For those of us in the US thinking of places to go when Bush declares
the country a 'Christian Nation', we may want to consider the Czech
Republic.
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Czech coolness toward religion shows up in survey on beliefs
By Jabeen Bhatti
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 11, 2004
Katerina Zdarska is in the minority in the Czech Republic: She believes
there is a God.
A survey released yesterday found that her nation is the only one of 18
in Europe surveyed where more people identified themselves as
nonbelievers than believers. Only 32 percent of Czechs surveyed said
they believe in God, compared with an average of 70 percent in other
European countries.
"We (Czechs) don't really have a strong relationship to religion," said
Zdarska, 32, a European Union official who specializes in Eastern
European affairs.
Religion leaders and scholars explain that a unique series of twists and
turns in religious and political history over the past five centuries
have combined to cast the church as a symbol of repression in the minds
of many Czechs.
That stands in sharp contrast to religion's image as a rallying point
for national identity in many other European countries.
"From my research and experience, the Czechs are the most atheistic
people in Europe," says Daniel Di Domizio, professor of theology at
Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wis. "In the Czech Republic,
what accounts for nonreligion is almost anti-religion."
The survey, which polled more than 16,000 Western and Central Europeans
in September and October, showed a wide range among countries in the
degree of their residents' belief and their affiliation with a religion.
For example, at least 90 percent of respondents in Greece, Poland and
Romania the highest percentages in the poll said they believed in a
God, which pollsters described as a supernatural being or a creator.
Joining the Czechs as respondents with the lowest percentage of
believers were those in Sweden (45 percent), Denmark (49 percent) and
the Netherlands (51 percent). But only in the Czech Republic did
nonbelievers (49 percent) outnumber the 32 percent who described
themselves as believers.
When asked whether they identified with a religion, fewer Czechs said
"yes" than those in any other country surveyed 30 percent. Of those
respondents who answered yes, 80 percent said they were Catholic.
Historians and theologians point to an event in the early 15th century
as the beginning of the Czech disillusionment with the church.
Then, Czech Catholic priest and university rector Jan Hus became
inspired by 14th-century English religious reformer John Wyclif and
began pushing for changes in the Catholic Church a precursor to the
Protestant movement a century later. These included ending the practice
of requiring payment for forgiveness of sins, making religion more
accessible by performing services in Czech and not restricting the use
of bread and wine in the Eucharist to the upper classes and clergy.
When the priest presented his views to the church hierarchy, he was
tried as a heretic and burned at the stake on July 6, 1415 after
earlier being promised safe passage. Many Czechs were outraged.
"That was the first step towards a distaste of the church," said
Catholic priest Jan Kofron, who works for the assistant bishop of
Prague, Vaclav Maly.
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041211/news_1n11eurelig.html
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John Hachmann aa #1782
Which raises the question: Can a people that believes more fervently
in theVirgin Birth than in evolution still be called an Enlightened
nation?-Garry Wills, New York Times 11/04/04
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