On 15 December, Częstochowa's councillors passed the first resolution in Poland appealing to the government to cease funding Religious Education lessons in schools from the city budget. The decision outraged Akcja Katolicka (catholic organization) of the Archdiocese of Częstochowa, which even appealed to the Ombudsman. According to them, this was a part of and the effect of anti-clerical propaganda.

A short while later Kraków councillors voted on similar changes, and Łódź residents collected signatures on a petition entitled "Stop funding RE lessons from the city budget". The city of Wrocław will probably follow in their footsteps. The Left has launched a campaign there to end the funding of RE from the city budget.

On 12 June, activists from Wrocław's the New Left ("Nowa Lewica") presented a civic project for a new resolution to stop funding RE lessons from the city budget. If it is passed by the Wrocław City Council, it will go to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Minister Czarnek.

Activists point out that Religious Education generate huge costs and young people claim that the classes do not give them valuable content. Their discouragement is confirmed by numerous statistics on drop-outs from RE. Young people do not like, for example, that homophobic content is taught in classes.

"I signed up for RE because I wanted to learn something about religion itself, and I thought it would be a good place for discussion. But instead I heard that my gay friend ‘is not equal to normal people’, and that abortion is a heinous murder," high school student Tomasz Korgól told Wrocławski Portal.

The activists of the Left in Wrocław are therefore collecting signatures for the project. In order for it to be debated by the City Council, they need 300 signatures. The project can be signed by people who live and pay taxes in the city. No Personal ID Number (PESEL) is required to sign the appeal to stop funding RE in schools.

"The cost of RE classes is not declining, although more than half of the children in primary schools do not participate and only 18 per cent in secondary schools attend RE lessons," said city councillor Dominik Kłosowski.

Councillors in Częstochowa have already passed a similar bill. They, in turn, pointed out that the money they spend on RE lessons, which are becoming less and less popular among young people, could be spent on other initiatives. Parents are also appealing to councillors to move the lessons back to the vicarage (where they used to be held in the past).

The activists also stress that these are not actions against the Catholic Church. If young people want to attend the lessons, they can do so - the city just doesn't want to fund it any longer. Considering the CBOS (public opinion research centre) report from July 2022, which shows that one in four do not believe in God, it is hardly surprising that these measures are being taken.

Fewer and fewer pupils are also attending RE at school, and the schools themselves are cancelling the lessons because pupils simply do not sign up for them. In the current school year, 1,462 schools are not running RE as a subject in the curriculum at all.

Source: Wrocławski Portal