The Czechs in a Nutshell

It’s an unarguable fact that a significant part of the Catholic priests succumbed to the hard pressure (because of softer treatment, the collaboration was not so widespread and apparent among the Evangelic and Protestant clergy). Consequently, while Poland’s Catholic church acted as a moral force, which gave ordinary people support and spiritual guidance during communism, many of their Czech brethren (but not all!) confirmed the Church’s reputation as more loyal to the rulers — whomever they might be — than to the people. Not surprisingly, when an unofficial list of the Secret Police’s agents was published in 1992 (see: Lustration), several prominent clergymen were named among the alleged informers.

So, what is the situation today? According to the National Census in 2001, the Catholic Church tops the religious ranking list with 2.7 million members, down from 3.7 million in 1991. The great outflow is commonly explained as a result of the secularisation that is going on in all European countries, and also because of one specifically Czech syndrome — the Church’s haggling with the state about the ownership of real estate holdings (“greedy Bible thumpers”).

The Catholics are trailed, at a rather significant distance, by the Church of Czech Evangelic Brethren (120,000 members) and the Czechoslovak Hussite Church (100,000) — both of which, interestingly, have a distinct majority of female members. The Christian ranking list is rounded off by the Augsburgian Evangelic Church (29,000), the Jehovah’s Witnesses (24,000) and the Orthodox Church (23,000). According to the Census, there are also some 3,700 Muslims and 1,500 Jews registered in the Czech Republic, but in reality both groups probably number several times as many.

The single largest group, however, is that consisting of the 6.1 million Czechs who don’t have any religious affiliations at all.

This, of course, does not necessarily mean they are atheists. There is a palpable interest among Czechs in transcendental questions: the Buddhist Society, for instance, has skyrocketed to 6,000 people; and the virtual army of fortune tellers, healers and clairvoyants who have popped up after 1989 are doing big business. It merely seems that most Czechs, based on their historical experience, are thoroughly sceptical of any “official” religion with a clergy that demands their prostrate obedience.

Rhombus

Just like young people all over the globe, Czech youngsters also delight in scribbling dirty words on walls and buildings. Foreigners may even understand their meaning, since some of the most frequent obscenities are in English (“Fuck off komunisty!“).

But even in this basic and rather uncomplicated area of human activity the Czechs have invented some peculiarities. Most of them are, of course, verbal (see: Cursing), but there is also one very popular symbol: a rhombus with a distinct I drawn inside. As any dirty mind will guess, it symbolizes the female genitals, which in a wider context can be translated as “fuck you”, “asshole” or “you dirty creep”.

Seen from a child’s perspective, this is a brilliant invention that allows them to scribble apparently innocent symbols and at the time express things that would have gotten children in other countries three weeks of house arrest had it been written in words. Just bear in mind that when you as a foreigner find a nice rhombus drawn in the dust on your car, it’s most probably not an attempt to make you happy with a beautiful decoration...

Photo © Terje B. Englund

Roma

On a hot summer evening in 2003, three young Moravians, who were downing beers in a hospoda in the city of Jeseník, suddenly got a bright idea. To have some “good fun”, they went to the home of a local Roma couple, a young man and his pregnant wife, kicked the door open, and then silenced the fighting Roma with a knife while they smashed the woman’s head with a hammer.

The couple survived the brutal assault, but when the local court tried the scumbags six months later, the victims were dealt another blow: all three bullies got away with a warning, because they had a clean record and, as the judge said, they were basically “nice boys”, but excessive consumption of beer had made them a bit naughty.

At first sight, this tragic incident looks like a repetition of a series of similar cases over the last decade: Romas have been physically assaulted — in at least 15 incidents even killed — and the white Czech assailants (often skinheads) have received a hair-raisingly lenient punishment from the courts. The Jeseník incident, several activists maintained, proved that the Czech Republic still tolerated violent racism towards its Roma minority.