Inclusive Tolerance as Poles’ Attitudes Towards Religious Minorities

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that Poles’ attitudes towards religious minorities are characterised by a high degree of religious tolerance, primarily active tolerance, in which inclusion constitutes an integral component. Both historical experience (the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a “state without stakes”), the fact that Polish society has for centuries remained largely homogeneous in terms of religious affiliation (the dominance of the Catholic Church), as well as extensive and effectively enforced legal and institutional guarantees for religious minorities, have contributed to the embedding of inclusive tole­rance within the Polish national identity. A short-term challenge, but not a threat, to the prevailing inclusive tolerance in Poland was posed by the destabilisation of Poland’s im­mediate and broader international environment, including the intensification of jihadism, the migration and refugee crisis, the Belarusian regime’s orchestration of Muslim mi­gration at the Polish–Belarusian border, as well as the growing support for far-right political forces. The Muslim minority was perceived at that time as the greatest threat. The temporary dominance of passive tolerance, occasional xenophobia and Islamophobia constituted part of a political spectacle aimed at increasing the socio-political popularity of far-right forces in Poland.