A Contribution to the Conceptualization of Secularity in the Contemporary European and Croatian Social Context

Pitanje sekularnosti u posljednjih je nekoliko desetljeća u fokusu teoretičara iz različitih znanstvenih područja. Iako se Europa dugo smatrala sekularnim i sekulariziranim prostorom, ovakve se tvrdnje sve češće propituju u svjetlu događaja koji nastoje (re)definirati javnu ulogu religije i njen utjecaj na društvo. Počevši od pokušaja da se definira pojam sekularnosti i konceptualizira njegovo značenje kroz pregled postojeće literature, ovaj rad tematizira sekularnost kako je definirana pravnim okvirom Europske unije i Republike Hrvatske. Istovremeno je u kratkim crtama naznačen društveni kontekst unutar kojega se pitanje sekularnosti propituje. Sekularnost je u ovom radu definirana u širem smislu kao ustavno-pravno načelo odvojenosti religijskih organizacija od države čime se jamči neutralnost javnih institucija u odnosu na (ne)religiozna uvjerenja i vjersku pripadnost svih građana. U užem smislu sekularnost se odnosi na, za neko društvo specifičan, ideološki legitimiziran odnos između religijske domene i drugih društvenih (sekularnih) domena, odnosno na »kulturu sekularnosti« koja artikulira hijerarhiju društvenih odnosa.The issue of secularity has been the focus of theorists from various scientific fields during the recent decades. Although Europe has long been considered as secular and secularized space, such claims are increasingly being questioned in the light of the events that seek to (re)define the public role of religion and its impact on European society as a whole and in its member states respectively. Starting from the attempt to define the concept of secularity and conceptualize its eaning through a review of the existing literature on this topic, this paper deals with secularity through the legal frameworks of the European Union and the Republic of Croatia. It also gives a short overview of the social context within which the issue of secularity is questioned. Secularity is in this paper defined in a broader sense as a constitutional and legal principle of separation between religious organizations and the state, which guarantees the neutrality of public institutions in relation to religious and non-religious beliefs and religious affiliations of the citizens. In a narrow sense, secularity refers to a society-specific, ideologically legitimized relationship between the religious domain and other social (secular) domains, or to a »culture of secularity« that articulates a hierarchy of social relations