Young adults’ re-imagining of postsecular spaces in Czechia

ABSTRACT

The process of postsecularisation is present not only in Western Europe but also in post-communist countries. This paper focuses on the way young adults who do not have personal experiences with communist anti-religious ideology create their own religion in postsecular society and re-imagine (post)secular spaces through personal belief. The primary assumption is that young adults, living in the specific environment of the postsecular society of Czechia, have a unique relationship with religion and spirituality. For this research, we conducted focus groups with young adults in three religiously different Czech regions. The results point to a subjective turn within the perception of religion and spirituality, connected with the separation of subjective belief from institutionalized religion and the formation of a personal ‘religious hodgepodge’. All these attitudes are reflected in the formation of postsecular spaces in Czechia. The spaces of subjective belief were more diverse and creative in their imagination. We sum up that a subjective belief is formed by the space where people dwell, by their mobility, attempts at authenticity, relationship with other people, and self-reflection. The young adults in Czechia re-imagine the traditional sacred places through their own understanding of religion and spirituality within postsecular characteristics.

KEYWORDS:

• Young adults
• postsecularity
• subjective turn
• postsecular space
• Czechia
• focus groups

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the young adults who participated in the focus groups for their willing to contribute to the research and for enriching discussions, The Public Opinion Research Centre (the Czech Academy of Sciences) for organizational help, Jakub Lysák for map creation, and Stanley Brunn for his feedback on earlier draft of the paper.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by The Czech Science Foundation (grant number 17-08370S);The Czech Science Foundation [17-08370S];