Religious Identities in Polish Society. A sociological study

Father Professor Janusz Mariański remarks very accurately that sociology, like an early warning system, allows us to notice what others have yet to perceive. Despite the clearly directed process of changes in the religious identity of Polish society, the Author perceives and sociologically interprets not only secularization, laicization, pluralistic, and individualistic tendencies but also the opposing anti-secularization and evangelization forces. “Secularization cannot be laid to rest prematurely in the cemetery of dead theories,” just as religious deprivatization cannot be dismissed. Social trends do not follow an inevitable course, independent of human ideas and actions, according to the logic of cultural determinism. Modernity is the result of the life practices of thoughtful people who are not devoid of religious sensitivity. Modern societies do not have to be inherently secular, which does not mean that the traditional model of ecclesiastical religiosity is not subject to radical transformations. What happens to us in the future largely depends on ourselves. As we read in the conclusion: “In religious and moral matters, as well as in all matters concerning people, there is no one-way evolution nor a single principle according to which religious and moral processes unfold.”

Prof. Wojciech Świątkiewicz