THE ROLE OF RELIGION AND RELIGIOSITY IN THE INTEGRATIONAL PROCESSES IN CROATIA

Religija i vjerske zajednice, kao aktivne sastavnice svakoga konkretnog socio-kulturnog sklopa i nezanemarivi činitelji njegova funkcioniranja, mogu društvenim procesima i odnosima u njemu prinositi i na njih djelovati integrativno, ali i dezintegrativno. U radu se razmatra teorijsko-metodologijska podloga (funkcionalizam) za proučavanje tih procesa i odnosa. Kao primjer integrativnog djelovanja i utjecaja u socio-političkim procesima u Hrvatskoj nakon društveno-političkih promjena, može se navesti, općenito rečeno, postavljanje i djelovanje Katoličke crkve, osobito u dijaspori, i u stanovitom smislu Evanđeoske crkve (pentekostalaca), a za dezintegrativno djelovanje Srpske pravoslavne crkve. Prikazana je i komparativna analiza empirijskih podataka iz dva istraživanja provedena u Hrvatskoj (na osnovi nekoliko parcijalinih indikatora), koji ukazuju na nagli zaokret prema religioznoj orijentaciji. Naglašeni su mogući individualni i društveni aspekti te promjene, kao i potreba kompleksnog i sustavnog znanstvenog praćenja religijske situacije u Hrvatskoj, rezultati kojega bi mogli ukazati na moguće integrativne ili dezintegrativne potencijale te “nove religioznosti” u širem društvenom sklopu.Religion and religious communities as active components of each social and cultural set and as major factors in its functioning, may contribute to social processes and relations or affect them both integrationally and disintegrationally. The paper lays out the theoretical and methodological grounds (functionalism) for the analysis of these processes and relations. As the examples of the integrational influence on the social and political processes in Croatia following all the social and political changes, we can mention the activities of the Catholic church (particularly in the Diaspora) and, to a degree, those of the Pentecostal church, while the disintegrational influence was exemplified by the activities of the Serbian Orthodox church. The text also includes a comparative analysis of the empirical data obtained from two studies carried out in Croatia (based on several partial indicators), which indicate a marked turn towards religiosity. Highlighted are possible individual and social aspects of these changes as well as the need for a complex and systematic monitoring of the religious developments in Croatia, the results of which might point to the possible integrational or disintegrational potentials of this “new religiosity” within a broader social framework