Правни аспекти на религиозната свобода в българия пламена Попова

The Double Standard

In relation with religion, double standards were established: the communist constitution proclaims freedom of creeds, but at the same time aggressive atheism is practically uncontrolled and is systematically encouraged in the name of the new, socialistic conscience.

The abatement of religious sentiment is a result of deep penetration of secular elements in the meaning of many of the Christian ceremonies. The atheism as an extreme form of secular monopolism has significantly influenced the attitude that Bulgarian society has towards religion. The influence and social prestige of religious institutions is diminishing.

The struggle for national liberation and for an independent church have found the Bulgarian society of that time deeply “unreligious”, according to (P. R. Slaveykov). The contemporary Bulgarian society being in a transition from totalitarism to democracy, has been formed by the atheism. This aims to forcibly interrupt the religious continuity between generations, as well as to annihilate the religious tradition on all levels.

Research data indicates that the new generation of Bulgarians, which grew up through the years of communism is basically irreligious. This is a consequence of the atheistic policy of the regime, which through 45 years forbids and rejects the Christianity in Bulgaria, but offers another religion – the communist ideology.

Metamorphosis of the Religious

The research data on the participation in major religious holidays are impressive. Among Christians 71,1 % celebrate regularly the major Christian holidays – Christmas and Easter, and 84,4 % of Mohammedan celebrate the Kurban Bairam and Ramazan Bairan holidays.

Religious practices and even the most intimate religious acts have a social meaning and a social context. Religious activity helps in becoming conscious of one’s community, to express symbolically the social order and to gain an objective sensation about society. Rituals and ceremonies allow for collective sentiment to be experienced and a sense of social unity to be expressed. Thus, religion stands in support of social solidarity. When people gather on solemn occasions – reverent, they achieve a deep sense of themselves and of the legitimacy of their social organization.

A lot of instances can be adduced, of the reviving of traditions, that in new conditions have a purely cultural meaning and function as forms of solidarity. For example, the ritual of sanctification is performed often when a new building, a school or an office is being consecrated. By its’ origins and meaning this is a religious ritual, but it assumes a worldly function. In fact it symbolizes a kind of social solidarity and a collective sentiment. Religion unites the individuals into a community and prescribes the fundamental rules of their every-day lives.

According to the comparative sociological investigation in values Bulgaria turn out to be with lowest religiousness among the investigated East-European societies. At the same time, one of the basic inferences is that the religious and the non-religious display a high degree of tolerance towards the other, towards the “other community”, towards the “other religion”. The model of tolerant behavior is characteristic for the religious situation in the Bulgarian society. The basic creeds in it, almost coincide with the population structure, according to the ethnical groups.

The traditional Bulgarian religion is Orthodox Christianity, which was transformed into official religion of the Bulgarian State. Another 28 religions are registered up to the year 1995. A distinctive phenomenon is the massive invasion by new religious movements, who are completely unknown.

Bulgarian society is either completely uninformed on the problems of these new religious movements, or its’ understanding is highly influenced by the media. These new movements are often regarded as perceived as a negative phenomenon and even rejected. It can also be deduced that the presence of such religious movements demonstrates the increased religious need of the people.

Political pluralism, freedom of speech and religion and other basic features of democracy seems to be really realizable. The Bulgarian pluralism can be defined as a positive one. “A new religious sensibility” is added to it. Nevertheless the problem about the limits of the state intervention in religious affairs is standing.

In the post-totalitarian development of the Bulgarian society the activation of traditional creeds is obvious – orthodox Christianity, which by apparent reasons is a symbol of Bulgarian nationality, Judaism, Islam, Protestantism, etc.

Sociological researches have been made in recent years, studying the state of neighborhood of different ethnic and religious communities. They find a certain level of alienation and different prejudices, related with it. But at the same time these researches show a religious map of mutual tolerance and of a willing to share experience in the common religious field. Such a positive development is even more significant, having in mind the extremely grave economical and social situation in the country.

In 2004/05, a team of specialists from the department of Sociology if the Faculty of Law and History of the Southwest University conducted a sociological survey which main subject was: Religious and ethnical identity of the students in the SWU “Neofit Rilsky”. The team¹⁸ was formed by students and professors from the department, which gave additional possibilities for obtaining information and conducting observation with participation.

The conducted empirical sociological survey is based on a representative extractions, including the 863 students from the SW University “Neofit Rilsky”.

The analysis of the results shows that the Christian Orthodox Creed dominates – 83,2% of the participants. The Catholic creed is second with 3,3% and Sunni Islam is third with 2,8%. The Protestant version of Christianity is represented by 1,4% of the participants in the survey. 1,7% define themselves as representatives of creeds, different of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

It is noticeable that only 5,5% define themselves as non-religious (atheist). To the question concerning their degree of religiosity, 19% define themselves as non-religious, and 3,3 % as atheists.

The attitude of the participants toward their religiosity is such that 69,1% define themselves as religious. The combinations of such indications with the specific practices of the different creeds show that there is a deep relation between religious mentality and the way of life of people. Some 4,4% define themselves as deeply religious, 19% are nonreligious and 3,3% are definite atheists.

Concerning age, 65% of the participants indicate that they have adopted their creed as children. This shows a religious education of adequate dimensions and significant role in prime socializations. This indicator can be considered seriously having in mind the religious vacuum, in which previous generations have lived (including the generation of the parents of the participants).

Another important indicator is the influence which religion has on people’s daily round. Among the participants, 45,5% admit that their creed has influenced their everyday live, 35,5% weren’t able to give a definite answer (but that doesn’t mean they deny a possible influence) and some 18,2% declare that religion isn’t an important factor in their life.

Among student who define themselves as profoundly religious, 75,5% admit that they pray (and this is a progressive figure in comparison with the average percent of praying people). In the group of moderately religious people we have an even higher figure, 77,5% admit that they pray.

Women pray more often than men – 68,4% against 50,9% (compared to a general percent of 63% that pray regularly). Women who do not pray represent 17,9%, while men – 36,9 % (compared to a general 24 % of people who do not pray).

The positive and tolerant attitude of the students from the SW University towards different religious groups makes a good impression. 77,7% of them (78,8% of those who have answered the inquiry) believe that good relations between different religious groups are possible. 14,3% of them could give a straight answer and only 6,6% consider this impossible. The analysis and meaning of these indications show that there is a definite and strong religious aspect in the cultural life of the Southwest University.

The focused interview which was formed for the purpose strengthened that conclusion with their spirit and natural and sincere attitude towards the other groups, as with their confirmation of the statistical results of the inquiry.

The student’s answers indicate indifference towards the ideas of a Christian-orthodox temple being built nearby the university or the existence of special rooms for prayer for the different religions within the university.

The students think that there could not be a society without religion; it has its place in the social process. But at the same time, the attitude towards this problem is strictly personal and should not be postulated as a universal law. The role of religion is evolving but it still is that deep, invulnerable and eternal layer which will always exist in the life of a society.

By affirming that there are many paths to the temple, the students agreed that “The University also could be regarded as a home for the sacred”.

The notions of the young generation can be classified in several categories: according to their opinions on the way of life, values, religious identity and observance of traditions. We see unexpected connections and views. There are some respondents who fully accept, or totally reject traditions, religious affiliation, the testimony of collective memory, which has saved as a collective code for many generations. We discover new mixed types, in which the boundary of the sacred, in Durkheim’s terms, expands.

An analogy naturally comes to mind with the reasoning of Jean Fourastie in his book entitled “What I believe in” In general he uses very original means in his argumentation: a new synthesis between emotions and rationality, belief and knowledge, that he hopes will serve to revive the spiritual side of modern society.

There is a rather interesting feature in the typological divisions of people in modern societies. According to the typology offered by Fourastie, human types in a given society are divided in two types. Attala – is the young heroine of Chateaubriand’s famous novel. Citroen is the no less-famous automobile constructor. The first of these two types embodies the sentimental, affective, intuitive faculties and needs, while the later signifies the rational, technical, scientific needs. Of course this distinction is a very rough one. It only points to the fact that people and human groups are different, that there is polarity among them. Extremes are usually rejected. Every person, every society are mixture of Atala and Citroen, but also of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

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