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employees from attending religious ceremonies. 30 Nevertheless, in general religious
freedom could be practiced without discrimination and from the beginning 31 the
governments of the republics annually subsidized the religious communities with
large sums.
A conflict did occur between the clergy and the regime, and was twofold:
On one hand, there was the inherent conflict between the general
communist approach, which weakened the churches through land and educational
reforms that limited the real property held by the Orthodox and Catholic churches
and minimized religious influence by relegating religious lessons to voluntary
education. 32 Article 3 of the Law on Land Reform and Settlement 33 e.g. stated that
the “land estates (over 10 ha) of churches, monasteries, religious institutions and
of all kinds of foundations, should be taken away from the present owner and
passed into the hand of the State”. Article 8 allowed the maintenance of religious
institutions (churches, monasteries, ecclesiastical authorities) of major importance
or of major historical significance up to 30 hectares of arable land and up to 30
hectares of forest out of their present holding.
On the other hand, the Roman-Catholic and the Orthodox churches were
driving forces in the national development of the Croatian and Serb nation. In
general, nation building of Croats, (present-day) Bosniacs (former Muslims) and
Serbs was primarily based on religious affiliation. As the churches were also
carriers of nationalism, they were doubly in conflict with the Yugoslav Communist
Party, whose equalizing approach attempted to deal with the problem of national
hatred. The Roman-Catholic clergy, due to its partial interpenetration with the
Ustasha-Regime and its low support of the Partisans, was a particular thorn in the
flesh of Tito’s regime. 34 Cooperation between the Orthodox clergy and the
Partisans had been somewhat better during the war, and therefore so was their
relationship in the post war period. The conflict between the Roman-Catholic
Church (in particular in Croatia) and the regime appeared more frequently than it
did with the other religious communities in the following decades.
Nevertheless, the Slav Muslim clergy also came into conflict with the
authorities. Several mosques were closed or alienated, competences in e.g.
education and religious taxation were wrested from the religious leaders, and
religious publications as well as the education of religious teaching staff were
restricted. 35 The communists also interfered in the Muslims’ religious traditions
partly as there were certain elements, e.g. the veil for women, which had to be
abolished. 36
The Islamic Religious Community (IVZ – Islamska Vjerska Zajednica), led by
the anti-communists, that were elected immediately after the war, was forced to
replace its leadership due to the denial of financial support. 37 The first elected
Reis-ul-Ulema resigned in 1947, and was replaced by a newly elected reliable
religious official, who adopted a non-confrontation course. As a result, the
community was given the right to autonomy in internal affairs. 38 A supreme
30
Hoffmann and Neal, op. cit. note 16, 95.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid., 93.
33
Sluzbeni list FNRJ, Sl. l. 64/45; Zdenko Štambuk, The Legal Status of Religious
Communities in Yugoslavia (Međunarodna Štampa – Interpress, Belgrade, 1967), 23.
34
Hoffman and Neal, op. cit. note 16, 93- .
35
Francine Friedman, The Bosnian Muslims: Denial of a Nation (Westview Press, Boulder,
1996), 150.
36
Hoffmann and Neal, op. cit. note 16, 93.
37
Zachary T. Irwin, “The Islamic Revivial and the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina”, XVII (4)
East European Quarterly (1984), 440-458, at 440.
38
Ibid., 441.
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