EN
In Poland, the current dispute flared up around the ritual slaughter, both Jewish (shechita) and Muslim (halal), as inhumane method of killing animals, thereby rendering them unnecessary suffering. The prohibition of ritual slaughter – as an example of unacceptable interference of the state in the Constitution‑guaranteed freedom of religion – has a wider dimension. It turns out that modern European liberal and democratic state of law has some trouble with a clear definition of such concepts as “religious freedom” and “independence of churches and religious associations”. This is due to the increasingly progressive ideologies of the modern state, which with reluctance, if not hostility, refer to the religious communities, that live according to the principles of revealed truth. Increasingly widespread belief becomes a fact that every religious community may make its own rules arising from religious orders, but only if they do not go beyond the principle of equality before the law, lifestyle choice or equality between women and men.