Members of minority religious communities in Slovenia, where nearly 71 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, including Uniate believers, are concerned about the appointment of a fervent Catholic to head a commission drafting a new law on religious affairs.

Lovro Sturm, director of the Institute of Human Rights and a professor at the University of Ljubljana Law School, was appointed to head the panel that will draft the bill for consideration by the country’s parliament.

“The personal faith of the team members and the team leader will have no impact on their approach to completing the task,” Sturm told the Oslo-based Forum 18 News Service. But some minority religious leaders believe Sturm’s affiliation—particularly his membership in the “Sovereign Military Order of Malta,” a Catholic charitable group—will mean that the draft law he proposes might favor the Catholic Church over other faiths.

In remarks to ANN, Slovenian Adventist Church president Zmago Godina says, “We want the new law explicitly to assure the equality of all religious communities, without preferences for any on the basis of their size or tradition.”

In June, Godina and Slovenian Adventist Church secretary Pavel Repnik, along with other local religious leaders, met with officials of the Office of Religious Affairs.

“We stressed that we expect the new law not to favour any religious community or tradition above others either on the basis of the size of membership or the length of time it exists in the country,” Godina told ANN. “We also expect the law should regulate the general terms of existence and working for religious communities, and that all specific issues concerning the lifestyle and other needs should be regulated in an agreement between government and the individual religious community, as was done for the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches.”

Although Adventist presence in Slovenia is small—fewer than 1,000 members worship in 17 congregations—concerns about religious liberty remain. Slovenia’s current religious laws date back to the era when it was part of the former Yugoslavia. The Slovenian government began signing agreements with individual religious communities—the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in 1999 and the Lutheran Church of the Augsburg Confession in 2000. Other bilateral agreements with the Serbian Orthodox Church, Pentecostal Christians, and Jewish and Muslim communities have also been discussed.

Godina said there was also concern about adding the religious communities office into the Justice ministry, and various religious leaders have suggested that a state ministry of religion be established. No word has yet been received on that request.