Saturday, April 23, 2011

Religion will be 'nearly extinct' in the Czech Republic by 2050

The Czech Republic is already the most atheist nation on Earth. Mathematicians and scientists are predicting that the Czech Republic will become even more atheist, and that by 2050, religion will have virtually died out in the Czech lands and in eight other European countries. The exact same modeling program used to predict the death of languages is being used to predict the death of belief. You can click on my title to read the article from the Prague Post.

It's hard to know if Czechs believe in anything because their sense of humor is so black.  I would often tease my Czech friends that they would be completely skeptical when their spouse said "I love you," because Czech people believe no one in authority on anything! What do Czech people believe in?!?

A nation of atheists was planted when the Catholic Pope rejected Czech requests for Mass to be delivered in native Czech instead of Latin more than 100 years ago. The Pope should have learned from the history of Saints Cyril and Methodius (two Byzantine priests from Constantinople) who translated the Bible into Slavic languages so the Czech people could learn it in their own tongue. Cyril and Methodius even created an alphabet for Slavic languages to make translation of the Bible easier.

During the Czech National Revival, if being told they couldn't worship in their own language wasn't enough to drive religion out of Czechs, later in the 20th century, the Communists then further drummed religion out of them.

When I moved to Turkey, I could feel the difference in religious belief immediately.  Maybe the most visual way of seeing it was a conservatism among people on the street.  I saw no public display of affection anywhere and of course, Muslim dress in its varied forms. I also felt my possessions were completely safe on the Istanbul streets. I felt completely safe leaving my consumer electronics not locked up at work because I was 100% sure they would not get stolen. But it was more than that.

Comparing societies, I'll quote my former President.  Bill Clinton says the United States has gotten away from being a "people-centered society & become a money-centered society." Sadly, I agree with him completely. In America, I would say you can literally feel America's predominant religion and values are "commerce," in the Czech lands the dominant religion is none, and in Turkey I would say the dominant religion is, actually, religion.

Upon my arrival, it stunned me is that I found Turkey's spirituality refreshing. After all, they practice a different religion than me!  It was refreshing because the values came from the people themselves. The values in the public square have not been overrun by corporate salesmanship that degraded all things sacred in pursuit of selling something.

My Turkish friends cite the Jesus cage match on the TV show "South Park" as evidence that we in the West hold nothing sacred.  It is completely fair criticism. I see evidence everyday that "The People" are still dictating the values here, not the corporations and the people who create for them.

When the Muslim World doesn't like something the West does, rather than rail against someone exercising their free speech (a value the West holds so deeply it could and would never give it up), they would create more thought and changed behavior with the question "is there nothing you hold sacred?" It's a question that isn't asked enough in my Western culture. 

Now what will the Czech lands do with all those spectacular baroque churches? And what will a nation without belief be like? What will Czech people hold sacred?

6 comments:

Karin said...

A bit sour, huh? Let's hope your statistics are wrong and there will be light at the end of the tunnel. God can work miracles.

hospitalera said...

The article in 'The Prague Post' appeared a couple of weeks after a piece about the same report on the BBC News website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197

In the BBC article, one of the report's authors admits that it was 'a suggestive result' based on a 'fairly simple model'. Of course newspapers like it because it makes a good headline!

Zdenek said...

I understand completely. I grew up there (in Czech Republic). Czechs don't believe anyone because they were lied to for ages. They were betrayed on many occasions throughout history and the communist government and media weren't a bastion of truth either. They never witnessed any of "God's miracles" and they needed them a plenty in the past. Instead, they had to take care of themselves by themselves.
Also... Lack of belief doesn't mean lack of character. You can find crime in any developed country regardless of religion or lack thereof. Look at USA. They praise themselves as god feared nation, hell, they even print it on their money and yet look at their crime rate.

Karen said...

Dear Unknown, please know that I am not judging. I am in awe of what Czechs survived in the 20th century!

Zdenek said...

Naaah. I don't think you're judgmental. I enjoy reading your blogs very much. It's really interesting to see how people from other countries see Czechs. I know I see USA differently than most of the Americans and I'm sure many of them would be surprised what I think about many things they are oh-so-proud of. Yes, skepticism is in my DNA. ;)

Karen said...

Zdenek, I'd love to hear what you think! Why not write a guest post for my blog with your point of view. It would be a wonderful way for Czech expats living in American to tell my predominately American audience how you see the USA. Are you up for it?

 
Travel Sites Catalog All Traveling Sites Expat Women—Helping Women Living Overseas International Affairs Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory expat Czech Republic website counter blog abroadWho links to me? Greenty blog