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Irreligion in Croatia

(Redirected from Atheism in Croatia)

Irreligion in Croatia pertains to atheism, agnosticism, and lack of religious affiliation in Croatia. Even though the 2011 census showed that only 4.57% of Croats considered themselves irreligious, Gallup polls conducted in 2007 and 2008 found that 30.5% of respondents did not consider religion important in their lives. The Japanese research center, Dentsu, conducted a survey in 2006 concluding that 13.2% of Croats declare themselves irreligious, compared to the 7% found by a 2010 Eurobarometer survey across Europe.[1][2]

Irreligious Croatians
"Without a god, without a master", slogan of atheistic campaign from 2009
Total population
Population in Croatia: 3,871,833
Not religious or spiritual: 247,510 (2021)
Regions with significant populations
Istria County, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Zagreb, Split-Dalmatia County

Evidence suggests irreligion is the fastest growing religious status in Croatia.[3] The number of agnostics and skeptics rose by more than 20 times in the last ten years, while the number of atheists almost doubled. The increase in agnosticism is also attributed to public figures declaring themselves agnostic, such as President Ivo Josipović.[4] Several irreligious organizations were founded in the 2000s, such as Protagora, David, Glas razuma - Pokret za sekularnu Hrvatsku, Nisam vjernik. They organized public actions such as the "Conference of reason" and campaign "Without a god, without a master".[5]

History

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In the 19th century, irreligion in Croatia was associated with anti-clericalism in politics and modernist literature. Croatian nationalists, such as Ante Starčević, Eugen Kumičić, Stjepan Radić, and, Antun Radić advanced these anti-clerical ideas and were major proponents of secularism among the Croatian people. Despite many of them being Catholics themselves, they believed in liberal religious freedoms and feared that ties with the Catholic Church hampered the nation's desires of independence from Austria-Hungary. Writers such as Antun Gustav Matoš advocated similar beliefs.[6]

Translations of Charles Darwin's writings first became available in Croatia in 1869, prompting a shift in the debate on irreligion to focus on Darwinism. Irreligion was seen as closely aligned with the concept, and Darwinism was seen as a major aspect of irreligion in Croatia. The role of Darwinism in Croatian irreligion, particularly in regards to education, persists into the 21st century.[6]

Following World War II, Croatia became the Socialist Republic of Croatia as part of socialist Yugoslavia. Following the Communist takeover, state atheism was imposed. The Constitution of Yugoslavia nominally guaranteed religious freedom, but religious groups were repressed and irreligion was enforced. Following a period of liberalization toward religion in the 1960s, debate over religion took place in the context of Communism, where irreligion was advocated by supporters of Communism and religion was advocated by critics of Communism.[7]

Irreligion in Croatia grew during the period of Communist rule, and it fell rapidly following Croatian independence from Yugoslavia. In 1953, 12.5% of Croats identified as irreligious. This number rose to 18% shortly before Croatian independence in 1989, and it fell to 4% in the 1991 census.[6] Following the reintroduction of Catholicism into mainstream discourse in Croatia, an increase of discrimination against the irreligious has been observed, particularly in schools and government activity.[6][8]

Although a connection between religion and political preferences has not been rigorously studied, irreligion is prevalent in recent Croatian politics. Five out of six recent Croatian presidential elections resulted in presidents who declared themselves irreligious. Ivica Račan, 7th Prime Minister, Zoran Milanović, 10th Prime Minister and 5th President of Croatia,[9] Many public figures are self-declared atheists: Vesna Pusić, former First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Milanka Opačić, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Policy and Youth, Šime Lučin, former Interior Minister, MP Marija Lugarić.[10] Some prominent leaders of New Atheist activist organizations, namely Neven Barković from Nisam vjernik, publicly expressed support for US-led intervention against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in 2013.[11]

Demography

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According to the 2021 census, there are 64,961 agnostics, 182,188 atheists, and slightly less than 20,000 refused to answer. The only counties where the number of irreligious people exceeded 30,000 were Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Split-Dalmatia . The highest number of irreligious people live in Istria (15.83%) and Primorje-Gorski Kotar (13.74%) counties and the City of Zagreb (13.82%).[12]

 
Irreligious people in Croatia, 2021

Locally, the largest share of irreligious people in Croatia is in Medulin municipality (23.52%), and from the cities, in Pula (23.01%). Towns of Rovinj and Vis are the only towns which has more than 20% of the irreligious people in addition to three Zagreb neighborhoods - Donji grad, Gornji Grad–Medveščak and Trnje. In the first 20 Croatian municipalities and cities with the highest proportions of irreligious population are mostly Istrian cities and municipalities of Istria county and Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.[12] Considering each county individually, it can be seen that the largest share of irreligious population generally lives in towns in several counties, often county seats.

On the other hand, municipalities of Lokvičići and Dekanovec had no irreligious residents in 2021. In 20 local administrative units with the lowest percentage of irreligious population (less than 0.36%), are mostly municipalities in southwestern and eastern Croatian counties. [12]

Table

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Based on official data from the 2001, 2011 and 2021 censuses, following data on the distribution of religious and irreligious population in Croatia can be ascertained.[13][14][12]

2001 census 2011 census 2021 census
County Religious Irreligious Religious Irreligious Religious Irreligious
Number % Number % Number % % change Number % % change Number % % change Number % % change
Zagreb 299,123 96.59 10,573 3.41 302,871 95.36 1.25 u  14,735 4.64 39.36 t  276,266 92.10 8.78 i  18,637 6.22 26.48 j 
Krapina-Zagorje 139,449 97.91 2,983 2.09 129,297 97.29 7.28 i  3,595 2.71 20.52 s  114,707 95.03 11.28 i  4,046 3.35 12.55 j 
Sisak-Moslavina 174,856 94.32 10,531 5.68 162,831 94.43 6.88 j  9,608 5.57 8.76 f  128,736 92.20 20.94 i  8,381 6.00 12.77 i 
Karlovac 134,223 94.67 7,564 5.33 121,914 94.58 9.17 d  6,985 5.42 7.65 g  103,808 92.52 14.85 i  6,822 6.08 2.33 i 
Varaždin 179,444 97.12 5,325 2.88 167,591 95.25 6.61 k  8,360 4.75 57.00 v  147,227 92.31 12.15 i  8,530 5.35 2.03 j 
Koprivnica-Križevci 120,728 97.00 3,739 3.00 111,157 96.17 7.93 g  4,427 3.83 18.40 r  95,065 93.91 14.48 i  4,817 4.76 8.81 j 
Bjelovar-Bilogora 126,219 94.84 6,865 5.16 113,595 94.85 10.00 c  6,169 5.15 10.14 e  94,982 93.23 16.39 i  5,747 5.64 6.84 i 
Primorje-Gorski Kotar 273,410 89.49 32,095 10.51 260,326 87.89 4.79 m  35,869 12.11 11.76 l  220,425 83.05 15.33 i  36,463 13.74 1.66 j 
Lika-Senj 52,136 97.13 1,541 2.87 49,503 97.20 5.05 l  1,424 2.80 7.59 h  41,214 96.42 16.74 i  1,121 2.62 21.28 i 
Virovitica-Podravina 89,748 96.10 3,641 3.90 81,683 96.28 8.99 e  3,153 3.72 13.40 c  67,062 95.31 17.90 i  2,599 3.70 17.57 i 
Požega-Slavonia 82,959 96.65 2,872 3.35 75,678 96.98 8.78 f  2,356 3.02 17.97 b  60,560 94.51 19.98 i  1,626 2.53 30.98 i 
Brod-Posavina 171,494 97.02 5,271 2.98 153,910 97.06 10.25 b  4,665 2.94 11.50 d  124,922 95.90 18.83 i  3,889 2.99 16.63 i 
Zadar 155,010 95.66 7,035 4.34 162,045 95.31 4.54 v  7,972 4.69 13.32 o  149,823 93.77 7.54 i  8,099 5.07 1.59 j 
Osijek-Baranja 316,599 95.79 13,907 4.21 291,534 95.57 7.92 h  13,498 4.43 2.94 i  240,982 93.39 17.34 i  13,851 5.37 2.62 j 
Šibenik-Knin 108,088 95.75 4,803 4.25 103,789 94.89 3.98 p  5,586 5.11 16.30 p  88,924 92.26 14.32 i  5,851 6.07 4.74 j 
Vukovar-Srijem 199,023 97.19 5,745 2.81 175,091 97.53 12.02 a  4,430 2.47 22.89 a  138,305 96.64 21.01 i  3,496 2.44 21.08 i 
Split-Dalmatia 434,740 93.76 28,936 6.24 422,328 92.86 2.86 q  32,470 7.14 12.21 n  384,429 90.80 8.97 i  31,241 7.37 3.79 i 
Istria 176,886 85.72 29,458 14.28 175,014 84.12 1.06 s  33,041 15.88 12.16 m  153,409 78.59 12.34 i  30,896 15.83 6.49 i 
Dubrovnik-Neretva 116,886 95.13 5,984 4.87 116,148 94.76 0.63 t  6,420 5.24 7.29 j  106,964 92.56 7.91 i  6,075 5.26 5.37 i 
Međimurje 113,685 96.00 4,741 4.00 108,549 95.38 4.52 o  5,255 4.62 10.84 k  96,006 91.22 11.56 i  5,562 5.28 5.84 j 
City of Zagreb 715,972 91.89 63,173 8.11 698,664 88.44 2.42 r  91,353 11.56 44.61 u  641,242 83.60 8.22 i  105,981 13.82 16.01 j 
Croatia 4,180,678 94.21 256,782 5.79 3,983,518 92.97 4.72 n  301,371 7.03 17.36 q  3,475,058 89.76 12.76 i  313,730 8.11 4.10 j 

Research

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A general scarcity of scientific research on irreligion in Croatia means that there is no way to know what proportions of subgroups such as voters, workers in specific industries, etc. are irreligious.[15]

International longitudinal research Aufbruch conducted in 1997 in ten countries of Central and Eastern Europe revealed that in Croatia, 31.5% of respondents considered themselves very religious, 42.6% somewhat religious, while the remaining 26% said either that they are not religious, or that they are somewhat or completely irreligious.[15] On the question which examined the image of God, 25.6% of respondents said they sometimes do not believe in God or do not believe in him at all.

Research of the irreligious' attitudes toward religion and faith, revealed that all respondents differentiate religion and faith, and some church and religion. Among the critics of religion, respondents usually cited control and deceive of the masses, financial interest action, fundamentalism arising from religion, aggressive intrusion into the social sphere, the separation of people and imposing one value system as the only correct one, while those who expressed a positive attitude emphasized that religion plays an important role in society and history.[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "図録▽世界各国の宗教". .ttcn.ne.jp. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  2. ^ "Biotechnology Report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  3. ^ "Nevjernici u Hrvatskoj u porastu – Protagora". Protagora.hr. 2012-12-17. Archived from the original on 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  4. ^ "Obrazovanje je glavni neprijatelj Crkve - H-Alter - Udruga za medijsku kulturu". H-Alter. Archived from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  5. ^ Piše: srijeda, 16.1.2013. 20:24 (2013-01-16). "Skup razuma: "Nećemo šutke promatrati kako Crkva pruža pipke i odvlači društvo u srednji vijek" - Vijesti". Index.hr. Retrieved 2016-07-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ a b c d Bajić, Nikolina Hazdovac; Jerolimov, Dinka Marinović; Ančić, Branko (February 26, 2020). "Anticlericalism, nonreligiosity and atheism in Croatia". In Bubík, Tomáš; Remmel, Atko; Václavík, David (eds.). Freethought and Atheism in Central and Eastern Europe. Routledge. pp. 33–57. ISBN 9781032173795.
  7. ^ Stella, Alexander (1983). "Religion and National Identity in Yugoslavia". Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe. 3 (1).
  8. ^ Croatia 2019 International Religious Freedom Report (PDF) (Report). U.S. State Department. 2019.
  9. ^ Pongračić/CROPIX (2011-06-04). "Milanović: Kršten sam i oženjen u crkvi, ali vjernik nisam. Kao i svaki čovjek, tragam za smislom -Jutarnji List". Jutarnji.hr. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  10. ^ "Blog evolutionis » Poznati hrvatski ateisti i agnostici". Blog.skeptik.kolar.foundation. Archived from the original on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  11. ^ "Maske padaju: balkanski 'novi ateisti' i sirijski teroristi vole se javno". Sahar TV Bosnian. 2016-12-16. Retrieved 2017-02-20.
  12. ^ a b c d "Popis stanovništva". Državni zavod za statistiku (in Croatian). Retrieved 2024-06-16.
  13. ^ "Naslovna".
  14. ^ "SAS Output". Dzs.hr. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
  15. ^ a b c Vjera u obrazovanje i obrazovanje u vjeri. Stavovi i iskustva nereligioznih roditelja prema religiji i vjeronauku u javnim školama u Republici Hrvatskoj | Branko Ančić. Academia.edu. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2016-07-20.
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