In 1984 he obtained a chair in cardiac surgery and directed the Cardiosurgical Clinic in Zabrze, in 1990 he became full professor at the Silesian Medical University in Katowice, being its rector from 1997 to 1999.

[1] In 2004, a team led by Religa obtained a prestigious Brussels Eureka award at the World Exhibition of Innovation, Research and Technology for developing an implantable pump for a pneumatic heart assistance system.

As the centre and right wing of the Polish political landscape has been in constant flux ever since democracy was reinstated, Religa was a member of several parties and organizations.

In 1993, he co-founded the Nonpartisan Bloc for Support of Reforms (BBWR) which gathered behind president Lech Wałęsa and was its leader in 1994.

In 1995, Religa became the chairman of the short-lived party "The Republicans" (Republikanie) founded by renegade BBWR members who refused to back Wałęsa in the presidential elections of 1995.

Spanning the centre and centre-right of Polish politics, Religa was well placed to play a significant role in the newly created Conservative People's Party (SKL), which became part of the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) in 1997.

On September 2 in a move that gained him great respect in the Polish society, Religa pulled out of the presidential race urging his remaining supporters to vote for Donald Tusk from the Civic Platform.