Balkan Idols: Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States

have been no heretical voices within religious institutions nor even cautious
church reforms resembling the Second Vatican Council. To be sure, religious
organizations have contributed to advocacy of human rights, charitable
work, conflict resolution, education, discussion of environmental issues, and
other praiseworthy activities. Yet these relatively modest achievements have
been overshadowed by two chief functions and “missions” of religion in our
time—as the source of mobilization and justification of extremist ethnic and
religious nationalism or fundamentalism, and the source of support and
legitimation of conservative politics.
The terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, posed
new challenges to tradiational faiths. As U.S. military forces sought the terrorists,
among whom were many clerics and practicing religious believers
who justified terror and violence by faith, the hero of the anticommunist
struggle, Pope John Paul II, convened an interfaith meeting of world religious
leaders. On January 24, at Asisi, the pope and leaders of dozens of
faiths, including Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, and others, made an
attempt to address the issue of responsibility for the rising violence inspired
by religious extremism. “Clearly, a principal motive for the pope’s convening
the gathering was the claim by the Islamic fundamentalists who carried out
the attacks on the United States that they had acted in God’s name,” reported
the New York Times. 35 On the occasion, as many times before, religious
leaders prayed for peace. Yet they did not designate religion as a source of
any specific problem or assume any responsibility.
To conclude, after the short-lived mood of triumph during the collapse of
“godless” communism in Europe, the past decade witnessed upsurges of religious
extremism and conflicts related to religion in many parts of the world.
This process accompanied the wars in the Balkans and the worsening of the
crisis in Palestine and culminated in the Islamic radicals’ attack on the United
States on September 11. Despite all, religion remains an influential factor in
our world. And while religious organizations claim their rights to influence almost
every dimension of life and society, not just spiritual life, charitable work
and culture, religious leaders hardly ever admit the responsibility of religion
for any bad things. The standard explanation is that bad things associated
with religion are “aberrations” and “misuses” of an inherently good and immutable
religious faith. However, these aberrations and misuses have been
quite frequent since the dawn of civilization to the present.
A Godly Idea in A Godless
Regime: Religion and
Yugoslav Communism
Like religion, communism and state socialism could also be described as
essentially good but “aberrant” or “utopian” ideas abused and exploited by
conclusions 223