(DE)SECULARIZATION IN THE XXI CENTURY: EMPIRICAL VERIFICATION OF THE REVITALISATION OF RELIGIOSITY IN SERBIA
(DE)SECULARIZATION IN THE XXI CENTURY: EMPIRICAL VERIFICATION OF THE REVITALISATION OF RELIGIOSITY IN SERBIA

Author(s): Dragana Radisavljević Ćiparizović, Ana S. Vuković
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics and religion, Sociology of Religion
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: (de)secularization; empirical reasrches; Serbian Ortodox Church; Euro- pe; Serbia
Summary/Abstract: The purpos of this paper is a clarification of the terms and proceses of deseculari- zation and modernity, wich are inevitable when one regards religious changes in modern pos- tindustrial societies, as well as in postsocialist ones. Empirical reasrches confirm that even the most secular Western Europe does not have a homogenus religious society. In the second part of the paper the autores will use key empirical research in an attempt to show revitalisation of religion in Serbia as well. The nineteen-nineties brought war, crisis and transition, but they also brought a functional change for the Serbian Ortodox Church. This paper will address so- me of these changes: 1) religion is not just a personal thing any more, it assumes a certain pla- ce in the public sphere; 2) a new law of religious freedom (2006) changed the legal status of religious communities; 3) religious centers and temples are being rebuilt and built; 4) reli- gions have gained their place in the media (public and private), and religious radio and tv sta- tions are also created; 5) religious communities are reciving financial suport, as well as tax brakes from the state, and they are gradually taking control over their property which was pre- viously nationalised. There is also an reemergence of Religious education in Primary and Se- condary Schools, religious service in the military and in the hospitals, so it is necessary to mo- nitor these processes in future.

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