engleski

Nonreligious and atheists groups, initiatives and organizations in Croatia: rebels with(out) a cause

As religiosity became new conformist pattern in the post-socialist period in Croatia, nonreligious persons and atheists changed their social position dramatically. From official ideology and conformity they became minority, which is, like many other minorities, more or less marginalized. Nonreligious and atheists became in a sense “suspicious” perceived as persons who are reflecting “old communist ideology” and represent not only opponents, but also a threat to the new system. The emergence of organizing of nonreligious persons and atheists in Croatia in the last decade (on the formal and informal level) points to the perceived need to protect their own rights and interests. They often point out that nonreligious and atheists are treated like second class citizens in Croatia. As these groups have not been researched so far, our aim is to gain scientific insight into, and empirical data about non-religious/atheist/secular organizations and associations that appeared in Croatia. Building on Campbell (1971) we aim to explore different types of these associations (abolitionist, supstitutionalist, communal, associative or some other), form of organizing (formal, informal), their structure, function, mission (ideology), activities, membership, strategies, actions, etc. In order to accomplish this goal, different methods will be used: semi-structured interviews with leaders of groups, initiatives and organizations and analysis of documentation and web sites of groups, initiatives and organizations.

religion; nonreligion; atheism; associations; activism

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