The Department of Material Criminal Law and Criminology of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, together with the Academic Circle of Criminal Law of the University of Gdańsk, would like to invite you to the 10th open scientific meeting within the framework of the cyclical project 'Gdańsk Fridays with Criminal Law'.
The introductory paper entitled 'Between religion and criminal law' will be delivered by dr Paweł Petasz. This will be followed by an open discussion moderated by dr Tomasz Snarski. The meeting will be held in an on-line format on March 26, 2021, at 15:00, via the MS Teams platform. The organisers also predict a LIVE broadcast in the Facebook event. The event has an open character.
The speaker conducted research on the issue of freedom of conscience and religion for many years. His research area included i. a. the definitions of important concepts (conscience, religion, freedom and tolerance), the historical development of the protection of these values, and consequently, also the acts that threatened or violated these values, including the behaviours currently regulated in articles 194-196 of the Penal Code (religious discrimination, interference in the performance of a religious act, insulting religious feelings).
The issue of freedom of conscience and religion has repeatedly electrified society, stimulating public debate in which difficult questions have been posed. Is freedom of conscience and religion sufficiently protected? Should it be protected by the state at all, even under criminal law? Are there any reasons for modern criminalisation of behaviour that violates these values? What are religious feelings and what is the object of religious reverence? Where is the boundary between constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and insult?
The public is increasingly demanding answers to these and many other questions, mainly as a result of media coverage of individual cases in which it is at least suspected that an offence has been committed against freedom of conscience and religion. And it is not only the theoreticians but also the practitioners who have to deal with linguistic, cultural and even moral dilemmas in these individual cases.
The project 'Gdańsk Fridays with Criminal Law' was initiated in 2018 on the initiative of the late prof. dr. hab. Jarosław Warylewski and dr. Tomasz Snarski. It aims to intensify scientific research inside the Department, share its results with the scientific and non-academic community and students, and create a field for discussion between theoreticians and practitioners. The meetings are also intended to stimulate the participants themselves to reflect on the present and future of criminal law, pose difficult questions and seek answers, formulate new theses, conclusions and postulates.
From 2019, the project is under the patronage of the I Faculty of Humanities of the Gdańsk Scientific Society.