Religion in Central European Societies: Its Social Role and People’s Expectations

Abstract

This paper analyses the public role of religion in post-communist Central Europe by researching perceptions and expectations of people concerning different aspects of the social role of religion. The paper argues that the social significance of religion should be analysed from the point of view of its ability to fulfildifferent social functions and social expectations connected with it. Based on the data from the Aufbruch research project and partly from the International Social Survey Project, religious portraits of 13 post-communist countries are presented. A more in-depth analysis is done for four countries (Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia), since in these countries the differences in the general level of religiosity vary significantly, ranging from highly religious (Croatia) to highly secularized (Czech Republic). The findings show that social expectations about the public role of religion differ due to a social field in which religion is/can be engaged and that people’s expectations about the public and social role of religion do not always match the general level of religiosity in a specific society.