The Church and the Independent Peace Movement in Eastern Europe

Abstract

This article examines the propositions that the rise of new peace movements in Eastern Europe, inde pendent from and in some cases opposed to the work of official peace councils, is a function of some li mited degree of church autonomy in those countries, and that communication with Western peace mo vements or sentiments through Church-related bodies is a necessary but not sufficient condition for in dependent peace efforts in Eastern Europe. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and East Germany are examined case by case (in order from least to most Church involvement in an independent peace move ment in the 1980s). In terms of transnational alignment, it appears that if there were no independent peace movement in the West, and no ecumenical bodies, religious NGOs or international church organi zations assisting East-West communication and exchange, the work of independent peace activists in Eastern Europe would be even more difficult.