COUNTRY
PolandPOPULATION
38,415,284 (July 2012 est.)GDP PER CAPITA
$20,600 (2011 est.)RELIGIONS
Roman Catholic 89.8% [about 75% practicing], Eastern Orthodox 1.3%, Protestant 0.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 8.3% (2002)AT THE CENTER
Matthew Scherer on 9/11, the Financial Crisis, and Climate Change as Conversion Events (Full Screen)
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ORGANIZATIONS (5)
PEOPLE (6)
QUOTES (5)
Benjamin Netanyahu on Polish-Jewish Ties
February 23, 2011
Polish Archbishop Henryk Hoser on In Vitro Fertilization Law
October 23, 2010
Lech Kaczynski on Lisbon Treaty
April 1, 2008
February 23, 2011
Polish Archbishop Henryk Hoser on In Vitro Fertilization Law
October 23, 2010
Lech Kaczynski on Lisbon Treaty
April 1, 2008
PUBLICATIONS (2)
Poland
Interviews (4)
Poland has a secular government that respects religious pluralism while according special recognition to the Roman Catholic Church as a central element of Polish national identity. Though officially Catholic since 966, Poland was long known for its unique religious tolerance. The 1264 Statute of Kalisz safeguarded Jews as an autonomous entity for over five centuries. The Warsaw Confederation of 1573 formalized religious tolerance, sparing the territory from much of the Protestant-Catholic violence that devastated Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Nazi occupation (1939-45) led to the deaths of 90% of Poland’s Jews in the Holocaust. The Church earned its place in Polish national identity through being a refuge for nationalists during periods of foreign domination, such as under atheist Soviet control (1945-90). The current Constitution grants religious freedom and equality while recognizing the historical importance of the Catholic Church. The right of minorities to establish educational and cultural institutions to protect their religious identities is also constitutionally guaranteed.
Background: This discussion (on June 30, 2010) focuses on the Women PeaceMakers Program at the University of San Diego, which Dr. Aker created and directs. It involves intensive efforts to document and share the work of women from all world regions who are practitioners working for peace. While religion is not an explicit element of the program, Aker observes that very different world religions often provide a common unifying thread among the women and many cite the personal inspiration of...
Background: Rajmohan Gandhi, the President of Initiatives of Change International (IofC) and the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, reflects in this interview on his more than 50-year association with IofC; he first met Moral Rearmament, as the organization was then known, in Scotland in 1956. Gandhi sees IofC's work as well as his own as intimately connected to his grandfather's vision of social change; both are grounded in commitment, discipline, and courage. The simplicity of the idea behind...
Background: Mario Giro began working as a youth-oriented community organizer for the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Catholic lay organization based in Rome, and is now the Director for International Affairs for the organization. Giro talked about the Community's central role in fostering peace to Mozambique, and how that experience informed the organization's approach to conflict resolution. The keys to the Community's success in this area, Giro said, are its patience and humility. He discussed...
Background: Dele Oluwu, after working in academia and then in development with the UN and African Development Bank, came to the Netherlands in 1995 to work at the Institute of Social Studies at the Hague. While working there he noted a surprising deficit of active churches in the region, and began planting parishes with other like-minded individuals in the Netherlands. To date Olowu has founded 130 churches in Europe. The interview talked about evangelization in the context of a predominantly...