engleski

Baptist churches in Croatia - beyond Orthodox/Catholic dichotomy?

In Ex-Yugoslavia, national identity generally has been closely linked with religious identity. While the notion that the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina and adjacent areas of Croatia between 1991 and 1995 was a religious war is basically wrong, there have been attempts by politicians to link the national with the religious questions. Although with only about 2000 adult (baptized) members in 41 local churches today, Baptists form a tiny minority in Croatia which is strongly dominated by the Roman Catholic Church (88 % of the population regarding themselves as Catholics), there has been a high growth rate with a doubling of the number of members and churches from 1996 to 2004. In the Banovina area of the Krajina (the historical Austrian Military Frontier), approximately 60 km south of Zagreb, it has been observed that during and after the war, many of the Serbs who live here and who were atheists before the war have joined Baptist churches. In our paper, we raise the question whether this can be interpreted as a substitution of one "trans-national" identity by another: atheism by Baptist church, both of them being outside the Croatian-Catholic/Serbian-Orthodox dichotomy. The findings are based on sample surveys of church members as well as on interviews with church representatives.

baptist churches; Banovina region; post-conflict situation

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