealing the verdict and is not in custody.
The Ministry of Education introduced a course on religion in the secondary
school curriculum beginning with the 1998-99 school year. Originally
conceived as a "world religion" course that avoids endorsing
any particular faith, members of other religions, especially ethnic
Turkish Moslems, maintain that the Bulgarian Orthodox Church receives
privileged coverage in the textbooks. The religion course is optional
and is not available at all schools.
Numerous articles in a broad range of newspapers drew lurid and inaccurate
pictures of the activities of non-Orthodox religious groups, attributing
the breakup of families and drug abuse by youths to the practices of
these groups and alleging that Evangelicals were drugging young children.
Jehovah's Witnesses were subjected to a particularly negative press
campaign in the port city of Burgas. In addition to the action taken
by police in Burgas to break up gatherings of Jehovah's Witnesses in
February, according to one report, police also confiscated religious
books and leaflets. In May police broke up Jehovah's Witness gatherings
in both Burgas and Kyustendil (see Sections 2.b. and 5). Two members
of Jehovah's Witnesses were detained in Burgas in June for proselytizing.
Mormon missionaries reported several incidents of police harassment.
Although incidents involving police took place throughout the country,
official harassment was worst in the cities of Burgas and Plovdiv, where
local authorities disregarded the law by arbitrarily denying Mormons
the right to proselytize (in Burgas) and to have a legally registered
place of residence (in both Burgas and Plovdiv). These incidents lend
credence to charges by human rights observers that the police are monitoring
and interfering with the activities of many religious groups.
The Constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the "traditional"
religion. The Government provides financial support for the Eastern
Orthodox Church and other denominations that it considers to be "traditional."
Along with the Orthodox Church, the Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish minority
religious communities are generally perceived as maintaining a longstanding
place in society and hence benefit from a relatively high degree of
tolerance, as well as some government financial support.
For most registered religious groups there were no restrictions on attendance
at religious services or on private religious instruction. A school
for imams, a Muslim cultural center, university theological faculties,
and religious primary schools operated freely. Bibles and other religious
materials in the Bulgarian language were freely imported and printed
on most occasions, and Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish publications were
published on a regular basis. Nevertheless, police confiscated religious
literature during Jehovah's Witnesses' gatherings.
During compulsory military service most Muslims are placed in construction
units where they often perform commercial or maintenance work rather
than serve in normal military units. The mainly ethnic-Turkish MRF protests
this practice (see Section 5).
There were no indications that the Government discriminated against
members of any religious group in making restitution to previous owners
of properties that were nationalized during the Communist regime. The
Government has in general actively supported property restitution to
a group representing the Jewish community, although the return of two
lucrative commercial Jewish communal properties continues to face administrative
obstacles.
At the Department of Theology of Sofia University all students are required
to present a certificate of baptism from the Orthodox Church, and married
couples must present a marriage certificate from the Church in order
to enroll in the Department's classes. In 1996 two non-Orthodox applicants
were denied admission to the Department when they were unable to present
such certificates. The applicants then appealed to the local court,
which decided in favor of both applicants. However, following the court
decision the University changed its requirements, effectively further
excluding both students.
The schism that opened in the Orthodox Church in 1992 continued, and
the Government refused to recognize an alternative Patriarch elected
by supporters in 1996. The Supreme Court ruled that the decision was
unlawful, but the alternate Patriarch remained unregistered. The Government
nevertheless encouraged the feuding factions to heal their prolonged
rift. By year's end, these efforts had not met with success.
Source:
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department
of State.
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Religious
Freedom in the Bulgarian Constitution
