Prof. dr Zorica Kuburic,
University of Novi Sad
Faculty of Philosophy

VARIETY OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF IN THE BALKANS

Summary

Empirical researches on the Balkans suggest that there is increasing significance of the present pluralism of religious believes, as well as religious organizations. This article focuses on the analysis of answers given by respondents for questions on faith, which show similarities and differences between members of different religious communities in the Balkans. The questions raised in the article are related to believing in God, angles, Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, Salvation, Resurrection. The Balkan Monitor poll (2006), conduceted on the sample size of 9464 participants from the Balkans, shows that the religious belief is strongly present in the Balkans. The scale of one to four shows that 60% of people believe in God without any doubt, 20% in angles, and 17% in demons. Heaven is a reality for 38%, and there are 20% of people who believe in Purgatory. Believing in Resurrection, which was scanned on the sample of 1504 people in Serbia, was present in almost a half of the respondents (49%). There is no significant difference between men and women, but the differences between the members of different denominations are statistically significant and suggest that various protestant communities have most belief in Resurrection, then the Catholics, followed by the Orthodox Christians, whiile members of Judaism and Islam have least belief.

Key Words: Belief, Balkan Monitor, Future, Salvation, Resurrection.