PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES BILL ON RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES

ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - The possibility of introducing religious teaching in pre-school institutions divided deputies during a parliamentary debate on the legal status of religious communities on Tuesday. While members of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS) advocated the introduction of religious teaching in kindergartens, the Social Democrats (SDP) said this could lead to discrimination against non-Catholic children, and warned the proposal was contrary to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) described the proposal as absurd and, to back his opinion, cited Father Ivan Grubisic, who in a recent interview with a daily said religious teaching in schools had replaced the Marxist doctrine but failed to increase morality and piety among students. Kajin said pre-school children should not be forced to make any such choices. Drago Krpina of the HDZ replied that Father Grubisic's view was his personal view, from which the Church had distanced itself. "There have been and there will always be regime priests like Grubisic," Krpina said. The MPs agreed that criteria for the registration of religious communities were not clear enough, warning this could lead to an increase in the number of sects, which may register as religious communities. (hina) sb rml