The Role of the State in the Repression and Revival of Religiosity in Central Eastern Europe

The aim of this article is to present two different roles of the state affecting individuals’ religiosity. First, we provide evidence for the effectiveness of socialist regimes in influencing citizens’ opinions by comparing religious beliefs among several generations of Eastern Europeans. Second, the article explores whether the democratization process in Eastern Europe led to a revival of religiosity by applying two strands of reasoning from the secularization framework: Berger’s theory of plausibility structures (Berger 1969) and Norris and Inglehart’s (2004) existential security hypothesis. The results show that due to an increased plausibility structure created by the democratic states a slight religious revival can be observed in several postcommunist countries.