The authors analyse contemporary ir/religiosity and spirituality in the Czech Republic using data from national censuses, international surveys and a specialized national survey on the de-traditionalization and individualization of religion from 2006. The authors conclude that the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on a respondent's religiosity, both traditional and alternative, is weak; a more important factor in the determination of a person's world-view was found to be his/her religious socialization or the absence thereof. The effectiveness of religious socialization differs significantly between the various churches; the least effective being the Catholic Church and Czechoslovak Hussite Church. For historical reasons, attitudes towards Catholicism also influence the Czech mindset on religion in general. The out-of-church movement became established very early in the country's history and was subsequently strengthened by Communist anticlericalism resulting in today's prevalence of "non-believers", the highest proportion in Europe. Key words: anti-religious memory · atheism · Czech Republic · post-communist religion · religiosity and spirituality Les auteurs analysent l'(ir)religiosité et la spiritualité contemporaines en République tchèque, en utilisant des données issues de recensements nationaux, d'enquêtes internationales et d'une enquête nationale spécialisée portant sur la "dé-traditionalisation" et l'individualisation de la religion à partir de 2006. Les auteurs concluent que l'influence de caractéristiques sociodémographiques sur la religiosité, autant traditionnelle qu'alternative, du répondant est faible. Un facteur plus important dans la détermination de la vision du monde d'un individu a été situé dans sa socialisation religieuse ou dans l'absence de celle-ci. L'efficacité de la socialisation religieuse diffère de façon significative entre les différentes Églises, les moins efficaces étant l'Église catholique et l'Église hussite tchécoslovaque. Pour différentes raisons historiques, les attitudes à l'égard du catholicisme influencent également la perception tchèque de la religion en général. Le mouvement de sortie de la religion s'est très précocement développé dans l'histoire du pays et a ultérieurement été renforcé par l'anticléricalisme communiste, qui aboutit à la prédominance actuelle des non-croyants, dont la proportion est la plus élevée d'Europe. Mots-clés: athéisme · mémoire anti-religieuse · religion post-communiste · religiosité et spiritualité · République tchèque at NANYANG TECH UNIV LIBRARY on August 27, 2015 scp.sagepub.com Downloaded from
The study deals with the analysis of the religious situation in Czech society after 1989. The starting point is the analysis of the broader historical and sociopolitical context. The study itself examines an analysis of the key census data from 1991, 2001, and 2011, together with the results of research explicitly focused on the religion and religious behavior of the Czech population. These are mainly international studies, such as the EVS, ISSP or AUFBRUCH, and Czech research in the field of DIN. The study also includes an identification of topics and problems that have not yet been sufficiently explored in the context of studying the relationship between religion and contemporary Czech society.
The Czech Republic is widely known as 'the least religious' country in the world and most Czechs are quite proud of that fact. The authors, however, challenge both of these characteristics. Czechs might better be considered unchurched than atheist, with various forms of modern New Age spirituality steadily gaining in popularity. Moreover, their reputation for irreligiosity is somewhat questionable, since it is most often based upon communist (and other more historically deep-rooted) anticlerical notions, while people have little real knowledge of the ideas which they so readily reject. These assertions are based both on quantitative data, provided by census returns and ISSP surveys on religion, and on qualitative data, collected in local ethnographic research in the town of Česká Lípa in northern Bohemia, designed along the lines of the Lancaster University Kendal Project in Great Britain. The Czech population can be divided into three 'blocks', religionists, spiritualists, and atheists/unbelievers, none of which, however, can be considered uniform in terms of membership or truly mutually exclusive. The authors conclude that traditional religionists of various denominations, the followers of New Age movements, and the 'rest' of the population can be seen as three distinctive groups within society and that mutual understanding and acceptance are by no means the norm.
Regardless of the role religion plays in the contemporary world, and the fact that there has occurred a massive de-privatisation of religions and desecularisation of societies, in the Czech Republic the state of religion remains considerably understudied. This paper attempts to fill in this lack of knowledge. The subject is analysed with special regard to the values that are based on culture, symbolic representations and socio-economic institutions. Owing to the lack of empirical research, with the exception of some quantitative surveys and censuses, in this article the author works mainly with his own observations, which also incorporate historical arguments and analyses. He maintains that the developing trends in contemporary Czech religiosity are both similar to and distinct from those in Western Europe. The similar trends include out-of-church movements and even strong anti-clericalism, along with a process of de-traditionalisation and the rise of new spiritual outlets, connected either with 'New Age' spirituality or with the new charismatic and Pentecostal movements. The distinct trends involve a certain de-privatisation of traditional Christian beliefs, which is a reaction to the over-secularised suppression of the public sphere under the communist regime, and even before that. The paper reflects arguments that many of these processes, which have an important influence on Czech society as a whole, will undergo some changes with the state's entry into the European Union.
Třebaže přinejmenším v sociálních a humanitních vědách již zvolna dochází k překonání "tabuizace smrti" 2 a problematika umírání a nakládání s pozůstatky či ostatky zemřelých 3 v některých zemích tvoří dokonce samostatnou (sub)disciplínu, v české akademické obci se jí zatím věnovali jenom jednotlivci. 4 Je tomu tak vzdor skutečnosti, že se jedná o vysoce důležité téma, které se týká vpravdě každého člověka
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