Principle Statements Used to Conceal Personal Responsibility and Political Bias

The statements of Bosnian-Herzegovinian bishops and muftis of the Islamic Community regarding the upcoming elections contain mostly principled advice and suggestions directed at believers. But behind that principled stance and attempts to be politically impartial, when these statements are analyzed more seriously, they still, in some parts, favor the largest national parties of Bosniaks and Croats in BiH. With principled positions, an attempt is made to obscure the personal responsibility of religious leaders who, both openly and tacitly, have supported and continue to support national policies that have plundered and impoverished this country. Additionally, the problem with such statements is not what is said, but what is not said. So, it is not what was stated that is questionable, but what was omitted.

When the bishops in their message, for example, warn that "majorization and outvoting must disappear from political life," which is undeniably a serious political problem of this country, such formulations, without more precise explanations and criticism of the political representatives of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats, favor the HDZ party, which bases its power among the Croatian people precisely on the fear of majorization and outvoting, in which members of that party also participate through political bargaining for personal interests. The list of positions at all levels of government that legally or reciprocally belong to Croats, but which members of that party have relinquished for personal political and economic profit, is long.

When, on the other hand, representatives of the Islamic Community in BiH call on Bosnian-Herzegovinian Muslims, for example, "to give their vote to those they are convinced will preserve the faith, the traditional values of our people, and their state," against which no objection can be raised in principle, but which also requires a more detailed analysis regarding the content of the values mentioned and the previous religious and political manipulation of them, these words favor the SDA, which maintains its political dominance within the Bosniak people precisely on such religious and political narratives (faith – people – state). No party has caused as much damage to the Bosniak people – politically, economically, culturally, and even religiously – as the Party of Democratic Action.

These general statements treat all political actors and parties in the electoral process in the same way. This can be accepted in principle in the sense that no one should be spared criticism, but the responsibility of political entities and parties that have been in power for over twenty years, burdened by crimes, criminality, and corruption, and have brought this society into a difficult situation, is not the same as that of those who have marginal and insignificant political influence and are not burdened by such a mortgage. In this way, an attempt is made to lump all political actors together (they are all the same!), which again favors those who are numerically, infrastructurally, economically, and politically more powerful.

Both statements also contain parts that are fatefully important for this society, such as a call for respect for the dignity of every person or sensitivity for the politically and socially vulnerable, but all this remains mere words on paper because the majority of religious representatives of the Catholic Church and the Islamic Community in practice – from local to the highest levels – support precisely those policies and politicians who destroy these values and who, these very days in the pre-election campaign, arrogantly parade through churches and mosques, desecrating sacred spaces and turning them into "dens of thieves," which must be repulsive and disgusting to people who value their dignity, their faith, and their sanctuaries.

Compared to these two statements, the message of the Commission "Iustitia et pax" of the Bishops' Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, signed by the Bishop of Banja Luka, Franjo Komarica, is more serious and concrete. It states, among other things: "Do not be deceived by empty promises, the appearance, or the performances of political candidates for whom you know have not shown their political moral integrity and credibility in action and have not fulfilled earlier promises through their past deeds. (...) Do not give your vote to candidates whose past is – at the very least – suspicious!" But nothing will come of these warnings either as long as, for example, Catholic bishops and priests support precisely those untrustworthy politicians with a suspicious past, parade with them in the pre-election campaign, allow them to speak from the altar, or watch football matches with them in a relaxed atmosphere with a broad smile.

In modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, all these years, politicians and parties that invoked faith have mostly ruled. Thanks primarily to the "great believers" in politics and those "small believers" who supported them with their votes, we have a divided society, a non-functional state, social misery, and many other troubles. This is a great defeat for religious communities and believers in this country, who readily, intrusively, and aggressively invoke faith and simultaneously, through their public, social, and political engagement, demonstrate untrustworthiness, absence of responsibility for the common good, while inciting religious and ethnic hatred, which is the most brutal negation of faith and those values on which it should be based. Biblically speaking, we live in a time of "a wicked and perverse generation" that covers and justifies its wickedness and perversity with faith and vital national interests.