After publishing an article about a cross hanging next to the national emblem in the Municipal Police headquarters’ room where officers receive residents, we asked about some very simple things: who decided to place the cross in the duty officer’s room at the Municipal Police headquarters in Bolesławiec, when was this decision made, and was there any documented basis for it?
The cross has prompted questions about the ideological neutrality of public institutions, which—as required by the applicable regulations—should remain impartial on religious matters.
Kamila Chalewicz-Pudłowska’s response consisted of eight words and arrived after 13 days, which works out to less than two-thirds of a word per day. What did the commander reply?
The requested information is not in the unit’s possession.
Perhaps during those 13 days the officers searched for a document, questioned witnesses, and sought the opinions of more senior colleagues—maybe one of them remembered? Surely something must have affected the time it took the Municipal Police to answer simple questions.
Why is the ideological neutrality of public institutions so important?
A cross belongs in churches and Christian institutions. There, a cross is even desirable. And we can decide for ourselves when we want to visit such places. Once we decide to do so, we follow the rules associated with the spiritual and religious sphere. Such rules cannot be maintained in the officers’ workplace, and when someone wants to pay a fine or deal with another matter, they have no choice. Not everyone—even believers—wants to curse inwardly beneath a cross because they dislike the officers or are having a bad day.
Hanging crosses wherever one pleases should outrage people who are sincerely and deeply religious, just as it should outrage non-believers and people of faiths other than Christianity.
State bodies should operate without favouring any system of values, religious beliefs, or ideologies for the following additional reasons:
- Institutions perceived as neutral inspire greater public trust, which supports the effective functioning of the state.
- Neutrality protects individuals’ rights to hold their own values and allows them to practise them within the bounds of the law, without state interference in their private beliefs.
- The absence of preference for particular worldviews reduces the risk of institutions becoming politicised.
- It also protects minorities, which should be a concern of the rule-of-law state. Neutrality creates a framework in which minorities can use public services without fear of discrimination on the grounds of their beliefs.