A study of faith-based social services in the strongly secularized Czech Republic reveals a growing dilemma that these groups face, needing the identity and resources provided by sponsoring churches while not wanting to alienate a predominantly unchurched and secular clientele. The study, conducted by Andrea Beláňová of the Czech Academy of Sciences and published in the journal Social Compass (online in December), is based on interviews with the CEOs of 10 faith-based organizations connected to the Czechoslovak Hussite Church, the largest Protestant body in the country. The CEOs tended to see their work as their own individual projects only loosely connected to the church, while also appreciating the support and the religious identity (with the church’s strong historical heritage) that they got from such a connection, which distinguished them from other groups. The CEOs interpreted religion in secular terms, such as “care for individuals, respect for diversity, and accessibility. Within such a definition, religion takes the shape of universal human values,” Beláňová writes.
Statue of Jan Hus, Hussite Church, Prague (source: Wikimedia Commons).
This identity shift is further affected by a declining church membership whereby fewer employees and clients are committed to the particular church ethos and the former are losing the religious motivations to do their work. This could mean a further loosening of the bonds connecting these faith-based organizations to the church as they become more mainstream secular social service organizations. The loss of religious distinctiveness has also been a question among Czech church schools and can be seen in debates about the Church of Sweden’s role in social service delivery. In these cases, there is a conflict over the use of theological language in the delivery of social services and education where religious elements are also downplayed in actual practice so as not to scare off secular clients.
(Social Compass, https://journals.sagepub.com/home/scp)
