Religion, Interrupted? Observations on Religious Indifference in Estonia

Remmel, Atko

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-48476-1_7

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Estonia is often considered the most secular country in Europe. The indifference to religion as a cultural phenomenon has been mentioned by several scientists even at the beginning of the twentieth century (Remmel, 2017). Religious education in Estonia is voluntary and religious education is an optional and not a compulsory course.…”

Section: The Case Of Estoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Issue of Religious Freedom in the Baltic Countries (in the post-Soviet Period)

DARCHASHVILI

2023

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Certain thoughts that have existed for decades in various circles of society that religion would lose its importance or disappear from the main spheres of society's life that religions would take more tolerant, enlightening, and philosophical forms, and faith would no longer be the driving force for people's unification and political activity, was not justified. No regime has succeeded in banishing religion from public life, despite severe persecution. On the contrary, religion often acts as an important factor even in several political processes. We have to admit that even in the space of the former Soviet Union, where it was believed that the religious factor was insignificant, and despite decades of persecution and the introduction of atheism, destroyed, empty churches and mosques, religion took an important place again in the post-Soviet period. Moreover, often a wide circle of politicians use the religious factor in their rhetoric. Therefore, the study of the issue of religious freedom on the example of the Baltic countries, which are members of the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is relevant and interesting, both for the countries of the post-Soviet space that want to join these organizations and for other countries as well, because the freedom of religion is one of the important indicators of democracy in the country. The paper aims to present the reality of the Baltic states, the existing legislation on freedom of religion, the relations between the state and religious organizations, and various aspects related to the freedom of religious organizations, based on the study and analysis of existing official documents and secondary sources. Due to its relevance, the mentioned topic has a general, public nature. In the Baltic countries, in the post-Soviet period, during the formation of a new political reality, several requirements. For instance, there were identified for the introduction of freedom of religion, were amended legislations. All these were good practices for other countries (including Georgia) for the establishment of a coherent state policy of freedom of religion, for the issues of freedom of religion and belief of religious organizations, and last but not least to raise public awareness.

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Section: The Case Of Estoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Issue of Religious Freedom in the Baltic Countries (in the post-Soviet Period)

DARCHASHVILI

2023

cudes

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“…In short, religion and church were out of the picture, but instead of atheism, indifference towards both religion and state-supported atheism was achieved. (Remmel 2017, p. 127) Recent Estonian surveys show that questions of religion or atheism are considered uninteresting and unimportant (Remmel 2017). This negative form of atheism connotes weak and unconscious links to the individual's own UWC.…”

Section: The Dimension Of Importance: Indifferent Versus Involvedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dimensions of the Relationship between the Individual and Her Unique Worldview Construction

Eidhamar

2021

Religions

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Each individual constructs his own private worldview using elements from established worldview traditions. The biographical character of this formation makes this the individual’s “Unique Worldview Construction” (UWC). The purpose of this theoretical study is to analyse the dynamic relationship between the individual and her own UWC. It describes more how than what he believes in or denies. The variation is exceedingly complex. To make it accessible, the complexity is crystallized into seven dimensions: (1) The authority structure deals with the individual’s perception of herself as being superordinate/subordinate to her own UWC. (2) The importance dimension analyses the span from indifference to involvement among a variety of religious/nonreligious, age, and gender cohorts. (3) The certainty dimension explores doubt versus confidence, using theories like confirmation bias, naïve realism, and cognitive dissonance. (4) The dimension of one’s relationship to rejected beliefs describes different ways of being inclusive/exclusive. (5) The emotional dimension depicts the individual’s weak/strong and negative/positive feelings towards different elements of her UWC. (6) The openness dimension sheds light on the respective traits of being introverted/extroverted regarding one’s private worldview. (7) The continuity dimension explores different development patterns, along with complex pre/post-conversion and deconversion processes. The different dimensions partly correlate to each other.

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“…Nonetheless, participation in church services has fallen more rapidly than the membership figures in the last couple of decades; this implies that even those who stay members are less active in the church's traditional rites (Bromander and Jonsson 2017;Nielsen and Iversen 2014). In Estonia, the Soviet antireligious policy was success ful in breaking the continuity of church traditions (Remmel 2017), and today only a minority (29 percent) regard some religion "their own" (Estonian Census 2011).…”

Section: The Ambiguous Processes Of Secularizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relocation of Transcendence

Thurfjell

Rubow

Remmel³

2019

Nature and Culture

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Denmark, Estonia, and Sweden are, if measured by certain sociological criteria, considered to be three of the world’s most secular countries. Nature—forests, pristine beaches, and the countryside—plays a specific role in the allegedly secular discourse of the mainstream populations of these nations. Not only is it almost without exception deemed as a positive asset worthy of protection, it is also thought of as holding certain existential qualities. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews, this article suggests that Alfred Schutz’s conceptualization of transcendence—further developed by Thomas Luckmann—can be used to describe the existential experiences in nature of contemporary secular people. The article results in a suggestion for an operational definition of transcendence.

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Religion, Interrupted? Observations on Religious Indifference in Estonia

Cited by 12 publications

References 25 publications

The Issue of Religious Freedom in the Baltic Countries (in the post-Soviet Period)

The Issue of Religious Freedom in the Baltic Countries (in the post-Soviet Period)

Dimensions of the Relationship between the Individual and Her Unique Worldview Construction

The Relocation of Transcendence

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