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talkpoliticsA recent survey has found that the bulk of my people believe in God but don't go to church, or only enter one around major holidays. (Sorry, it's in a language you may find incomprehensible).
In other words, my people could generally be defined as "believers, but not religious".
And that's great.
There are people who believe the crisis of Christian identity around these latitudes is the core reason for most problems of our modern societies. There are such people even in positions of power, by the way. As an example, a few days ago the smaller party within the ruling coalition, the nationalists reiterated their demand that religion classes should be reinstated in school (this hasn't been done since WW2). Somehow they seem to believe we'll solve all our problems this way, and eliminate the aggression and sociopathy that has marred our society ever since the end of commie times. They think this would restore morality, and give youngsters a new purpose in life. Sound familiar?
Fortunately, so far my people have managed to keep this sort of nonsense far away from themselves. Because they've always instinctively known what's really important and valuable in life, and what's just dogma imposed from outside, one that we've learned to live with but which we somehow don't recognize as useful to ourselves.
This is the 21st century. I think it's time everyone realized what times we live in. I'd argue my people have never been truly religious. Sure, they've always believed in God, but they've done it in their own unique way. God for them has mostly been some sort of power, an energy if you like, a social energy, and each member of my society has chosen to respect it and believe in it and accept it in their own individual way, not the way some dogmatic institution like the church would want to impose upon them. My people do visit the church occasionally, but not because of the clergy or even the ritual - they do it because it's part of their national tradition. They respect the institution, but it doesn't define their social life the way it does in many other similar societies.
In other words, Bulgarians don't need some priest to tell them how to respect what they believe in, or what to believe in, or how to interpret it. They don't go to church because they need a doctrine to set them rules, restrictions or punishments. They don't need someone to declare them sinful and flawed for not visiting the temple or not fasting or not marrying "in front of God", or not baptizing their children. Because they know they follow what has been defined as "moral" by the 10 commandments not because they've been recorded in some old book, but because deep inside they realize these are universal human values that people have believed in for thousands of years, ones that will probably remain valid for thousands more.
Contrary to what our politicians and historians want to convince in, my nation hasn't survived through centuries of turmoil, yoke and oppression thanks to their religion. They've survived through their difficult times because of their faith - that faith that respects what's right, without being restricted by either their own or any other people, a faith in what's at the core of goodness, love and freedom. And this has absolutely nothing to do with the church or the clergy. These might have been helpful at times, granted, but in fact they've never been a driving factor for our national spirit.
This spirit needs its roots of course, but these are not in the church - they're in believing "in our own way". The Bulgarian people has always been peculiar and stubborn. We do many things the opposite way to everyone else, often deliberately. Just to remind you that we nod our heads for No and shake them for Yes. None of this has caused us any obstacles, because we follow what we believe is right, not what we've been told by some authority. Even such a powerful and influential institution like the church has had to cope with our stubborn character if it were to have any chance of being accepted. We've developed our unique local form of Orthodox Christianity, which has been compelled to incorporate all our pagan pre-Christian traditions and rites, and merge itself with them if it were to be accepted and tolerated. This is what's made our form of Christianity unique.
And this is great too. The result of this survey shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our people have always known that faith is something deeply personal, and so they've distanced themselves from institutional religion. They only tolerate it as much as it has helped hold our identity together, but it has never been central to it. Despite all its attempts to put a noose on our nose, despite all the efforts from priests and bishops and patriarchs, many of whom have proven themselves morally unworthy (long story).
There's no better way than keeping following our own understanding of the values we ourselves feel are important, and teach the following generations of that. We've done this choice a long time ago, and that's what we should cherish and be proud of - not nominally adhering to this religious denomination or the other.
In other words, my people could generally be defined as "believers, but not religious".
And that's great.
There are people who believe the crisis of Christian identity around these latitudes is the core reason for most problems of our modern societies. There are such people even in positions of power, by the way. As an example, a few days ago the smaller party within the ruling coalition, the nationalists reiterated their demand that religion classes should be reinstated in school (this hasn't been done since WW2). Somehow they seem to believe we'll solve all our problems this way, and eliminate the aggression and sociopathy that has marred our society ever since the end of commie times. They think this would restore morality, and give youngsters a new purpose in life. Sound familiar?
Fortunately, so far my people have managed to keep this sort of nonsense far away from themselves. Because they've always instinctively known what's really important and valuable in life, and what's just dogma imposed from outside, one that we've learned to live with but which we somehow don't recognize as useful to ourselves.
This is the 21st century. I think it's time everyone realized what times we live in. I'd argue my people have never been truly religious. Sure, they've always believed in God, but they've done it in their own unique way. God for them has mostly been some sort of power, an energy if you like, a social energy, and each member of my society has chosen to respect it and believe in it and accept it in their own individual way, not the way some dogmatic institution like the church would want to impose upon them. My people do visit the church occasionally, but not because of the clergy or even the ritual - they do it because it's part of their national tradition. They respect the institution, but it doesn't define their social life the way it does in many other similar societies.
In other words, Bulgarians don't need some priest to tell them how to respect what they believe in, or what to believe in, or how to interpret it. They don't go to church because they need a doctrine to set them rules, restrictions or punishments. They don't need someone to declare them sinful and flawed for not visiting the temple or not fasting or not marrying "in front of God", or not baptizing their children. Because they know they follow what has been defined as "moral" by the 10 commandments not because they've been recorded in some old book, but because deep inside they realize these are universal human values that people have believed in for thousands of years, ones that will probably remain valid for thousands more.
Contrary to what our politicians and historians want to convince in, my nation hasn't survived through centuries of turmoil, yoke and oppression thanks to their religion. They've survived through their difficult times because of their faith - that faith that respects what's right, without being restricted by either their own or any other people, a faith in what's at the core of goodness, love and freedom. And this has absolutely nothing to do with the church or the clergy. These might have been helpful at times, granted, but in fact they've never been a driving factor for our national spirit.
This spirit needs its roots of course, but these are not in the church - they're in believing "in our own way". The Bulgarian people has always been peculiar and stubborn. We do many things the opposite way to everyone else, often deliberately. Just to remind you that we nod our heads for No and shake them for Yes. None of this has caused us any obstacles, because we follow what we believe is right, not what we've been told by some authority. Even such a powerful and influential institution like the church has had to cope with our stubborn character if it were to have any chance of being accepted. We've developed our unique local form of Orthodox Christianity, which has been compelled to incorporate all our pagan pre-Christian traditions and rites, and merge itself with them if it were to be accepted and tolerated. This is what's made our form of Christianity unique.
And this is great too. The result of this survey shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Our people have always known that faith is something deeply personal, and so they've distanced themselves from institutional religion. They only tolerate it as much as it has helped hold our identity together, but it has never been central to it. Despite all its attempts to put a noose on our nose, despite all the efforts from priests and bishops and patriarchs, many of whom have proven themselves morally unworthy (long story).
There's no better way than keeping following our own understanding of the values we ourselves feel are important, and teach the following generations of that. We've done this choice a long time ago, and that's what we should cherish and be proud of - not nominally adhering to this religious denomination or the other.
