Section: Week 6 | Religion and Society (RL022) [SS 22/23]

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Course summary

The aim of this course is to understand the complex and even contradictory role of religion in the history and present of Central European societies. The primary focus will be on the Czech Republic, but also countries like Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Germany and the Baltic state of Estonia will be examined under this perspective. Some of these countries like the Czech Republic are very secularized (only about 14 % membership of religious communities), whereas others rather belong to the most religious in Europe (Slovakia). These differences lead to the question whether the role of religion in these countries is also dissimilar or even incomparable, or whether it is possible to define a common denominator for the public function of religion in Central European society.

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Section outline

Communism and Religion

Central questions: What was the development of religion in its relation to public and political life during the second half of the 20th c. especially in communist dominated countries? How were the communist parties able to use religious motives for their own ideological benefit?

Required reading: Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, “Forced” Secularity? On the Appropriation of Repressive Secularization, in: Religion and Society in Central and Eastern Europe, 2011, 4 (1), 63-77.
- Select activity Oppression of Religion and Secularization
  
  Oppression of Religion and Secularization File