Čemu Češi věří: dimenze soudobé české religiozity

Abstract

Although the Czech Republic is usually regarded as one of the most secular countries in Europe, current sociological surveys indicate that there is still a strong interest in supernatural and spiritual questions. This article begins by documenting the popularity of various religious concepts and then proceeds to analyse the socio-demographic factors that influence religious beliefs. The author tries to answer the question of whether and how people who believe in some kind of religious phenomenon differ in terms of sociodemographic characteristics from those who do not believe. There are two dimensions behind religious statements: a ‘traditional’ Christian outlook and an ‘alternative’ view connected with a belief in the power of magic. Further analyses indicated that traditional and alternative religious beliefs are connected with numerous socio-demographic characteristics, the most important of which is religious socialisation, measured by the frequency with which a person attended at religious services as a child and by the religious denomination of a person’s mother.