The Polish government has responded to concerns raised by Seventh-day Adventists and other Christian minorities and has announced plans to reform its Inter-Ministerial Team for New Religious Movements.  Citing the need to “avoid charges of violating religious freedom,” the government will dissolve the previous body, which focused on “sects,” and form a new Inter-Ministerial Team for Psycho-Manipulative Groups. 

“It is satisfying to see the ‘sectarian’ label abandoned,” says Andrzej Sicinski, secretary of the Adventist Church in Poland. “But we are worried that the new team, though given a new name, will nevertheless be made up of the same people and will be basically doing similar work as the previous Inter-Ministerial Team.”

According to Krzysztof Wiktor, who headed up the old Inter-Ministerial Team, the new organization will no longer challenge groups for “alternate religiousness” but will focus more narrowly on groups that engage in psycho-manipulative practices.

Wiktor told Keston News Service that the concerns of Adventists and other churches had been considered in setting up the new Inter-Ministerial Team and he admitted that there had been cases where officials took an interest in churches that they should have left alone.

Sicinski points out that the term “psycho-manipulative groups” is as vague as the term “sect,” leaving too much room for discretion and increasing the potential for abuse. Even known churches and religious groups are still at risk in Poland, he says.

John Graz, public affairs and religious liberty director for the Adventist Church worldwide, cautions that “anti-sect” activity is often aimed more at protecting the religious majority than protecting individuals from religious coercion. “The general laws of a country are usually sufficient to prosecute individuals or groups engaged in harmful or criminal behavior in the name of religion,” says Graz. “Every citizen should have the same rights, the same obligations, and the same protections.”

The Adventist Church in Poland is one of 15 non-Roman Catholic churches recognized under special legislation.  In the past, these minority churches have charged that the government has often acted to discourage competition with Catholicism, which is professed by more than 90 percent of the Polish population. Teachers, school principals, law enforcement officers and other public officials throughout Poland receive “anti-sect” training and materials that some churches say are targeted at minority Christian denominations. Pawel Biedziak, speaking for the Polish police late last year, denied that the police force was responding to pressure from the Roman Catholic Church in providing anti-sect training, but confirmed that the training material used to instruct county police officers was supplied by the Catholic Church.