A qualitative Study of Czech non-believing Students

• Název práce v češtině: Kvalitativní studie českých nevěřících studentů
• Název v anglickém jazyce: A qualitative Study of Czech non-believing Students
• Klíčová slova: nenáboženství, ateismus, Česká republika, studenti, sekularizace, desekularizace
• Klíčová slova anglicky: non-religion, atheism, Czech Republic, students, secularization, desecularization
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2021/2022
• Typ práce: bakalářská práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra sociologie (23-KS)
• Vedoucí / školitel: doc. Alessandro Testa, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 21.09.2022
• Datum zadání: 21.09.2022
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 12.06.2023 09:00
• Místo konání obhajoby: Jinonice - Nový Kampus, C121, 121, Jednací místnost ISS
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 03.05.2023
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 12.06.2023
• Oponenti: Mgr. Layla Bartheldi

Seznam odborné literatury

1. COTTER, Christopher R. Without God yet not without nuance: A qualitative study of atheism and non-religion among Scottish university students. In: Atheist identities-spaces and social contexts. Springer, Cham, 2015. p. 171-193.

2. BUBÍK, Tomáš; VÁCLAVÍK, David. Freethinkers and Atheists in the Czech Lands in the 20th Century. In: Freethought and Atheism in Central and Eastern Europe. Routledge, 2020. p. 58-83.

3. BURKHARDT, Margaret A. Spirituality: An analysis of the concept. Holistic nursing practice, 1989, 3.3: 69-77.

4. FURSTOVA, Jana, et al. Czech out the atheists: A representative study of religiosity in the Czech Republic. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2021, 31.4: 288-306.


5. HAMPLOVÁ, Dana; NEŠPOR, Zdeněk R. Invisible religion in a “non-believing” country: The case of the Czech Republic. Social Compass, 2009, 56.4: 581-597.

6. KEYSAR, Ariela; NAVARRO-RIVERA, Juhem. A world of atheism: Global demographics. The Oxford handbook of atheism, 2013.


7. PASQUALE, Frank L. A portrait of secular group affiliates. Atheism and Secularity [2 volumes], 2009, 43.

8. SMITH, Tom William. Beliefs about God across time and countries. Chicago, IL: NORC/University of Chicago, 2012.

9. VÁCLAVÍK, David. Náboženství a moderní česká společnost. Grada Publishing as, 2010.

10. VEDRASHKO, Alexandra, et al. Between Atheism and Catholicism. The New Presence, 2009, 2: 15-16.

11. VIDO, Roman; VÁCLAVÍK, David; PALEČEK, Antonín. Czech Republic: The promised land for atheists?. Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, 2016, 7: 201-232.

Předběžná náplň práce

Theme of work

The Czech Republic is a rather unique country in its relationship to religion. Many studies show that it seems to be one of the least religious countries in the world. In Europe, we can find similar examples in the former East Germany or France, for instance. In the rest of the world, it includes countries such as China and Japan (Keysar, Navarro-Rivera, 2013; Smith, 2012; WIN-Gallup International, 2012).
This aspect could be the result of the communist rule between 1948 and 1989. If we look back in history the Czechs were a relatively religious society. According to Vaclavik (2010), in 1946, 80 % of the population believed in God and only 12 % rejected his existence. The situation changed after the February coup d'état. The whole situation resulted in a rise in the number of non-believers from 5.8 % to 59 % between 1950 and 2001 (Hamplová, Nešpor, 2009). Today, that number is rather close to 70 % based on data from the last census in 2021 (ČSÚ, 2021).
But what do these data and statistics imply? Does this mean that Czech society mostly does not believe in anything? As Cotter (2015) suggests in his research, the problem in defining non-believers may lay in the fact that the concept is explained in comparison to religion. Non-believers are then often associated with the prejudice and bias that “nothing is sacred to them” and condemned for not “believing in something rather than nothing”.
The term atheism is defined as a “a belief in the non-existence of a God or gods, or (more broadly) an absence in belief of their existence” (Lee, Bullivant, 2016). Furthermore the term agnosticism is described as “a theory, belief or ideology entailing the belief that nothing is known or can be known of immaterial things, with particular reference to the existence or nature of God” (Lee, Bullivant, 2016). At the same time, it is necessary to define the term secularization. It is understood, for example, as “a theory, belief, ideology or political modality that demarcates the secular from other phenomena (usually religious, but also sacred and/or metaphysical ones) and prioritizes the secular over the nonsecular” (Lee, Bullivant, 2016). According to these definitions, we cannot say that one simply does not believe in anything. A person may thus have their own idea of belief and may have their own practices that they follow in life, it just do not necessarily involve God. Nevertheless, as Furstova (2021, p. 299) notes “Czech non believers should not be seen as complete atheists; they are just religious skeptics who tend to fulfill their spirituality needs outside traditional religion.”
Studies of religion, irreligion, secularism, and atheism in Czech republic are now abundant (some of them are Hamplová and Nešpor 2009, Vaclavik 2010, Boubík, Remmel and Václavík 2020). In my thesis I would like to tackle this topic by revising the above mentioned Scottish study by Cotter (2015). In his work, he as well approaches non-believers outside the framework of religion and allows respondents to define themselves according to their beliefs, opinions, attitudes and everyday practices. Cotter further divides respondents into 5 main types based on the data collected, namely naturalistic, humanistic, spiritual, familial and philosophical. Therefore, the aim of this paper would be to test, on a group of students, whether this division is further applicable or whether it is quite different in the Czech context and different types can be identified. For my target sample, I chose students not only because the mentioned study is centered on students and thus it will be easier to compare the results, but also from a practical point of view. Since students are as a group closest to me, it will be quite easy to contact them and I think they will be more willing to give a follow-up interview.

Expected methods

I would like to adopt Cotter's approach and use a similar analysis to try to classify respondents into the 5 types he identifies in his study. To ensure a representative sample of students, I would use data from the faculty about sociodemographic background of the students. In particular, age, region of residence, gender and religion. If I would be unable to get this data from the faculty or the faculty would not want to provide me with it, I would attempt to complement my own data.
The data collection would be done in two phases, firstly using questionnaires which would include some open questions and designed to allow the students to express and define themselves as best as possible. Such a design is important because in this study I will try to avoid the frequently used dichotomy of religion/non-religion. In the second phase, a smaller subgroup of students who would be willing to provide a semi-structured interview would be selected. This interview should be able to more deeply complement their previous responses and help to better understand where the respondent stands with their opinions and beliefs on the topic.
Given that I would first collect data in the form of questionnaires and additional interviews and then try to create or in my case re-create a typology or new theory from it. The chosen method is therefore a testing of Cotter's typology.

Ethical context of the project

Personal beliefs can be a difficult and sensitive topic for some for many different reasons. However, the entire data collection process will operate on the basis of voluntary participation. Respondents would be informed of the purpose of this thesis at the beginning and at the end of the questionnaire they would be asked if they would further agree to provide a semi-structured interview. If yes, it would be necessary to provide some personal contact that I would guarantee was only used for the purpose of this thesis. If the respondent does not wish their name to be included in my thesis, a fictitious name can be used in order to protect their personal information and comply with their wishes.

Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

Theme of work

The Czech Republic is a rather unique country in its relationship to religion. Many studies show that it seems to be one of the least religious countries in the world. In Europe, we can find similar examples in the former East Germany or France, for instance. In the rest of the world, it includes countries such as China and Japan (Keysar, Navarro-Rivera, 2013; Smith, 2012; WIN-Gallup International, 2012).
This aspect could be the result of the communist rule between 1948 and 1989. If we look back in history the Czechs were a relatively religious society. According to Vaclavik (2010), in 1946, 80 % of the population believed in God and only 12 % rejected his existence. The situation changed after the February coup d'état. The whole situation resulted in a rise in the number of non-believers from 5.8 % to 59 % between 1950 and 2001 (Hamplová, Nešpor, 2009). Today, that number is rather close to 70 % based on data from the last census in 2021 (ČSÚ, 2021).
But what do these data and statistics imply? Does this mean that Czech society mostly does not believe in anything? As Cotter (2015) suggests in his research, the problem in defining non-believers may lay in the fact that the concept is explained in comparison to religion. Non-believers are then often associated with the prejudice and bias that “nothing is sacred to them” and condemned for not “believing in something rather than nothing”.
The term atheism is defined as a “a belief in the non-existence of a God or gods, or (more broadly) an absence in belief of their existence” (Lee, Bullivant, 2016). Furthermore the term agnosticism is described as “a theory, belief or ideology entailing the belief that nothing is known or can be known of immaterial things, with particular reference to the existence or nature of God” (Lee, Bullivant, 2016). At the same time, it is necessary to define the term secularization. It is understood, for example, as “a theory, belief, ideology or political modality that demarcates the secular from other phenomena (usually religious, but also sacred and/or metaphysical ones) and prioritizes the secular over the nonsecular” (Lee, Bullivant, 2016). According to these definitions, we cannot say that one simply does not believe in anything. A person may thus have their own idea of belief and may have their own practices that they follow in life, it just do not necessarily involve God. Nevertheless, as Furstova (2021, p. 299) notes “Czech non believers should not be seen as complete atheists; they are just religious skeptics who tend to fulfill their spirituality needs outside traditional religion.”
Studies of religion, irreligion, secularism, and atheism in Czech republic are now abundant (some of them are Hamplová and Nešpor 2009, Vaclavik 2010, Boubík, Remmel and Václavík 2020). In my thesis I would like to tackle this topic by revising the above mentioned Scottish study by Cotter (2015). In his work, he as well approaches non-believers outside the framework of religion and allows respondents to define themselves according to their beliefs, opinions, attitudes and everyday practices. Cotter further divides respondents into 5 main types based on the data collected, namely naturalistic, humanistic, spiritual, familial and philosophical. Therefore, the aim of this paper would be to test, on a group of students, whether this division is further applicable or whether it is quite different in the Czech context and different types can be identified. For my target sample, I chose students not only because the mentioned study is centered on students and thus it will be easier to compare the results, but also from a practical point of view. Since students are as a group closest to me, it will be quite easy to contact them and I think they will be more willing to give a follow-up interview.

Expected methods

I would like to adopt Cotter's approach and use a similar analysis to try to classify respondents into the 5 types he identifies in his study. To ensure a representative sample of students, I would use data from the faculty about sociodemographic background of the students. In particular, age, region of residence, gender and religion. If I would be unable to get this data from the faculty or the faculty would not want to provide me with it, I would attempt to complement my own data.
The data collection would be done in two phases, firstly using questionnaires which would include some open questions and designed to allow the students to express and define themselves as best as possible. Such a design is important because in this study I will try to avoid the frequently used dichotomy of religion/non-religion. In the second phase, a smaller subgroup of students who would be willing to provide a semi-structured interview would be selected. This interview should be able to more deeply complement their previous responses and help to better understand where the respondent stands with their opinions and beliefs on the topic.
Given that I would first collect data in the form of questionnaires and additional interviews and then try to create or in my case re-create a typology or new theory from it. The chosen method is therefore a testing of Cotter's typology.

Ethical context of the project

Personal beliefs can be a difficult and sensitive topic for some for many different reasons. However, the entire data collection process will operate on the basis of voluntary participation. Respondents would be informed of the purpose of this thesis at the beginning and at the end of the questionnaire they would be asked if they would further agree to provide a semi-structured interview. If yes, it would be necessary to provide some personal contact that I would guarantee was only used for the purpose of this thesis. If the respondent does not wish their name to be included in my thesis, a fictitious name can be used in order to protect their personal information and comply with their wishes.