Desakralizacja przestrzeni publicznej w Polsce w latach 1947–1956

Abstract

Desacralization is a phenomenon underlain by processes of secularization with a multidimensional range. They occur in various areas of life. The analyzed period was marked by the dominance of the political space with conscious and consistent activities of the communist authorities seeking to eliminate the influence of religion on public and social life through specific legislation, the secularization of education and the deprivation of the Catholic Church of its privileges. The religious tradition and cultural forms existing in the Polish society were to be taken over and adapted to newly created party-state rituals. This met with large public protests. Especially the rural population, traditionally religious, did not approve of the forced secularization of life, which often led to open and violent conflict. The institutional church, which had huge intellectual advantage over the people and institutions of the regime, defended itself quite effectively against the desacralization actions performed by the state authorities. Many of the regulations issued were not followed; they were quite constantly broken by the clergy. In the post-war period, a unique type of a Catholic Pole was formed. Admitting to Catholicism was a special ideological declaration irrespective of one’s degree of criticism of the Church. The first attempt at desacralization of the public space influenced the shape and nature of the so-called popular religiosity model, that became dominant in the society. It stresses the attachment to the faith of the fathers, gives advantage to ritualism, implies a weak relationship of religion and morality in everyday life as well as strong ties of the Catholics with the clergy and the parish.