Abstract
The Czech society is considered one of the most secular in Europe. However, a look at the thousand-year religious history of the Bohemian lands and their significance in the two-hundred-year history of the modern Czech nation shows that the religious orientation towards the West and East, confessional struggles, and the conflict-prone influence of political and religious power still shape politics and society in the Czech Republic today.
In the dispute over the restitution of church property, Czech society exemplarily demonstrated its mistrust towards the Catholic Church, which continues to be the largest religious community in the country. At the same time, leading political figures of various orientations, supported by ecclesiastical dignitaries, refer to mostly vaguely defined "Christian values," which, in their opinion, need to be protected against the presumed corrosive influences of today's globalized world.