The Role of Religion in Eastern Europe Today

185 Pages·2015·80.826 MB·English

by  Julia Gerlach, Jochen Töpfer (eds.)

The Role of Religion
in Eastern Europe Today
Julia Gerlach • Jochen Töpfer (Eds.)
The Role of Religion
in Eastern Europe Today
Editors
Julia Gerlach Jochen Töpfer
Berlin, Germany Magdeburg, Germany
With (cid:191) nancial support of Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)
ISBN 978-3-658-02440-6 ISBN 978-3-658-02441-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-02441-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014955148
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Preface and Acknowledgements
Ibis book derives from the interdisciplinary symposium titled "Under Construction:
The Role of Religion in Eastern Europe Today" which was held in St. Petersburg
in September 2012 in the framework ofthe German Russian Year ofEducation,
Science and Innovation. It was generously funded by the German Federal Ministry
ofEducation and Research (BMBF). The symposium marked the second meeting of
researchers and practitioners specialized in the region ofEastern Europe organized
by the working group "Religion and Belief in Eastern Europe" at the Institute for
East European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin.
The working group was established in fall 2011 and unites junior and senior
researchers from different academic disciplines such as Cultural Studies, Economy,
Law, Political Science, and Sociology. The aim of the group is tu analyze the nexus
and tension between religion and the state, religion and society, and religion and
economy in Post-Socialist Eastern Europe. These relationships are complex, varied,
and intertwined Interdisciplinary research can contribute tu understand them better.
The symposium explored the volatile role of religion - sometimes competing
religions - in the heterogeneous region ofEastern Europe, mainly in Russia and the
Balkans and was organized in four panels. In their panel "Christianity, Islam, and
Eastern Europe: Comparing Russia and the Balkans", Sabine Riedei and Jochen
Töpfer analyzed religious communities and religious affiliations and its impact on
society and policy in South Eastern Europe and Russia. From the perspective of
political economy, Theocharis Grigoriadis suggested in his panel "The Political
Economics of Religion: Row Russian Orthodoxy Affects Institutions and Policy"
that Russian Orthodoxy may affect the country's institutional settings, both the
economic nature and transformation ofp olitical regimes, supporting his arguments
by a political-economic model. The panel "Law, State and Religion in Europe"
conducted by Burkhard Breig, Dmitri Dinze and Olga Kudrashova, compared recent
discourses on religion and the freedom of religion in Germany and Russia. The
panel ''The Sacred and the National: Shifting Identities in Russia Today" combined
approaches fromArchitecture, Cultural Studies, and Political Science. Beate Apelt,
JuIia GerIach, Nadir Kinossion, Inga Pylypchuk and Reike Winkel interpreted the
(re) emergence of religion in contemporary Russia as a process of identity bnilding.
The relationship between politics, cuIture, and religion merges intu a new collective
identity as part ofthe state's ideology, visualized in the (re) surrection of stale-funded
monuments. Recent discourses on religion in Russia including the one on "Pussy
Riot" address the amalgamation of religion and politics. Ibis volume presents se­
lected contributions from among those presented in St. Petersburg. The structure
of the book follows the symposium.
6 Preface and Aclmowledgements
The working group "Religion and Belief in Bastern Europe" would like to
express their thanks to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
(BMBF) for funding and to the Institute for East European Studies at Freie Uni­
versität Berlin and the Facolty for Law at State University ofS!. Petershurg for the
support ofthe projec!. During the two workshops, several scholars and practitioners
joined and contributed with their insights to the exchange: Dmitri Dintse (Agora),
Theocharis Grigoriadis (Centre for European Econornic Research), Nadir Kinossian
(UiT-TheArctic University ofNorway), Olga Kudrashova (S!. Petersburg State
University), Michael Minkenberg (European University Viadrina), 1rina Moroza
(Bumboldt University), Olga Popova (University ofRegensburg), Inga Pylypchuk
(Die Welt, Berliner Morgenpost), and Sabine Riedei (German Institute for Interna­
tional und Security Affairs).
As for the working group, the following people affiliated with the Institute for
Bast European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin engaged in the project: Beate
Apelt (politicai Science), BurkhardBreig (Law), John Eltringham (Cultural Studies),
Julia Gerlach (political Science), Christian Hattendorff (Econornics), Blerina Hida
(Econornics), Jochen Töpfer (Sociology), and Heike Winkel (Cultural Studies).
This volume is an attempt to deepen the interdisciplinary study ofthe relation­
ship between religion, state, and society in Eastern Europe. Next to presenting the
main ideas of selected papers presented and discussed at the workshop, it aims to
stimulate for further research in the field.
Berlin, Febroary 2013
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements .................................... 5
Introduction
Julia Gerlach and Jochen Töpfer
Mapping the Role of Religion in Eastem Europe Today-An
Interdiscip\inary Approach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 11
1. Perspectives of Sociology
Jochen Töpfer
Coneepts ofReligion and the State: An Applieation to South-Eastem Europe . 21
Sabine Riedel
The Role ofDemoeratie State in Inter-Religious Relations: Theoretieal
and Historieal Considerations in Respoot of Countries in Transition ......... 55
2. Law and Religion
Burkhard Breig
Law and Religion in Gennany: The Case ofCircumeision ofBoys ......... 83
Damir Gainutdinov
Russian Practiee: Perseeution for Critieism or Punishment for Blasphemy. ... 95
3. The Political Interpretation of Religion
Julia Gerlach
Religion and State Identity-Building
in the New Russia ...................•.•.•..........•.•.•.•.•.... 103
Nadir Kinossian
Resurreetion of the Temple. The Role of the State in Shaping Regional
Politieal Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Inga Pylypchuk and Heike Winkel
Strong Emotions, Weak Subjoots. On the Ro1e ofHurt Feelings in the
Trial against Pussy Riot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
8 Content8
4. Conclusions
Julia Gerlach and Jochen Töpfer
Conc1usions .................................................... 189
Authors ....................................................... 195
Introduction
Mapping the Role of Religion in Eastern Europe
Today-An Interdisciplinary Approach
Julia Gerlach and Jochen Töpfer
The events of 1989/1991 in Europe reshaped the political, economic, and social
landscapes. The socialist experiment in Eastem Europe had failed, and the societies
of the so-called Eastem Bloc underwent profound changes in almost every respect.
The outcomes of the transition, however, are obviously diverse. Some countries
chose Westem development models and integration into Western organizations
as their path. Others adapted Western models selectively, and at the same time
introduced new authoritarian measures. A few countries switched from one mode
of authoritarian rule to another one.
Nevertheless, 1989/1991 represents a true caesura for all ofthe former Eastem
Bloc countries, because the socialist master narrative became inapplicable. Social­
ism as a narrative had deeply shaped these countries for decades and bad--despite
the enormous heterogeneity of the region-resulted in similar patterns of state,
economy, and society. This pattern has been refiected in the role of religion in
socialist states. In a way, religion was perceived as a competing narrative to that of
socialism. Thus, religion had been suppressed in various forms and degrees within
Socialist countries, led by the ideal of an atheist society. Closest to this ideal was
the People's Republic of Albania under Enver Hoxha. Laws passed in the 1960s
literally banned both public and private religion, and the state introduced extreme
punishments for any practice ofreligion. Already in the 1920s, Josef Stalin had
started to crack down on religion and religious organizations in the Soviet Union. In
many countries of socialist Eastem Europe, churches bad been converted into gyms,
shopping centers, libraries, or--<:ynically-into museums of atheism; believers and
derics were persecuted, arrested, and sometimes even murdered.
This top-down approach effectively banned religion from the public sphere.
Within the private lives of many peop1e, religion may have still played an important
role, sometimes in silent opposition to the state and its doctrine. In the 1980s, when
dissident and national movements a11 over Eastem Europe grew stronger, religion in
sorne countries started to play an important role in identity-and community bui1d­
ing. In Poland, the majority of the population identified with the Roman Catholic
Church rather than with the socialist government. As an actor, the Roman Catholic
J. Gerlach, J. Töpfer (eds.), The Role of Religion in Eastern Europe Today,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-02441-3_1, © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2015