Religion, civil society, social problems

The paper begins with a description of the socio-religious situation at the turn of the millennium in western and eastern Europe. Although in western Europe there is a dominant trend of secularisation under way, and in eastern Europe one of revitalisation of religion, these trends cannot explain numerous other individual and social changes, especially those pertaining to the public role of religion. Contemporary European societies have difficulty, among other things, in dealing with demands for public religious expression, especially on the part of minority, non-traditional religions. The inadequacy of classical concepts of secularisation, the relationship between the private and public spheres as well as liberally understood human rights, is demonstrated in the works of Jose Casanova and David Herbert. Although in different ways, both reach out to the concept of civil society, enabling the description of public activity and the public role of religion in modern and late-modern society. The concept of civil society offers also analytical understanding of the social function of religion, both on the level of classical social interventions as well as on the level of social support, i.e. its critical social role. Finally, the results of research of the general population as well as of ecclesiastical movements regarding the public and social activity of the Church in Croatian society have been analysed. They also speak of the contradictory reality, new social needs and the possibilities and limitations of ecclesiastical activity, therefore demonstrating I once again the interpretative, although not the normative analytical usefulness of the redefinition of public and private within the contemporary social circumstances.