Is abortion a religious issue? And what if it is?

"The purpose of this article is to examine whether abortion may be regarded as a religious issue, and what legal and political effects it creates under the American constitutional system assuming that it may be regarded that way. By asking if abortion is a religious issue I mean the following problem: are attitudes toward abortion shaped exclusively by religious convictions? That question certainly occurs on the one side of the abortion debate, namely among those who believe abortion should not be a lawful practice. Putting the question in this way still does not make it clear enough, as one may ask about the factor deciding if abortion really is a religious issue: is it the proportion of people drawing the conclusion as to the improperness of abortion from religious beliefs among all those who are convinced that abortion should not be a lawful practice, or is it the lack of some final conclusive argument against abortion (or general ignorance about the existence of such an argument among pro-life sympathizers) that is not dependent on religious beliefs?"(...

United States and the European Union – Basic (Pre-) Constitutional Differences

"Just after the Convention on the Future of Europe started its proceedings which led to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (often called European Constitution) the American example started being invoked by supporters of the Convention efforts as historical evidence that a wide and diverse group of states may successfully unite in order to achieve the status of a global power. The Treaty was drafted in 2003 and then amended by Member States leaders’ a year later, but it was not given a chance to prove its ability to unite European nations, as it was rejected in popular votes in France and Netherlands in 2005. However, the very text of the Treaty became the base for the new one, called this time the Reform Treaty, agreed at the end of previous year in Lisbon and supposed to enter into force at the beginning of 2009. Even main framers of the European Constitution admit that the new Treaty “is the same as the rejected constitution”, only changed in order to avoid any associations with word “constitution”, blamed for defeat. It is the aim of this article to explain why the European Union should seek its own way of building constitutional order, restraining from any state-like ambitions, among them looking up to the United States for an example to follow. "(...

Agencja Praw Podstawkowych Unii Europejskiej. O najnowszym pomyśle inżynierii społecznej

"Rewolucje, które przetoczyły się przez świat zachodni pod koniec XVIII wieku, zmieniły jego oblicze i wyznaczyły w sposób trwały dalsze jego losy. Politycznie, osiemnastowieczny ruch był przeciw dzierżeniu rządu lub innej władzy publicznej przez jakąkolwiek ustaloną, uprzywilejowaną, zamkniętą wewnętrznie grupę ludzi. Zaprzeczał, że ktokolwiek może wykonywać władzę opartą na przymusie po prostu z racji swojego prawa lub prawa jego statusu, jak również wynikającą z prawa „historii”, zarówno w tradycyjnym sensie zwyczaju czy dziedziczenia, jak i w nowszym dialektycznym sensie, nieznanym osiemnastemu wiekowi, w którym „historia” może być interpretowana jako przyznająca jakiejś elicie lub rewolucyjnej awangardzie prawo do rządzenia1. Ruchowi temu możemy wiele zawdzięczać: likwidacja układu społecznego, w którym urodzenie decydowało o dalszej drodze życia, oddanie władzy w ręce mogących decydować za siebie ludzi, właściwe docenienie roli każdego człowieka w życiu politycznym - te wszystkie i wiele innych udogodnień są niezaprzeczalną zdobyczą tamtego okresu."(...

The maximum rate at any cost. A case of applying the excise tax on heating oil in the period 2005–2009

This paper focuses on the role of linguistic, functional and theological interpretation applied by Polish administrative courts. The paper touches upon decisions taken by fiscal authorities and some courts, including the Supreme Administrative Court, to punish sellers who did not present valid declarations with disproportionately high rates of the excise tax. These declarations are filled in by purchasers of heating oil. In the author’s view this rate should be restricted to very limited cases when, for instance, it is proven that heating oil has not been in fact used for the purposes it was designed to be used. Obviously in such a case it is the purchaser who is obliged to pay this rate of tax. In case it has not been proven and a seller is not able to present a valid declaration confirming purchaser’s intention to use heating oil for heating purposes, there is a tax rate which was disregarded both by fiscal authorities and courts. That avoidance led to situation in which entrepreneurs are obliged to pay PLN 1,768 per 1000 litres of additional excise tax instead of PLN 1 for the same amount

Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe nr 2, 2010 (Miscellanea Americana)

The present volume of Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe [Krakow International Studies] is as diverse as America is. Many of the problems discussed here seem from the European perspective – or at least the Western European one – exotic, even parochial, but this is a misunderstanding of what the United States is. In Ame­rica they are real since America is a baroque, extremely pluralistic country, with the citizens devoid of an apologizing attitude towards the democratic process and debating fiercely in public. The first essay, by Marta Dębska, “A Brief History of Americanization”, is a general, concise historical-comparative study which explains the meaning of this term, crucial for America. Andrzej Bryk takes up an issue which Dębska touches on in the conclusion of her essay. Marta du Vall analyzes the very interesting phenomenon of American com­passionate conservatism as a new version of the welfare state, an issue which has been in the air for a long time. Maciej Brachowicz discusses the topic of abortion, which in the American context is especially contested. The subject of Tocqueville and slavery has always fascinated students of America, and Wojciech Kaczor is no exception. He analyzes the problem from the point of view of a French aristocrat. In turn Piotr Musie­wicz analyzes the question of the 19th-century movement reforming the doctrine of the Anglican Church and the repercussions of this reform for the American Episco­pal Church. Rafał Marek takes up another topic connected with this religious side of American life, the issue of the Orthodox Church in the United States in the context of American church-state relations. Marta Majorek takes up the work of one of the best-known scholars and thinkers of anarchism, Robert Paul Wolff, living proof of the robust presence of the anarchist streak in the American psyche full of mistrust of state power. Beata Szyjka addresses the topic of the visa lottery in the United States, pla­cing it within the historical, legal and social context of American immigration law. The last article in the volume is an exception to the entirely Polish group of mainly young students of America publishing in this volume. It is written by one of the most distinguished American scholars of political philosophy, Catherine H. Zuckert of the University of Notre Dame. It is devoted to the work of Ralph Elli­son. As usual the American volume of Krakowskie Studia Międzynarodowe con­tains its Archive section. This time we publish an excerpt from a work by Richard John Neuhaus