HIS-Press-Service, 1977 (2. évfolyam, 5-8. szám)
1977-06-01 / 7. szám
HIS Press Service, June 1977 Page 3 their efforts to come into power because of the dependence of the Communist parties in the West on Moscow and because of the inimical official stance taken toward religion and the churches in the Eastern European countries. In fact, this hostile policy of the Eastern European countries toward church and religion is part of the reason for the pronouncedly Moscow-independent policies of some of the Communist parties in the West. There are certain signs which suggest that even Moscow is finding it necessary to make certain modifications in its stance toward religion and Church-State relations in Russia and therefore, as a result, is also being forced to rethink the church policy of the Soviet State. The draft of the new constitution recently published in the Soviet Union placed legal means of redress at the disposal of the Soviet citizens in cases where their personal rights, including their religious rights, are violated. Even though this law is only indirectly connected with personal religious freedom, it nevertheless signalizes a step forward in the Soviet legal guarantees of individual rights. (It should be noted here that, formally speaking, the Soviet statues have always guaranteed religious freedom to its citizens', the differences arising in practice stemmed from the discrepancies existing between the legal text and the spirit in which this text was interpreted. ) What has taken place here is hardly only a new formulation of this or that passage in the Soviet book of law. This was confirmed recently by Vienna's Cardinal Franz König, one of Europe's top experts on the situation of the Church in Eastern Europe. In a television interview made directly after his visit to Hungary, he told one of the Vienna reporters of the West German Broadcasting Corp.: "I am of the opinion that the Church affairs of Eastern European countries are decided mainly in Moscow, although the situations themselves may vary somewhat according to the different countries. I also have what seems to be well-founded information, however, that there has been intensive discussion in the Supreme Soviet as to whether it is wise that the State make religion its opponent and continue the campaign against religion, or whether it might not be more advantageous to place the religious affiliation or atheism of its citizens in the area of free discussion and exchange of ideas." In addition to the fact that the audience of a First Secretary of a Communist Party with the Pope will serve as welcome propaganda for the Soviet Union at the Belgrade Conference, one can nevertheless assume that what has occurred in this case is more than a simple propaganda maneuver. There are indications such as the remarks by Cardinal König mentioned above, the frequent internal criticism of the
