engleski

Atheism in Post-communist Croatia

Widely accepted paradigm of a secularized state and privatized religion is called into question since the eighties. Previous understanding of religion as a cultural phenomenon is changing, and the work of a range of authors focuses on institutions, social movements, and the growing influence of religion in the public sphere, political events and international relations at the global level. Secularization thesis falls into the background, and theoretical narratives about religion proliferate. The fall of communism in the former Yugoslavia, accompanied by armed conflict, caused a number of political, economic, cultural and social changes. Due to sudden changes, a source of legitimacy for the new systems was sought in religion as a caretaker of traditional values and identity of the conflicting parties. Atheism was the official ideology of the former system, and after its collapse religious changes are moving in the direction of retraditionalization, collectivization and openly placing religion in the political field. However, although the confessional identification was very high (90-95% of the population), as well as religious self identification, there were high differences within the religious structure with regard to the religious participation and presence of religious practices. Recent data on religiosity in Croatia indicate specific changes ; there is a decrease of the number of Catholics, slight increase in the number of believers of other religions and an increase in the number of those who do not consider themselves believers. This last category is precisely the subject of interest of this paper. Unbelievers and atheists as a group are neglected in research, not only in Croatia, but also in general.

religion; irreligion/secularism; atheists; Croatia; atheists

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