Religija i identitet u Srednjoj i Istočnoj Europi
RELIGION AND IDENTITY IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Summary/Abstract: The author analyses the role of religion in the formation of national identities in Central and Eastern Europe on the example of the Catholic Church in Poland in the 20th century. In Poland, like in most Central-European and Eastern-European societies, national identity developed against the state and was founded on certain elements of ethnic culture and tradition, the central position belonging to the Church. During communism, the Polish Catholic Church had the leading position in the construction of national identity, which identified Polishness with Catholicism. The Church also had a crucial role in the destruction of the communist system. However, it has found increasingly difficult to adapt to the new conditions of political democracy, ideological and cultural pluralism. As has been shown through the debates on abortion and religious education in state schools, the attempt by the Church to achieve the status of moral arbiter, above all democratic institutions, has resulted in new divisions and jeopardised its influence in the society.

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