Prague, Feb 21 (CTK) - The wrongs done to churches in the Czech Republic's totalitarian past cannot be fully repaired, President Vaclav Klaus said today in reaction to a memorandum urging a quick settlement of relations between the church and state.Klaus warns against resolute demands for the physical return of all church property as this would necessarily lead to the separation of the churches and state.
"The state would have to not only stop all cash flows of taxpayers' (including non-believers) money to churches, but also stop recognising the validity of church marriages, prevent the inclusion of church schools into the education network etc," Klaus writes.
It is impossible to call for an overall "property settlement" and at the same time ask for bilateral partnership, he says.
Klaus writes that churches should be financed according to a model that would not only allow for their functioning, but also guarantee the reconstruction and maintenance of church architectural heritage.
Moreover, this model should not threaten property and legal relations in the country and it should not create new problems and new injustice for further people or institutions.
The memorandum was drafted mainly by the Moravian and Silesian Christian Academy and handed to top politicians on Tuesday. Its authors voice concern over the passage of an amendment to the law on churches that, the authors say, limits their constitutional rights and over the failure to settle the question of the return of former church property.
They point out that the agreement with the Vatican would settle the Czech state's relation toward 2.75 million of Czech Catholics. The Czech Republic is one of the few European countries not to have signed a treaty with the Vatican.
Klaus expressed disagreement with the draft treaty in the past.
Cardinal Miloslav Vlk also criticised Klaus for the signature of the amendment to the church law that was passed in parliament by the votes of the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Communists (KSCM).
Klaus today called for a calmer, more factual debate about an amendment to the church law and the treaty with the Vatican.
The government of Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) promised earlier this year to settle the relations between the state and the church, including the treaty with the Vatican.
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