national populism and slovak – hungarian relations in - MEK

miroslav kocúr:For God and Nation: Christian NationalPopulismOn the outside, religiously defined communities 1 that dwell within civilsociety cannot be distinguished from other social organizations, associationsor societies; on the inside, though, they are glued together by the supernaturalelement of shared belief in deity.Their internal order is derived directly from the Bible or secondary religiousliterature by important figures of church history. Besides organizationalpurpose, these regulations are supposed to lead community membersto moral integrity and impeccability. Based on precisely stipulated sanctions,their observance of the internal order may even be enforced to a certaindegree, although this degree is rather limited nowadays. Even the greatestsanction today that in some cases may amount to excommunication ishardly comparable to coercive measures used in the time of Giordano Brunoor Master Jan Hus.In civil society, church membership is perceived as a voluntary and freedecision of its individual members; however, primary social networks ofchurch members largely stem out of shared religious beliefs. The moraldimension of religious belief ensuing from being organized in church andits ethical implications may have unexpected consequences for church members.Government respects the internal order of religious communities andrefrains from meddling in any way even with regulations whose nature maybe discriminatory in terms of civil legislation. 2 They are simply consideredinternal regulations of religious communities that are accepted by theirmembers based on their conviction.The interaction between society and religious communities nears zero asboth parties live their own, largely separate lives; however, ethical requirementsof churches and religious communities regularly encounter with soci-National Populism and Slovak – Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006 – 2009. Forum Minority Research Institute Šamorín – Somorja, 2009221