Authors

Discussion

The paper looks into the interplay between (un)civic values and religion in Slovakia. More specifically, it examines and compares the attitudes of the country‘s three major religious organizations, namely the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church of the Augsburg Confession with respect to a number of topics that polarize the Slovak society, e.g., international migration, abortions, LGBTQIA+ rights, as well as the (non)influence of these religious organizations on policymaking. Even though, according to the Constitution, the Slovak Republic is a secular state that is not based on any religion or specific political ideology, the Roman Catholic Church in particular continues to exercise a considerable degree of influence over some of the national policies and over some of the most prominent politicians. Thus, it is important to explore how this fact translates into specific forms of relationship between the state and the church and what possible implications that has for the country’s political development. Methodologically, the research relies on a qualitative content analysis of the official websites of the two confessions as well as on pastoral letters that the Churches address to their respective communites. In addition to that, it examines the official Facebook accounts and YuoTube channels run by major representatives of the three confessions. The original contribution of the study lies in a systematic comparison of the public messages that the major confessions in Slovakia deliver on a number of polarizing topics.