Principle of state secularism

The notion of secularism can be found in the sources of Lithuanian constitutional law as far back as the Provisional Basic Law of the Republic of Lithuania (1990), which provided a broad definition, encompassing not only the secularism of the national education institutions, but also that of state institutions. In the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, the latter is understood as the secularism of the State of Lithuania, its institutions and their activities. In the context of constitutional relations of the state and church, the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court has only referred to the notion of 'secular state' a few times. Official constitutional doctrine expressly establishes the principle of secularism in state and local educational institutions. Meanwhile, the concept of the secular state has neither been invoked nor interpreted enough times so as to permit some definition of states ecularism as a notion of jurisprudential constitution. We may expect Constitutional Court doctrine to gradually formulate this meaning in the future. The provisions of the Constitution of 25 October 1992 reveal the reaction of the drafters towards the negative consequences of restrictions on religious and other beliefs during the period of Soviet occupation. Neither the text of the Constitution nor in the constitutional jurisprudence defines any strict principle of separation of church and state.In the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, the notion of a secular state is construed within the context of cooperation between these two permanent participants of legal relations - the state and the church. Therefore, the Lithuanian interpretation of the secular state principle is not strict or laicistic. This could have influenced the Constitutional Court's choice to use the notion of 'neutrality', which namely argues for a special national recognition of the church. Granting of a privileged status to the church within the state is in harmony with the religious and world-view neutrality of the state because the state is not neutral with regard to values. The separation of church and state, by definition, confirms religious neutrality based on the secularity of the cooperative content. The religious and world-view neutrality of the state determines the cooperation of the state and the church in the implementation of common educational, social and cultural goals. The hermeneutical construction of the Constitution compels an interpretation of the secular state in the multicultural context of all traditional churches and religious organizations that constitute the social, cultural and spiritual heritage of Lithuanian society