I BELIEVE IN ATHEISM OR THE RELIGIOSITY OF MODERN CZECH PEOPLE (1948-1989)

Analyzing sociological data (from the survey of J. Misovic and M. Tomka), and Czech language and literature this article tries to assess the scope of secularization in contemporary Czech population. The author claims that - contrary to the stereotype of Czech religiosity - Czech is not the most secularized society in Europe. Czech religiosity is particular as Czechs treat Church as a public institution. Belief does not go together hand in hand with the worship of God and liturgy. Such beliefs can be analyzed only within the so-called broad sociological definitions of religiosity. In this case we must treat any ideology, even communist, as religion.