Religion and Secularisation in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Using data from the 1991 & 1999 European Values Study, together with data from the International Social Survey Programme 1998 - Religion from 1999 & data from other public opinion surveys, this article tries to suggest the scope of secularization in the present Czech population. It documents how the process of structural differentiation leads to the declining significance of institutionalized religiousness & privatization of religion, as well as to a growing belief among Czech citizens that it is inappropriate for churches to try to influence politics or the economy. The article also raises the issues of the number of believers & the forms of their beliefs. One of the results of our analysis is the finding that the Czech Republic might be the most secularized country in Europe at the present time.