Tschechische katholische Kirche in der Peripetie der modernen Geschichte in den Böhmischen Ländern ab 1918

Abstract

This contribution aims to give an overview of the most important stages of development in the Catholic environment of the Bohemian countries from 1918 to the present. Today, the Czech Republic is one of the most secularized states in Europe. In hardly any other country of the continent do religion and Church play a lesser role in public life than here. Reasons for this can be found in the historical circumstances connected with the great societal transformations in the wake of Modernity and atheist tendencies in the period of Communist rule. This is flanked by the most recent developments in post-Communist discourses. The predominantly negative relationship of Czech society to the Catholic Church undoubtedly is one of the points separating the Czech Republic from the post-Communist countries of Central Europe, particularly Poland and Hungary, but also Slovakia.