ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores diverse positions of nonreligion and the inclusion of their concepts or ideas into society. It also presents some crucial figures in the 20th and 21st centuries and characterizes their views on unreligious forms of life and society, their interconnectedness and cooperation, both national and within the Eastern and Central European framework. The book focuses on a presentation and analysis of new empirical material. It the lacuna in research literature by providing the first comprehensive and systematic overview of the general developments of nonreligious traditions in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. The book provides “the decline of religion” or “religious change” from the perspective of “the rise of nonreligion” in a particular region, CEE, in the countries that shared a mutual experience, especially with the Soviet antireligious policy.
