Source:         www.forum18.org

Date:            March 31, 2008

 
By Drasko Djenovic, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
 
As Macedonia's minority faiths face obstruction or de facto bans on
building new places of worship or extending existing ones, the country's
new Religion Law - which comes into force on 1 May - appears likely to do
nothing to help end the problem, Forum 18 News Service notes. Religious
communities of all faiths have told Forum 18 that the major problems in
practising their faith revolve around buildings.
 
There have been long-running denials of permission to disfavoured
communities to build, extend or establish legal ownership over places of
worship. In addition, the authorities have also demolished Serbian Orthodox
places of worship which they deemed to be "illegal" (see F18News 25 August
2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=836>).
 
The new Religion Law was approved by parliament in the capital Skopje in
September 2007. Many believe provisions in the Law were deliberately framed
to prevent the Serbian Orthodox Church's branch in Macedonia from ever
gaining legal status (see F18News 31 March 2008
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1107>).
 
On the issue of building new places of worship, Article 19.2 of the
Religion Law states: "Bodies of Municipalities and of the City of Skopje
competent in urban planning and adopting urban plans can, before issuing a
construction permit for a religious building, ask for an opinion from the
existing churches, religious communities and religious groups, though this
opinion is not obligatory for the bodies' decision."
 
Forum 18 notes that this might encourage religious discrimination by
allowing existing religious communities - particularly the state-favoured
Macedonian Orthodox Church - to effectively veto the construction of places
of worship of other faiths. This would be particularly the case for the
Serbian Orthodox Church, if it were ever to be permitted to have state
registration. The views of the state-favoured Islamic Community of
Macedonia may also be sought in areas dominated by Macedonia's large
Albanian minority.
 
Forum 18 has been unable to gain any comments on the Law, or the problems
it poses, from the State Committee for Relations with Religious Communities
and Religious Groups.
 
An added problem for smaller religious communities is the cumbersome way
urban plans are drawn up, usually every five or ten years. The new Law will
do nothing to help this. "The biggest problem is that when the authorities
draw up detailed urban plans, they only allow for building plots for the
Macedonian Orthodox church," Ivan Grozdanov, pastor of Skopje Baptist
Church, told Forum 18. "They do not consult with other churches and
religious communities about their building needs. So when we Baptists
request building permission, the authorities reply that there are no plots
allocated for churches."
 
Grozdanov also pointed to problems some communities face in changing the
official designation of buildings to places of worship. "If we build or buy
a house and then want to change the use of the building for church needs,
we get the answer that no church is planned there so it is not possible to
change the use of the building," he told Forum 18. "How we can say that we
can freely worship, when for decades we have not been able to obtain places
of worship?"
 
Even some of the five religious communities named in Macedonia's
Constitution - notably the Muslim community and the Methodist Church - face
problems in obtaining building permission.
 
"The detailed urban plan of the town of Prilep needed to be changed, so
that the legal possibility could be created to issue building permission
for the new Methodist church," Sofija Trajkovski of the Methodist Church
told Forum 18 on 26 March. "It is a slow process since the plan needed to
be changed for a big area, not just for one house or street. It will take
at least one more year." But she noted that in the south-eastern town of
Radovis her Church has recently received building permission. "It is not
easy but it is easier than before."
 
Methodists in some places are also pursuing alternatives to new buildings,
by regaining property confiscated by the Communist state after 1945 (see
F18News 25 August 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=836>).
 
Reis ul Ulema Sulejman Rexhepi, the head of the state-favoured Islamic
Community of Macedonia, said he hopes that the new Religion Law will reduce
bureaucracy over building new mosques. "It is clear that if the norms of
this Law are respected, if believers or a religious entity evaluate that
there is a need to extend or build a place of worship, there shouldn't be
any problem," he told Forum 18.
 
Rexhepi did not comment on the two places of worship his community
forcibly seized from the Bektashi Muslims in 2002. The Bektashis have been
trying unsuccessfully to regain these buildings through the courts see
F18News 26 February 2008
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1094>).
 
One section of the new Religion Law could be used to bar worship services
in some buildings, or conducted by some people. Article 18 states that:
"Religious rituals are to be performed in a religious building such as a
church, mosque, house of prayer, synagogue, graveyard or other premises of
a church, religious community and religious group." It continues: "A
religious ritual may also be performed in other public and private premises
and places." However, it also states that these "may be performed and
organised only by a religious servant of a church, religious community and
religious group [the undefined registered categories given in the Law] in
the Republic of Macedonia or upon their authorisation" (see F18News 31
March 2008 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1107>)
 
The same article also contains the statement that pilgrimage organisers
are "obliged to enforce on the group of believers and religious officials
the regulations for the protection of the population from contagious
diseases."
 
It is not clear in what circumstances these provisions would be used by
the authorities. However, unregistered communities such as the Serbian
Orthodox Church's Ohrid Archdiocese, some Protestants and Jehovah's
Witnesses all hold worship services in private properties. Archbishop
Jovan, who leads the Ohrid Archdiocese, along with Bishop Marko and several
monks and nuns, were arrested in early 2004. Their "offence" was
worshipping in the home of Bishop Jovan's father (see F18News 13 January
2004 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=228>). (END)
 
For more background, see the Forum 18 Macedonia religious freedom survey
at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1094>.
 
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Macedonia can
be found at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=50>.
 
A printer-friendly map of Macedonia - whose official name is the "Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" - is available from
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=macedo>.