Brno, Czech Republic - The Czech Constitutional Court dismissed the proposal by a group of senators to abolish a controversial amendment to the church law that had been pushed through by the left and that churches say limits their rights.
Church representatives say the amendment to the law passed in 2005 interferes in the churches' rights to establish spiritual and other institutions such as charities, schools and medical facilities according to their own norms.
The controversial provision provides for the state registering legal entities established by churches.
Critics say the registration duty is an inadmissible interference by the state in the churches' affairs.
The supporters of the law, especially the Social Democrats (CSSD) and the Communists (KSCM), pointed out that churches must act and establish their organisations according to the Czech Republic's legal order.
The opponents, on the contrary, said the duty of registration violates the churches' independence, that is undemocratic and unconstitutional and returns the situation of religious societies before 1990.
They pointed out that authorities could bully churches by placing obstacles to the registration of their organisations.
The Czech Bishops' Conference, the Ecumenical Council of Churches and the Czech Catholic Charity have objected to the law.
Church representatives referred to the Charter of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms according to which churches and religious organisations establish their spiritual and other church institutions independently from state bodies, as well to the Constitutional Court's previous verdicts.
"It is not correct but it is not a reason to declare mourning or to succumb to scepticism. It is possible to live with it, but it is a sign of the Constitutional Court's inability to be generous," Cyril Svoboda, head of the government's Legislative council and former chairman of the junior governing Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL), said today.
The disputed bill was rejected by the Senate in 2005, but the left-wing deputies overrode the Senate's decision it in the Chamber of Deputies.
President Vaclav Klaus has also singed the bill which Cardinal Miloslav Vlk described as an unconstitutional step.
The proposal to abolish the amendment was submitted to the Constitutional Court in January 2006 and it was signed by 25 then senators.
Apart from 14 KDU-CSL senators, it was signed by four Civic Democrat (ODS) senators, six senators from the Open Democracy Club and Jitka Seitlova from the SNK senators' group.