Stanislaw OBIREK
Professor at LódzUniversity
Institute of International Studies
Faculty of International and Political Studies
UNIVERSITY OF LODZ
Constituting Community: the shifting boundaries of time and motive
Summary
To be a part of a community is the most obvious and natural experience of human being. Family, school, church, city or town, and state are the places where we become who we are. Different ways of belonging change but the essence remains. As individuals we were a part of communities which were not chosen by us but were inherited, we were born in one particular group and in the past we also died in the same group. But today we live in a liquid society, to use the term coined by Zygmunt Bauman, with all the consequences of this new situation. We change our belonging to groups including our belonging to religious communities. In pluralistic societies this phenomenon is well known and accepted but in homogenous ones these changes is connected with several problems. Poland belongs to the second group.
In my paper I will focus my attention on the religious and political communities in Poland. The present situation in this country is full of unexpected changes. Two spheres are the most unpredictable – politics and religion. The economical situation in Poland, after a period of dramatic changes in the first years of free market, has reached a certain degree of stabilization. However,politics or politicians and religion or representatives of the Catholic Church are sources for growing concern. It is surprising because, especially in the recent past – the time of transformation, the Church’s presence in politics was seen not only positively but also was perceived as vitally needed. Today this institution is unable to face the challenges of fundamental questions of modern society and promotes a very traditional model of devotion. What are the reasons for this situation? The answer is not easy. It seems to me that one of the reasons for this new position of religion in the public sphere is a strong feeling of resentment of some politicians and public figures, who claim to be the only true representatives of Poland – naturally Catholic only. We can find similar feelings of resentment among relatively large and influential group of clergy.
We can even say that this resentment has a particular shape today – it is a kind of revenge of the “victims” (or better, of people who perceive themselves as victims). In a recent book written by David Ost on the failure of “Solidarity” movement the American sociologist argues that there was a lack of communication between itsleaders and the workers. The later were left to their destiny by the leaders, who didn’t make any attempt to explain them the nature of the transformation process. This lack of communication, and even patronizing attitude led to the present situation. It seems to me that the negative role of the Catholic Church has to be included. Not because the Church as such is destructive, but because her leaders refuse to accept the limited role of their institution in a democratic and pluralistic society. They not onlypolarize the Polish societybut also force concrete solutions without taking account of the pluralistic structure of the modern state. One more reason is an intense political involvement of clergy, for example of the fundamentalist, conservative, nationalistic, and anti-Semite“Radio Maria”. Its charismatic leader Fr. Tadeusz Rydzyk runs this catholic radio station.
I would like to focus my attention on some reasons and motivations why Poles join or leave certain groups, and on the consequences they face making such decisions.
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