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Church in the Past and
Post-Communist Present in the Czech Republic
http://www.strategicnetwork.org/index.asp?loc=ct&ct=CZE&page=kb&id
by Pavel Raus, E-mail, May 24, 2002. Country: Czech
Republic.
Region: Europe. Tenor: Analysis. Type:
Web or e-mail posting. Used by permission
from the author. All rights to this material are reserved.
Materials are not to be distributed to other web locations
for retrieval, published in other media, printed for distribution or
mirrored at other sites without written permission from the
author(s)
The church
in the Czech Republic is, probably, one of the most
secularized countries in Europe. Statistics show that together with
France and Sweden those countries share a premium place among
nations which have smallest number of Christians with smallest
influence in society. Whereas in France and Sweden people may still
formally belong to the Christian churches, in the Czech Republic a
number of people are open atheists. The last census in 2001
surprised even journalists because it showed that previous
optimistic numbers of Christians resulted more from a post-communist
need to find roots of personal spiritual identity distinct from communist
ideology than from reality.
Traditionally, churches were part of the culture in the
Czech Republic. During the time of
counter-Reformation in 17th century the nation
was re- Catholicized with use of power. Many people offered
an external loyalty to the Catholic Church. They accepted the
Catholic faith only because of the threat and danger of persecution.
A split
between personal and official was conceived, and a dichotomy
between personal beliefs and official religion have existed ever
since. Religion belonged to the social and political spheres and it was
not necessarily identical with what people really believed
inside of themselves, if they believed anything at all. In reality,
many people lost their faith during the centuries.
Forty years
of Communism did not make the country an atheist
country. It only revealed what had already been there. When faith
and association with the church started to cost something, those who
only formally belonged to the churches simply disappeared. Communist
persecution did not make it easier and there was a group of those
who left the church because they were afraid or did not want the
Christian belief to interfere with their career.
However, this was not the only cause of the increase of
atheists in the country. Communists made
people choose. Everyone was confronted and
had to make a decision. Ultimately, that purified the church.
There was, of course, communist anti-religious propaganda and it accomplished
its work. As result, however, the faith of real believers
was stronger and faith of those who were weak disappeared.
Churches during the communist time strove to survive. There were
many heroes of faith in the churches. Simply keeping churches going
took enormous energy and sacrifice, sometimes on the part of one
individual or one or several families. The external oppression
resulted in very close relationships of trust among believers.
People depended on each other and they needed the safety of trusting
relationships within the church to survive. That increased intensity
of the closeness within most of the church fellowships.
After the massive exodus of people from churches in 1950’s and some
stabilizing time during 1960’s, some churches beginning in the late
1970’s registered a new phenomena. New people with non-church
background came and stayed. Finally, during 1980’s that trend became
a significant part of the church life. It took some, but not
necessarily much, adjustment on part of churches because newcomers
were willing to adjust themselves.
After the collapse of communism in Czechoslovakia in
early 1990’s, people in even greater
numbers joined those churches which were at least
somewhat open to accept them. Those numbers were significant
enough to create tension between old and new groups. Pressure on
changes in the style of worship and the way church was organized was
often felt.
In many places either latent or open conflict developed
between the two generations. (The term
"generation" is not an exact description
of the groups because the boundary cuts through generations and
groups can be, perhaps, more exactly characterized as those with
"church" background and those with a "non-church"
background, though that distinction is
not fitting perfectly either.) One "generation"
leans toward more traditional forms and is interested to keep the
structures and forms of the church of the past intact. The other,
the new generation, consists of those who could not always identify
with the existing style of the church life.
The two "generations" syndrome became an issue
for churches throughout almost all
denominations. Sometimes the tension takes the form
of charismatic-non charismatic expressions of faith, other
times it is the style of music which is at stake, and again another
times it is the pressure for changes in general which is an external
expression of the deeper conflict.
In trying to understand the conflict we need to see and
appreciate the vast difference in
circumstances in which the two groups grew up and
were shaped. The older, churched generation was growing in the
time of oppression of the communist state. For them church had been
both home and "holy ground" which needed to be protected and
preserved. They invested their lives into keeping the church going
and remained faithful in the time when it cost something. Thanks to them
the churches are still there today.
They, however, became, perhaps unconsciously, attached
to the church forms more than they may
realize. It is hard for them to imagine church
different from what they sacrificially protected. From there it
takes only small step to identify external forms with the core of
Christian faith which is relationship with God himself. In another
words, they cannot accept that Christian faith may look differently than
they are used to.
The "younger generation" of un-churched is not
burdened by the heritage of the past. They
were born and were growing up in completely
dissimilar circumstances. They have new and multiple opportunities
and have hard time to understand the world of the
older generation. They "feel" things and value love and
compassion above truth. They are more
interested in an inner life and feelings than
in an external loyalty. Authenticity is their value. They like
different sort of music. And they build relationships in a different
way.
How much chance do those two generations have to be able
to live together? There seem to be whole spectrum of solutions. From a good
assimilation to an open conflict. Most important, however, is that
those two generations need each other and have a lot to offer to
each other. Youngsters can help their counterparts to see things
more broadly and can free them from the "baggage" of their own
past by making them more open and
flexible. The older are important because
they represent for youngsters their heritage and roots. With
them things do not have to start from the point zero.
People in the Czech Republic have a long and rich
history. The role of the church in past
centuries has not been only positive. Christians
today harvest good and bad things from their history. We
can only hope and pray that God would use today’s church to renew
and heal the past and build a new future in which there will be place
for both distinct groups within Christ’s church.
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