Sazetak

Abstract

The diversity of relations between the state and religion in the European Union reflects the diversity of national cultures and identities. Different systems have common roots in the basic experiences of common history and the fact that Christianity is a completely dominant religion on the ground of Europe. However, recent contributions from Islam and Judaism to European culture cannot be ignored. These two religions today are important factors in most EU member states. At the same time there is abundance of small religious communities and churches.

The diversity of models of mutual relations between the state and religion is mainly due to various outcomes of religious reformation and religious wars in the 16th and 17th centuries. While some countries, such as Spain and Portugal, have remained outside these events in some other countries reformation has won almost completely and sometimes established a system limited to the existence of a state church. In those countries where there were different religious communities of approximately equal strengths in Germany and the Netherlands, the results were different but equally significant.The new EU member states bring their specific experiences and needs in terms of regulating these relations. Particularly interesting is the case of former communist countries. State interference in religion and against religion, the role of religion in the process of transition and the question of restitution enrich the general historical experience. This paper presents the main models of arrangement of relations between the state and religion in the three countries of the European Union: Spain, Greece and Denmark.

Keywords: state, religion, European Union, culture