Shifts in religiosity in the face of Soviet type urbanization: the case of Lithuania

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on shifts in religious life triggered by the processes of Soviet urbanization in Lithuania, a country with a strong agricultural character. Based on an analysis of diverse sources, it explores the turning point of contemporary religious history in Lithuania during the1960s, which was connected primarily with the massive displacement of people meant to transform the traditional way of life in the Lithuanian countryside. The article argues that the main result of this displacement was not so much the collapse of religious life, as was intended by the Soviet authorities, but rather the dislocation of its center from the countryside to the cities.

KEYWORDS:

• Displacement
• religion
• religious/secular rites
• collective farms
• settlement
• Soviet Lithuania

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The author singles out altogether six theoretical assertions about the sources of religious vitality tested by the Soviet experiment in secularization: ignorance, ritual activity, Church – state relationship, religious organizations playing a role of social institutions, social rewards of being religious, otherworldly rewards or salvation incentives.

2. Interestingly enough author is referring also to traumatic experiences of the war and post-war years as the third important reason impeding the atheization of countrymen.

3. The long-term scheme of development for Lithuanian SSR, approved 1964, foresaw 1150 central, 1050 auxiliary and 1331 undevelopable settlements.

4. The majority of their flock constituted non-Lithuanians, i.e., people with German and Russian roots coming from other regions of the Soviet Union.

5. The concept coined by the Czech dissident Vaclav Benda and referring to the emergence of autonomous, independent structures (system of education, public space, alternative culture and economy) in Eastern European countries during late Socialism.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Social Fund under Global Grant number VP1-3.1-ŠMM-07-K-03-014.