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A woman hold a poster urging people to commit formal acts of apostasy to renounce their faith.
Thousands of people across Poland have made formal acts of apostasy to renounce their religious beliefs. Photograph: Krzysztof Zatycki/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
Thousands of people across Poland have made formal acts of apostasy to renounce their religious beliefs. Photograph: Krzysztof Zatycki/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Poland activists urge people to think before ticking Catholic box in census

This article is more than 3 years old

Campaigners hope more accurate picture of country’s makeup will challenge government narrative of near-universal Catholicism

Activists in Poland are asking people to consider if they are truly Roman Catholic when filling out a national census, hoping a more accurate picture of the country’s makeup will challenge a government narrative of near-universal Catholicism.

In the previous census, completed a decade ago, 96% of respondents claimed they were Roman Catholic. This has been used by the rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party to justify a series of controversial hardline changes it supports, including stopping public funding of IVF treatments and a near-total ban on abortion.

However, campaigners believe the census was wrong and claim that people tick the box automatically or because many young residents have their census filled in by their parents. They intend to challenge the assumed religious hegemony for the country’s 2021 census, which will close at the end of September.

“I want to count” is a social media campaign that seeks to encourage Polish residents to choose alternative answers such as “Christian”, “Atheist”, or “Deist”. The effort has been endorsed by the National Women’s Strike, the group behind the nationwide pro-choice protests, and various LGBT+ rights groups.

“The census from 10 years ago presents a very monolithic and homogenous Poland,” said Oskar Żyndul, the campaign’s leader, “while so many people in Poland do not go to church – even according to church’s own data, only 28% of Poles attend mass”.

The Catholic church had enjoyed considerable political and social authority in Poland following the fall of Communism in 1989, having played a key role in dismantling the old regime. At that time, restrictions on abortions and publicly funded classes for Catholic teaching, the catechism, in all state schools were quickly introduced.

However, the religion appears to be quickly losing currency among Poles – especially those under 30 – with thousands across the country committing formal acts of apostasy to renounce their religious beliefs.

“Paradoxically, people who grew up with catechism classes at school are the least religious,” said Monika Mazurek, a sociology professor at the University of Gdansk. She added that the recent abortion ban and the accompanying protests had acted as a catalyst that prompted many to rethink their formal affiliation with the church.

Mazurek said she was not sure that the loss of respect for church institutions would necessarily translate to a shift in the way people identify, as many see themselves as “officially” Catholic regardless of privately-held beliefs. “Catholicism in Poland is mostly cultural,” she said.

“In the private sphere people have stopped attending church … however, the public sphere is still dominated by Catholic traditions.”

However, according to the census campaign, even a significant minority of declared non-Catholics could have tangible political effects. “When officially we only have a small, 4% group [of non-Catholics], it can appear that this group does not have a voice and does not have the right to make political demands,” Żyndul said.

“If we can show that there are more of these people, then perhaps progressive bills and ideas will be proposed with more conviction.”

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