The 19th century saw a slow liberalization of religious laws, with Christian minority denominations inching towards equal footing with the Catholic Church, althought Catholicism remained the state religion. This state of affairs was preserved in Slovenia upon its accession to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, although Jews, Muslims, and minority Christian denominations gained recognition from the state following this transition. Atheists, however, were considered second class citizens, and the Catholic Church played a significant role in circumscribing intellectual life in Slovenia. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied by various Axis powers and almost the entirety of its Jewish population was killed or fled. For much of the second half of the 20th century, Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia, which established a secular state, and did not engage in anti-religious campaigns to the extent of other countries in the Eastern Bloc. Even as compared to other republics within Yugoslavia, Slovenians enjoyed relative religious freedom. The Roman Catholic Church had much of its property confiscated and many priests were persecuted by the Yugoslavian government, although this was largely due to the Church's collaboration with Axis forces during World War II. Nevertheless, religious instruction was removed from school curricula in 1952, and atheism was promoted. Beginning in the 1960s, Yugoslavia's attitudes toward religion thawed further, although religious belief was considered incompatible with membership in the League of Communists of Yugoslavia until the 1980s. According to surveys conducted in the 1990s, only 11% of Slovenes felt that they had been discriminated against due to their religiosity at any point in their lives; 18% reported that they knew friends or family that had been subject to such discrimination. Unlike the other regions of Yugoslavia, Slovenia was much more ethnically and religiously homogeneous, and consequently avoided being affected by sectarian civil war following the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The constitution guarantees the freedom of religion and the right of individuals to express their beliefs in public and private. It declares that all religious communities shall have equal rights and provides for the separation of religion and state. The constitution also prohibits the incitement of religious discrimination and inflammation of religious hatred and intolerance. The constitution recognizes the right of conscientious objection to military service for religious reasons. The penal code's definition of hate crimes includes publicly provoking religious hatred and diminishing the significance of the Holocaust. Punishment for these offenses is imprisonment of up to two years, or, if the crime involves coercion or endangerment of security – defined as a serious threat to life and limb, desecration, or damage to property – imprisonment for up to five years.