Rethinking the Churches’ Place in Society: the Parliamentary Debate on Church Property Restitution in the Czech Republic

Abstract

In order to fill a gap in the literature and illustrate what a public debate on religion might look like in a country as unchurched as the Czech Republic, this article consists of a thematic content analysis on a parliamentary debate related to church property restitution. Transcripts of the debates in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on the 2012 Church Property Restitution Bill were used to answer theoretically and empirically informed questions pertaining to secularization. The main finding was that it was not necessarily religion but rather matters of finance, legality, and procedure that figured most prominently in the debate. Despite this, closer analysis revealed some relevant reflections on religion, most notably on what sort of relation churches and religious communities should have with the state. The main takeaway from the research is that Members of Parliament acknowledged low individual-level religiosity and did not promote something resembling the concept of vicarious religion. These speeches were overall interpreted to be more in line with advocating secularization rather than desecularization.