The Origins of Religious Liberty within Modern Democracy.: Some Remarks on Poland’s “Golden Freedom” / O Źródłach wolności wyznania we współczesnej demokracji: uwagi nad polska̧ „złota̧ wolnościa̧”

Today’s modern political democratic systems emphasize religious neutrality. However, following famous Huntington’s thesis, today’s major conflicts have cultural - usually religious - roots, and therefore it is worth considering the mutual influences between religion and democracy. Recent cases of direct democracy relevant to a discussion on the subject - for example the Swiss and Turkish referenda (2009 and 2010 respectively) - provide a good starting point for a (more) general reflection. A few positive historical examples of religious liberty can also contribute to a better understanding of the foundations of tolerance and modern liberalism. In this paper, I consider the Polish nobles’ democracy as an example of religious tolerance in theory and practice that functioned in the time of violent and brutal religious wars in Western Europe. This case is interesting in many aspects, as it also constitutes an example of one of the first democracies in which religious freedom and freedom of expression were key elements. In the early modern period, the Republic of Poland was a bulwark of Christianity. Due to the uniqueness of this early democratic system, it provided a model for political freedom and individual involvement in politics, and for a form of government that embodied a law -abiding and tolerant country where the communities coexisting within the system created a culture of understanding. The 16th -century image of the country was gradually distorted over the next two hundred years. This was caused by the necessity to fight against tyranny and resist Swedish, Turkish and Russian invasions. Nobles ideology can be considered one of the foundations - next to the Magna Carta and the heritage of the Enlightenment - of modern European democracy and constitutionalism. Of course, there were also negative aspects of the system like the well -established model of liberum veto and the noble state’s egotism. We propose taking a new look, from the perspective of modern democracy, at the relationship between religious and political institutions.