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2004:5 What Faith? Contemporary Czech Religiosity/Spirituality in the Perspective of Qualitative Sociology of Religion

Zdeněk R. Nešpor

This volume offers a summary of the most important knowledge in the field of contemporary qualitative sociology of religion in the Czech Republic, and it describes the state of religiosity/spirituality in the country after 1989 up to the present in a European context. The majority of Czech sociologists of religion, based at various academic institutions, contributed to the preparation of the volume. In six independent studies the authors draw attention to the most important developmental trends in Czech religiosity, including the institutional boundaries in the form of state legislative and normative policies on the one hand, and unorganised, privatised belief structures on the other, and they offer deeper insight into the religious ideas of people with faith through case studies and anthropological research.

In the introductory study, Z. R. Nešpor characterises the current state of the sociology of religion in the Czech Republic. In the second and – in terms of focus – largest study in the volume the same author outlines the main developmental trends in Czech religiosity, especially in connection with the transformations of the political, economic, media, and cultural spheres in the 1990s and at the start of the new millennium. Contemporary (traditional) church religiosity is the focus of the studies by O. Nešporová (the conceptualisation of death and afterlife existence) and M. Staněk (the phenomenon of Catholic so-called “private” revelations). D. Antalík focuses on the “search for the sacred”, as manifested in allegedly pre-Christian Celtic traditions, and on social groups with similar orientations. D. Lužný provides an analysis of the contemporary media discourse on new religious movements and the position towards them adopted by the state, using the examples of the Church of Scientology and the Unification Church (Moonists).

Keywords
Sociology of religion, modern religiosity, Czech Republic 1993-, 20th-century Christianity, European Union, enlargement

Summary

The six studies by Czech sociologists of religion that this volume contains describe the situation of Czech religiosity/spirituality from 1989 to the present in a (Western) European context. The authors draw attention to the most important developmental trends in Czech religiosity, including the institutional boundaries in the form of state legislative and normative policies on the one hand, and unorganised, privatised belief structures on the other (D. Lužný, Z. R. Nešpor). Using thematic and case studies and socio-anthropological surveys these trends are demonstrated in relation to selected religious systems and groups (D. Antalík, O. Nešporová, M. Staněk). The volume also provides information on the contemporary state of Czech sociology of religion, explaining the background to its current state and indicating possible directions and priorities in its future development (Z. R. Nešpor).

In the introductory study Z. R. Nešpor characterises the current state of Czech sociology of religion, a typical feature of which is its involvement in international quantitative studies (and similar such studies run independently), but its lack, with a few exceptions, of any qualitative studies. The author relates this situation to the general state of Czech sociology after the fall of the communist regime, to the theoretical and methodological background of the sociology of religion, and finally to the illusory notion of the “atheist” character of Czech society. In relation to contemporary foreign studies he highlights the importance of the sociology of religion for research on the wider aspects of European integration and the study of economic culture. He also notes, however, that in the Czech environment especially the sociology of religion needs to demarcate itself, on the one hand, against attempts by religious groups to employ the findings of religious sociology for their own purposes, as is currently the case with regard to the argumentation employed by so-called anti-cult movement, and on the other hand against the implicitly anti-religious attitude that dominates among part of the academic community.

In the second study, on the main developmental trends in contemporary Czech religiosity, Z. R. Nešpor discusses the global religious processes that are present in Czech society today. Here the author draws on existing quantitative surveys, his own qualitative sociological studies, and to some extent also his own historical studies in this field. He compares the situation in the Czech Republic with studies by colleagues in other countries, particularly in the context of the social transformation in the 1990s and in connection with the accession of the Czech Republic to the EU, and discovers that only some religious processes in the Czech Republic are comparable with those occurring in Western Europe (e.g. the growth of out-of-church, privatised and even anticlerical religious movements, though more so and evidently occurring earlier in the Czech Republic than elsewhere; the process of de-traditionalisation; the rise of new spiritual opportunities, such as “New Age” spirituality or, to a lesser extent, the charismatic and Pentecostal movements within Christianity). However, a considerable number of contemporary religious processes in the Czech Republic have their roots in the historical and socio-cultural institutions of Czech society. This involves, for example, the process of the de-privatisation of religion, wherein traditional churches are returning to politics and the public sphere, after having essentially been suppressed under the “over-secularised” communist regime; but it also refers, conversely, to the historically based anticlerical attitude that is maintained by a large part of the public.

O. Nešporová focuses on inner religious experience, its existential dimension, the question of the conceptualisation of death and afterlife existence across the spectrum of religious groups, both the traditional (Catholic, Protestant) and the relatively new (Jehovah’s Witnesses, devotees of Hare Krishna). Existential issues are obviously among the most important elements of religious doctrine and in the beliefs of religious people. In this respect the author notes that while in the case of the newer religious groups these ideas are more often given explanations and within the group’s framework are considerably more coherent, this is not the case among the large or traditional churches, where it is implicitly assumed that the standard explanations are shared by religious adherents, who in actuality themselves usually maintain quite heterodox, privatised views (a fact they are often even aware of). The most important source of religious ideas for Jehovah’s Witnesses is their church magazines, while the devotees of Hare Krishna have a large amount of literature available as a source for the ideas that they share (especially the writings of the movement’s founder, Prabhupada). Both these examples are moreover religious groups that have a missionary orientation and that actively involve their devotees in religious services, which further accentuates the unity and orthodoxy of their beliefs. In comparison, the connection between the existentialist ideas maintained by traditional Christians and the Biblical tradition or official religious texts they draw on is much weaker. However, while Protestants are more likely to express their personal uncertainty and inability to answer such questions, Catholics have more definite, albeit from the perspective of the church often heterodox, ideas.

M. Staněk examines similar trends with respect to Catholic religiosity and focuses his study on the movements based on so-called private revelations (Marian apparitions), a phenomenon that borders between Catholic fundamentalism and a heterodox faith not tolerated by the church (even though they are actually papal-centric movements). Within the Catholic Church, particularly during the 20th century, there has been a sharp rise in the number of reported visions of the Virgin Mary. With the approach of the end of the millennium these apparitions became increasingly radicalised, taking on apocalyptic features and referring with greater frequency to the Second Coming of Christ and the punishment of sinners. Some of the global movements that are founded on this orientation exist in the Czech Republic, particularly the Marian Movement of Priests and the Fatima Apostolate, while the Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart are clearly a peripheral movement.

The study by D. Antalík focuses on a different type of new religiosity, which responds to the spiritual insecurity in contemporary life by attempting to return to the allegedly pre-Christian roots of European culture as represented by Celtic civilisation. The author examines the origin and later transformation of British and French neo-druidic groups, which he divides into three main streams (the “esoteric” branch of J. Toland, the “mutualistic” branch of H. Hurle, and the “revivalist” neo-druidism of E. Williams), and the influence exerted on them by Gardner’s neo-paganism. The author discovers that the massive growth in interest in these groups and (especially) their products in the Czech Republic after 1989 has been somewhat indirect, mediated more by commercial interests and/or the idealisation of so-called Celtic forms of culture and art. Unlike in Western Europe, there are no explicitly neo-druidic societies, which is obviously related to the high degree of anticlerical attitudes among the Czech population.

In the final study of the volume D. Lužný traces the influence of the components of power and repression in society using two selected examples (media discourse on the Church of Scientology and the battle for state recognition on the part of the Unification Church). The author highlights a fact that is currently well known in Western Europe, that media manipulation and the position of state bodies towards new religions are often influenced by so-called anti-cult movements, so that the religious market is not really open. To this end the media and political-religious interest groups employ negative assessment stereotypes or, under the pretext of making an “objective” study, directly evoke or confirm such stereotypes themselves. Consequently, in the Czech Republic, even after the first post-communist churches act was adopted (Act no. 308/1991), discrimination and repression of (new) religious movements has occurred, and it is evident that this tendency has to a considerable degree persisted even in new legislation in the amended Act on Churches and Religious Societies of 2002 (Act no. 3/2002).