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Czech Republic - Religion

The Czechs are one of the most religiously uninvolved people on the planet, the fact supported by all available statistics. Despite the fact that almost half of the population admit that they belong to some faith (namely the Catholic Church), most do not attend church services or follow any religious practices. At the same time, more than 40 % of Czechs declare that they are "non-religious" or "atheist". With only a very few exceptions, this issue has no significance at all in the workplace.

The country has an area of 30,442 square miles and a population of 10.2 million. The population is largely homogeneous with a dominant Christian tradition. However, in part as a result of 40 years of communist rule between 1948 and 1989, the majority of citizens do not identify themselves as members of any organized religion. Religious affairs are the responsibility of the Department of Churches in the Ministry of Culture. All religious groups registered with the Ministry of Culture are eligible to receive tax benefits and government subsidies, although some decline to receive state financial support as a matter of principle and an expression of their independence.

In a 2008 opinion poll sponsored by the Stredisko Empirickych Vyzkumu (STEM) agency, 34 percent of respondents claimed to believe in God, while 39 percent identified themselves as atheists. Only 25 percent of citizens under the age of 29 professed a belief in God. Similarly, in a 2007 poll by the Public Opinion Research Centre (Centrum pro vyzkum verejneho mineni, or CVVM), 55 percent of citizens voiced a mistrust of churches, while only 28 percent stated that they trust them. There was a revival of interest in religion after the 1989 "Velvet Revolution;" however, the number of those professing religious beliefs or participating in organized religion has fallen steadily since then in every region of the country.

Thirty-three percent of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, 3 percent to Protestant churches, 1 percent to the Czech Hussite Church, and 2 percent to other religious groups. Five percent of the population attends Catholic services regularly, and most live in the southern Moravian dioceses of Olomouc and Brno. One percent of the population are practicing Protestants. In 2004 Islam was registered as an officially recognized religion, and leaders of the local Muslim community estimate that there are several thousand Muslims in the country. There are two mosques, located in Brno and Prague, but prayer rooms are scattered throughout the country. The vast majority of the historic Jewish community, which numbered approximately 100,000 before the Nazi occupation of the area of today's Czech Republic, was killed during the Holocaust. There are approximately 3,000 persons officially registered as members of the Jewish community.

The Government continued its effort to resolve religious communal property restitution problems. Jewish claims dated to the period of the Nazi occupation during World War II, while Catholic authorities pressed claims for properties that were seized under the former communist regime. In April 2008 the Government unanimously approved a bill on church restitution, allowing for the return of properties to religious orders and financial compensation for properties that belonged to churches, and sent it to Parliament. The bill was intended to resolve the issue of church restitution as well as financing of churches. The bill faced opposition from the Communists and Social Democrats, as well as from some coalition members in the Chamber of Deputies.

In April 2009 members of the National Resistance (associated with the right-wing extremist Workers' Party) invited former U.S. Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke to speak at Charles University, the most prestigious university in the country. When they learned of the event, Jewish groups successfully urged university officials to cancel Duke's speech. Duke's local sponsors reorganized the event at a Prague restaurant they disclosed on short notice to a select audience. The police raided the establishment and detained Duke. Using the Penal Code, the Government charged Duke with Holocaust denial and ordered his immediate departure.