PiS rejects resolution honouring Polish Protestants
Members of parliament from the PiS have voted down a resolution that was to honour and thank Poland's Protestants for their contribution to the country's development. Polish commentators criticise the PiS parliamentarians' stance.
Protestants becoming second-class citizens
Journalist Adam Szostkiewicz warns on his blog with Polityka.pl that religious tolerance may be coming to an end in Poland:
“Protestants in Poland now feel like second-class citizens. They're being collectively punished for being Protestants and not Catholics. ... If Polish Protestants are now victimised by this decision, no religious minority will be safe. Under the PiS, Poland is saying goodbye to the religious tolerance of which our country has always been proud.”
John Paul II's legacy is being ignored
The conservative daily Rzeczpospolita also criticises the PiS MPs for their stance in the vote:
“It wouldn't be so bad if the vote on this matter simply wasn't properly thought through. It would be worse if in the minds of the PiS MPs a simple association was being made: Luther - Protestantism - Germany. And as we know, relations with Germany aren't the best so we shouldn't honour their religion. ... However, the problem is more generalised. ... The vote of the PiS MPs shows how little the average Catholic knows about the ecumenicalism for which the canonised pope John Paul II did so much, and which we continually cite. By rejecting the legacy of the Reformation we are rejecting John Paul's teachings.”