ABSTRACT
Poland and the Czech Republic are considered specific, marginal cases in terms of the political role played by the Catholic Church, with Poland being one of the most uniformly religious and the Czech Republic one of the most secularized countries of the contemporary world. The chapter comparatively analyzes the evolving role, goals, and strategies applied by the Polish and Czech Catholic Church, taking into consideration the significantly different position of religion in both countries’ social-political contexts. It places itself in the increasingly developing strand of research in comparative politics, emphasizing the role of cultural, and in particular, specifically, religious determinants in explaining policy-making. Specifically, the author discusses the fusion of national and religious identities. Recognizing the level of this fusion as a major historical–cultural determinant, she explores to what extent the Catholic Church’s political standing is dependent on the social–political environment and to what extent the Church itself exerts effective influence at the political level. Moreover, she discusses whether the Catholic Church should be perceived mainly as one of many civil society actors carrying out its religious and social mission or rather be viewed as a typical interest group seeking political influence.
