RELIGION AND CHURCH. ISSUES OF INSTITUTIONAL RELIGIOUSNESS IN CONTEMPORARY CROATIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

Th e paper analyses the issues of institutional religiousness in contemporary Croatian society. It is based on the results of the empirical research conducted as part of the project „Modernization and identity of Croatian society: sociocultural integrations and development” (130-1301180-0915) led by Prof. Ivan Cifrić. The research was conducted during the end of November and fi rst half of December 2010 on the representative sample of adult Croatian citizens (N=1008). Institutional religiousness is analyzed according to the following indicators: confessional affi liation, religious self-identifi cation, personal conviction about the existence of God and institutional religious practice. The paper relies on the general hypothesis that in the contemporary Croatian society there are still traditional forms of religiousness tied to religious institutions. These indicators are analyzed with regards to basic socio-demographic characteristics and political orientations of Croatian citizens. In order to conduct a more thorough analysis, the results from 2010 are compared with the results from other studies conducted in the period between 1997 and 2008. The paper also off ers a short overview of the fundamental theoretical approaches in the sociology of religion and, on the basis of the empirical research, considers the possibilities of their application in explaining the correlation between social and religious changes in Croatia. Within this context, the role and potentials of the Catholic Church are also analyzed.