SITUATION OF CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA AFTER 1989. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES (Sytuacja Kosciolów i zwiazków wyznaniowych w Czechach i na Slowacji po 1989 r. Podobienstwa i roznice)

The article characterizes the situation of Churches and religious associations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia after 1989. Along with the onset of transformations of the political system, previously marginalized and persecuted religious associations obtained the possibility of a free development and independence from state authorities, while their members were guaranteed religious liberties. Following the division of the Czechoslovak state into two independent republics - Czech and Slovak - Churches and religious associations have enjoyed freedom, conditions have also been created for development of their activity, religious as well as charitable, cultural, educational, etc. Appropriate legal regulations have also been introduced. However, many problems still remain unsolved, above all the problem of financing the Churches, and in the case of the Czech Republic also the restitution of Church property and the concordate. The situation of religious associations in those countries is also influenced by a change of attitudes toward religion. The highly secularized Czech society shows a well-advanced indifference to religious matters, whereas in Slovakia the Church enjoys social trust and believers make up a large section of the society.