Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a postcommunist country located in central Europe (population 10.2 million, 2001), formed in 1993 after the split of Czechoslovakia; it is a member state of the European Union. The country is widely known for its high level of secularity. In the 2001 census, 59% of Czechs declared themselves as having no religion, 27% as Catholics, 2% as Protestants of various denominations, and 1% as members of the Czechoslovak Hussite Church (established in 1921); non-Christian religions had a marginal presence. According to International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 2005 data, of all the countries who participated in the survey, the Czech Republic had the highest proportion of the population who declared that they had no religious affiliation, although more in-depth sociological surveys usually show a higher level of religiosity.

Although the decline in church affiliation was dramatic during the communist period (1948–1989), falling from 94% in 1950 to 44% in 1991, it only strengthened the previously not-so-noticeable process of falling church attendance. The Czech nationalist movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries identified itself with both secular (or rather nonchurch) “progress” and the somewhat idealized legacy of the Czech Reformation (Hussitism, Czech Brethren) and thus weakened the affiliation of the majority to the Catholic Church. Formal church membership and the search for alternative spirituality were quite common, but a civic (i.e., nonreligious) education system and rituals had become well established even before the communist takeover.

Some desecularization occurred after the fall of communism, but it did not significantly weaken the out-of-church movement. Funerals and other personal rituals are still heavily influenced by the legacy of anticlericalism; 79% of the population opts for cremation, possibly the highest proportion of any post-Christian country, and approximately one third of funerals have no ceremony at all (half of the rest are secular funerals). However, if a broader view of religion is taken, modern Czechs are not so irreligious. In 2006, for example, more than a half of the population agreed that some fortune tellers can foresee the future and that some form of supernatural power exists, and nearly half believed that star signs can influence the course of life. Although Czechs have a low church affiliation rate and fewer than 10% attend church at least once monthly, many believe in the existence of supernatural phenomena and/or in some form of transcendence.