Civil Society and Religion

The idea of the civil society was a result of the struggle for human rights in theocratic political systems and led to a secular political system where religion is separated from the state and made a private matter of an individual. Some suggested that the inception of the secular state will lead to the death or religion, however, in the late twentieth century, religion is returning to the front door of politics. The question of the relationship of civil society and religion are also raised in the former socialist countries. Although now dominant across cultures and civilizations, the return of religion is particularly powerful in the Islamic world. As religion and religious communities strengthen civil societies find themselves vulnerable. The EU, for example, was in grips over the role of the religion it wanted to introduce in the preamble of the European constitution. It is clear that as the role of religion in politics grows the role of civil society weakens. As the relationship of religion and the civil society determines the future of the European countries the influence of this relationship is particularly important to Serbia's European integration and survival of a united Europe. Politology of religion, therefore, must follow the process and give estimates how the relations of the two phenomena evolve in the future.