Projects / Programmes
Katoliška cerkev in civilna družba (Slovene)
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.11.00 |
Humanities |
Theology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H002 |
Humanities |
Theology |
Catholic Church, civil society, separation of the Church and the State, nongovermental organisations, human rights, pluralistic society, institutions of civil society, values, communication, genetic ingeniring, network society
Researchers (6)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The Catholic Church is a societal phenomena that cannot be ignored by the world or the Slovenian nation. What remains then is a question concerning its place in a large society. In a non confessional and pluralistic state, the place of the Church is not in politics. The Church also does not see itself in this role. Neither does the Church see itself in a private sphere, where it is pushed by advocates of the extreme laity. However, there is a civil society between the political and private spheres, where many societal thinkers, actor, and the Church itself, believes it should be placed.
In the first part of this research we compare theories and practices regarding the Church in some democracies with varying solutions. On one side there is the USA and France; maintaining a strong separation between Church and State, on the other side there is Germany and Austria, where there is closer collaboration between the State and the Church. In relation to these countries there will be a comparison of Slovenian theory and practice concerning the relationship with its State and Church. It will start from the beginning of Slovenian Democratic independence to today. We also comment on what is happening in some former Communist states in Eastern Europe, faced with similar difficulties to Slovenia.
The second part deals with the Church''s understanding of the civil society (its social doctrine) and the complexity of the Church''s community and organization. In accordance with its internal variety, the Church is presently divided in different modes just like civil society. The Church is monolithic only on the level of faith and morality. Meanwhile, the laity is very free to act in society''s concrete situations and organize itself in a variety of associations, allowing it to act in a civil society without directives from a religious hierarchy. In understanding the Church''s influence to thought, values and development of a civil society, the study of grassroots organizations is very important. Therefore, we closely examine the Church''s pastoral work and its conscientization (awakening) of believers in examining the questions of society and civilization, which are relevant for both Slovenia and humankind in the process of globalization.
In the third, and last, portion of this research, we study some relevant civilizational and societal reflections and debate, in which the Church takes part as one of important speakers and moral voices of civil society. Among difficult questions concerning all humankind, and every individual being (therefore, also Slovenian society now and in the future) are: genetic engineering, bioethics, defense of human rights against the power of capital and its corporations, privacy rights in lieu of the information network, and the right to informed consent and action; and, last but not least, the looming problem of protecting small cultures in the process of European unification in conditions of world globalization.
