Different religious groups in Central and Eastern Europe influenced societies in the region after the fall of Communism and continue to play a crucial role in culture, politics, social networks and value transformations. As part of the REVACERN (Religion and Values in Central and Eastern Europe Research Network) project – supported by the EU Sixth Framework Program – more than 70 researchers from 15 countries in the region analyzed and discussed the most important trends in values, religions and religious communities and presented their findings in a comparative way. They tested well-known theories of secularization, nationalism, democracy and pluralism in the colorful region Central and Eastern Europe. This book summarizes their most important findings in seven chapters, addressing religion and its entanglements with geography, values, nationalism, Orthodoxy, education, legal regulation, civil society, social networks, new religious movements and new forms of religiosity. Each chapter also provides a regional overview.

People observe and transgress religious borders when they relate with faith and other faiths, when they shape communities, when they make decisions. A group of researchers have joined an inquiry into the forces of religious closure and openness in present-day Central and Eastern Europe. The volume is a result of a research community constituted within the REVACERN project – Religion and Values in Central and Eastern Europe Research Network, supported by the 6th framework program of the European Union. Chapters are structured in three sections, focusing on individual experiences of religion and spirituality, on religious elites, and on the interaction of religion with politics. Sociology, political science and history are triangulated to render a clear understanding of the individual experiences of religion and secularity, and of the strategic choices of religious and political elites, taking readers along an exploration of religious identity and otherness.

Different religious groups in Central and Eastern Europe influenced societies in the region after the fall of Communism and continue to play a crucial role in culture, politics, social networks and value transformations. As part of the REVACERN (Religion and Values in Central and Eastern Europe Research Network) project – supported by the EU Sixth Framework Program – more than 70 researchers from 15 countries in the region analyzed and discussed the most important trends in values, religions and religious communities and presented their findings in a comparative way. They tested well-known theories of secularization, nationalism, democracy and pluralism in the colorful region Central and Eastern Europe. This book summarizes their most important findings in seven chapters, addressing religion and its entanglements with geography, values, nationalism, Orthodoxy, education, legal regulation, civil society, social networks, new religious movements and new forms of religiosity. Each chapter also provides a regional overview.

This book brings together case studies dealing with historical as well as recent phenomena in former socialist nations, which testify the transfer of knowledge about religion and atheism. The material is connected on a semantic level by the presence of a historical watershed before and after socialism as well as on a theoretical level by the sociology of knowledge. With its focus on Central and Eastern Europe this volume is an important contribution to the research on nonreligion and secularity. The collected volume deals with agents and media within specific cultural and historical contexts. Theoretical claims and conceptions by single agents and/or institutions in which the imparting of knowledge about religion and atheism was or is a central assignment, are analyzed. Additionally, procedures of transmitting knowledge about religion and atheism and of sustaining related institutionalized norms, interpretations, roles and practices are in the focus of interest. The book opens the perspective for the multidimensional and negotiating character of legitimation processes, being involved in the establishment or questioning of the institutionalized opposition between religion and atheism or religion and science.

This volume concentrates on the 'conceptual boundary' through Europe which is determined by Western and Eastern Christianity. The chapters show that the boundary has never been a stable and defined division, but that it was also subject to change and development and a place of encounter and exchange between religions and cultures.

This book provides the first comprehensive overview of atheism, secularity and non-religion in Central and Eastern Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In contrast to scholarship that has focused on the ‘decline of religion’ and secularization theory, the book builds upon recent trends to focus on the ‘rise of non-religion’ itself. While the label of ‘post-communism’ might suggest a generalized perception of the region, this survey reveals that the precise developments in each country before, after and even during the communist era are surprisingly diverse. A multinational team of contributors provide interdisciplinary case studies covering Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. This approach utilises perspectives from social and intellectual history in combination with sociology of religion in order to cover the historical development of secularity and secular thought, complemented with sociological data. The study is framed by methodological and analytical chapters. Offering an important geographical perspective to the study of freethought, atheism, secularity and non-religion, this wide-ranging book will be of significant interest to scholars of twentieth-century social and intellectual history, sociology of religion and non-religion, cultural and religious studies, philosophy and theology.

This book offers a range of contemporary sociological reflections on new manifestations of religion, religiosity and spirituality in Central and Eastern Europe, a region that has seen significant social and political transformation. It explores the development of cultural and religious trends, including secularization, new spirituality and a resurgence of religiosity outside of traditional structures. The theoretical and empirical contributions by established and emerging scholars address topics including: the experiences and values of young people, the role and influence of media, the relationship between public and private religion, and the position of state and institutions. The book will be of particular interest to sociologists of religion and others focused on contemporary Central and Eastern European societies.

Religion as Securitization in Central and Eastern Europe examines the significance of securitization theory as a reference point in understanding current religious, socio-cultural, and political processes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It explores contemporary social processes and discourses on security linked to religion and religious institutions. CEE has experienced many confluences of security issues with religious interpretations and world views. For instance, the international refugee and migration crisis could not be separated from the counterpoint between Christianity and Islam in political discussions. Similarly, the debates on LGBT family recognition and the traditional family model are inseparable from the "Christian family" as a reference point. The security needs of the region are particularly acute trigger points, which can be instrumentalized by political power. In other words, the threat sensitivities of collective identity make the region particularly well suited to being a focus of securitization, both from the host side and from the discourses that are enforced from above. In this volume, the authors approach the validity of securitization in relation to religion, and religion itself as securitization, from a broader perspective. They show not only what religious facts and aspects have become threatening in the process of securitization but also that the function of religion in the CEE region can be described and understood primarily as securitization. This unique collection of studies offers a comprehensive theoretical and methodological approach, while the case studies are drawn from more than seven countries in the region, by leading scholars. The book will be of interest to scholars from a wide range of disciplines including political science, history, anthropology, and religious studies. It will also function as an important introductory work for students to this specific area of research.

Religion as Securitization in Central and Eastern Europe examines the significance of securitization theory as a reference point in understanding current religious, socio-cultural, and political processes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It explores contemporary social processes and discourses on security linked to religion and religious institutions. CEE has experienced many confluences of security issues with religious interpretations and world views. For instance, the international refugee and migration crisis could not be separated from the counterpoint between Christianity and Islam in political discussions. Similarly, the debates on LGBT family recognition and the traditional family model are inseparable from the “Christian family” as a reference point. The security needs of the region are particularly acute trigger points, which can be instrumentalized by political power. In other words, the threat sensitivities of collective identity make the region particularly well suited to being a focus of securitization, both from the host side and from the discourses that are enforced from above. In this volume, the authors approach the validity of securitization in relation to religion, and religion itself as securitization, from a broader perspective. They show not only what religious facts and aspects have become threatening in the process of securitization but also that the function of religion in the CEE region can be described and understood primarily as securitization. This unique collection of studies offers a comprehensive theoretical and methodological approach, while the case studies are drawn from more than seven countries in the region, by leading scholars. The book will be of interest to scholars from a wide range of disciplines including political science, history, anthropology, and religious studies. It will also function as an important introductory work for students to this specific area of research.

This book brings together case studies dealing with historical as well as recent phenomena in former socialist nations, which testify the transfer of knowledge about religion and atheism. The material is connected on a semantic level by the presence of a historical watershed before and after socialism as well as on a theoretical level by the sociology of knowledge. With its focus on Central and Eastern Europe this volume is an important contribution to the research on nonreligion and secularity. The collected volume deals with agents and media within specific cultural and historical contexts. Theoretical claims and conceptions by single agents and/or institutions in which the imparting of knowledge about religion and atheism was or is a central assignment, are analyzed. Additionally, procedures of transmitting knowledge about religion and atheism and of sustaining related institutionalized norms, interpretations, roles and practices are in the focus of interest. The book opens the perspective for the multidimensional and negotiating character of legitimation processes, being involved in the establishment or questioning of the institutionalized opposition between religion and atheism or religion and science.