Religion and state in Belgium.

• Author: Torfs, Rik
• Position: Essay

Church and State relationships in Belgium are largely governed by the Constitution of 1831, an historic compromise between Catholics and Liberals. Constitutional rights and liberties also apply to various religious matters, for example freedom of education (Article 24) or freedom of the press (Article 25). The Belgian constitution of 1831 does not define the relationships between religion and the State. But the Constitution does specifically provide for the freedom of religion as such. Four specific articles are devoted to this topic.

Freedom of worship and its free and public practice are guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution, with an exception allowing for the punishment of criminal offences committed in the exercise of these freedoms. The negative counterpart of Article 19 is contained in Article 20: no person may be forced to participate in any way in the acts of worship or rites of any religion or to respect its days of rest. Article 21 stresses that the State has no right to interfere with the appointment or induction of the ministers of any religion, or to forbid them to correspond with their Church authorities or to publish the latter's acts, subject to the ordinary rules of liability concerning the use of the press and publications. The article is generally interpreted as an affirmation of the freedom of internal ecclesiastical organisation. It contains at the same time an exception to this principle by providing that civil marriage must always precede the religious marriage ceremony, except in specific cases established by law. Finally, Article 181 says that the salaries and pensions of the ministers of the cult should be borne on the State budget.

It is not unusual for the term 'separation of Church and State' to be used as a description to sum up the relationship between the two bodies. This is probably a somewhat unfortunate choice of terminology. (1) Much depends, of course, on what exactly is understood by "separation." (2) If this term gives the impression that Church and State have absolutely nothing to do with each other, then it is not an adequate one. Separation in such a sense cannot be reconciled with Article 181 of the Constitution, in which it is stated that the payment of wages and pensions to ministers of the cult is to be met by the State. Nonetheless, the question arises whether "separation" necessarily entails an absence of all contact between the two parties.

There is another term, however, which probably brings more clarity to the issue: a number of writers speak of the "mutual independence" of Church and State. (3) This term not only emphasises the freedom, which exists, but also the mutual consideration, which, of course, demands at the very least the notion of accepting each other's existence. This all continues to be a delicate affair.

Unlike France, Belgium never defines itself as a laicist or secularist state. These concepts are perceived as highly ideological notions. They are not compatible with the typical Belgian spirit of pragmatism. Moreover, the Belgian constitution of 1831 was a measured compromise between the leading religious and political factions of the day, namely liberal Catholics and tolerant Liberals. The compromise did not focus on ideological constructions but on a keen balance between liberalism and religious traditions.

That being said, both the independence of Church and State and the prevalence of pluralism in Belgium compel the State to take up a neutral position in regard to religion. (4) The neutrality of the state is considered an important constitutional principle in Belgium, albeit not explicitly laid down in the Constitution itself. The Belgian Council

of State (the country's highest administrative Court and advisory body) considers the principle to be intimately associated with the principle of non-discrimination and equality, particularly on religious grounds (Council of State 20 May 2008, no. 44.521/AG). Neutrality implies that the State itself does not adhere to or identify with any one religion in particular. This means, among many other things, that religious symbols (such as crucifixes) in public buildings and courts are unthinkable, except in cases in which they are part of the historical architecture. More generally, neutrality entails that the state ought also to refrain from interpreting religious rules and practices.

At the same time, neutrality, as interpreted and applied in Belgium, does not imply that the State needs to be seen as 'unbelieving' in the face of the phenomenon of religion. Indeed, the government bestows support and protection to both churches and non-confessional organisations, which only serves to show their importance to society. The State positively promotes the free development of religious and institutional activities without interfering with their independence. In that sense, one might call this positive neutrality. (5)

The Belgian constitution itself does not refer to a particular religion or church. However, as ministers of religion are remunerated by the State, the law makes a distinction between recognised religions obtaining state financing and other religious groups that merely enjoy religious freedom without obtaining any material support.

Several religions have obtained official recognition by, or by virtue of, a law. The main basis for such recognition is the social value of the religion as a service to the population. (6) Currently, six denominations enjoy this status: Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Anglicanism (Law of 4 March 1870 on the organisation of the temporal needs of religions), (7) Islam (Law of 19 July 1974 amending the said law of 1870) and the (Greek and Russian) Orthodox Church (Law of 17 April 1985 amending the same law of 1870).

A change to the Constitution on 5 June 1993 (8) ensured that certain groups of non-believing humanists (9) are financed. (10) Since the turn of the century, a union of Buddhist organizations has been seeking to be recognized as well. Although this request has not yet resulted in a full formal recognition, things are progressing in that direction. Already, the Belgian state is providing funding to the Buddhist applicants in order to enable them to fulfil the structural requirements for recognition. (11)

In addition to the modest salaries (designated by Article 181 of the Constitution) for the ministers of religion of a government approved parish or bishopric (12) provided in the State budget, recognition also entails a few other benefits for the religions concerned.

Legal personality is attributed to the ecclesiastical administrations responsible for the temporal needs of the Church. (13) The Church and Church structures themselves do not enjoy any legal personality. A striking point is the fact that State municipalities must pay any deficits incurred by the ecclesiastical administrations for temporal goods. This safety net does not always encourage proper responsibility on the part of said ad ministrations. (14) Another advantage: the Church may request State subsidies for the construction or renovation of its buildings. (15) Moreover, pastors and bishops must be given appropriate (16) housing and any expenditure for this purpose is chargeable to the municipalities or provinces.

In addition to these benefits, recognised religions get free public radio and television broadcasting time (known as le droit a lantenne, which literally translates as 'the right to the antenna'). (17) This principle was first established by the federal government in 1964. Since then radio and television have become regional matters. Currently, the Flemish, French and German speaking public broadcasting regimes all offer airtime to recognized religious groups. In Flanders, for instance, this amounts an annual maximum of 50 television hours for all religious and non-religious groups. Notably, however, the time it takes to broadcast the Roman Catholic Sunday mass (every Sunday), is not included within this maximum.

Finally, religions may appoint army and prison chaplains, whose salaries are paid for by the State budget. (18) Moreover, one of the aspects of Article 24 of the constitution, as mentioned, entails that schools organized by public authorities must offer a choice between instruction in one of the recognized religions and instruction in non-religious ethics for the duration of compulsory education, and the State must pay for this instruction as well

Of the six recognised religions, Roman Catholicism is the most important in terms of Belgian history and number of adherents. The figures provide indisputable proof of this. The Roman Catholic Church's predominance has not resulted in its having a privileged position, de jure. However, that is not entirely true de facto. First of all, one cannot escape the conclusion that the legal status of religions in Belgian law really finds its source of inspiration in the structure and functioning of the Roman Catholic Church. Here is an example: to be able to make an actual claim for State payment of religious ministers, a clearly hierarchically structured religious community is necessary, as is one which works on a territorial basis. The Catholic Church obviously fulfills both of these requirements, but this is not as clear for the Islamic faith. As a result, Islamic religious ministers did not receive State pay up 2007, despite Islam having been recognized since 1974. Recognition of mosques, likewise, took a significant amount of time.

In addition to its position as a standard setter in terms of State recognition, the Roman Catholic Church plays a bigger role than other religions when it comes to public expressions of faith. This role may be seen when the military services are drawn up at the salute at the playing of a 'Te Deum' on the occasion of the Belgian National Day. (19) The Catholic Church also had a prominent role at the funeral of King Baudouin on 7 August 1993. More generally, the royal family has a...