| dc.description.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. | en |
