Irreplaceable Church Welfare in the Least Religious Country: The Case of the Czech Republic

The chapter starts with a brief description of the church-state relationship in the Czech lands / Czech Republic in the last century. As a consequence of the massive turning away from the churches, the country is one of the most secular regions around the world. Despite the low numbers of adherents, the churches attempt to remain powerful players on the political and public scene(s). The chapter describes topics, means and strategies used by various religious institutions to preserve their public standing, which includes provision of social services for the needy, education, palliative care and counselling. Given the developed and generous public welfare system, the church-based services are rather supplementary layer of social security. However, they target specific groups of population and/or provide care with a psycho-spiritual dimension. Despite the unfavourable public image of the churches, the services are used to a large extent by the secular segment of population.