engleski

Science as an alternative symbolic universe among members and organizations of nonreligious people and atheists in Croatia

The current, complex religious–nonreligious dynamic in Croatia was shaped by a specific socio-historical context. The fall of communism effected a change in the social roles of religiosity, nonreligiosity and atheism. In other words, knowledge propagated about objectified (non)religious meanings, as well as the plausibility and legitimation of institutionalized actions and roles which stemmed from it, transformed along with the changes taking place in the political and social system. Based on the theoretical perspective of the sociology of knowledge, this chapter will focus on the rather new phenomenon of organizing nonreligious people and atheists in Croatia and the role of the (natural) sciences on the group (collective) and individual levels. The chapter starts with a short overview of the socio-historical context followed by an analysis of the contemporary institutional level, especially the legislation regulating the current social position and role of religion in Croatia. To analyze processes through which science is brought forward as an alternative symbolic universe at the group and individual levels of organized forms of nonreligiosity and atheism, different methods have been employed: a content analysis of documents and websites of these organizations, as well as semi-structured interviews with their members and leaders. The results show that science is used for different purposes at the group and individual levels: to discredit religious claims and interpretations of the social reality, as a source of legitimation for values and moral settings, for rooting individual nonreligious and atheistic identities in scientific-intellectual cognitive pathways, to depoliticize notions of nonreligiosity and atheism, as a means of gaining knowledge about the world and as a method for understanding reality, among others.

atheism, non-religiosity, natural sciences, sociology of knowledge

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