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Mutual Relations between the State and Minority Religious Communities: The Case of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Croatia, Poland and Slovenia

Using the example of ISKCON, the chapter focuses on the relationship between political structures, mainstream societies and NRMs after the fall of communism in Croatia, Poland and Slovenia. The analysis of legal documents, the communities’ documents and semi-structured interviews with leaders of ISKCON, showed the differences of the communities’ position in three countries: the highest degree of the state tolerance towards the community in Slovenia ; rather unfriendly attitude of both the state and media towards the community in Croatia during the 1990s. ; affects of actions of anti-cult groups in Poland during 1990s. Some similarities were also found: a dominant position of Catholic Church is reflected by respective legislation, as well as policies ; by using discretion in regulating religion, the state exert social control over religious communities, thus effecting their status ; the ideological agency (left-right) affects the state-NRMs relationship. The future position of ISKCON might be affected by possible appearance of anti-cult movements in Croatia and Slovenia, and by their reinforcement in Poland.

State, Minority Religious Communities, International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Croatia, Poland, Slovenia

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