Page:The Czechoslovak Review, vol3, 1919.djvu/47



During the long years of the greatest war of the ages the dominating question in the minds of the majority of men was to crush the tyrannical and autocratic powers and peoples who usurped the right to destroy and subjugate the nations of the world and eliminate all principles of true democracy in all lines of human endeavor. The hectic struggle began in 1914, and gradually, with the rapidity of a devouring conflagration, it spread practically over all the countries of the world, so that it really be came a struggle for national existence of those nations that allied themselves in a common cause of righteous principles against an inimical array of nations bent upon ruling the world by a long previous preparation of brute force. The unhappy struggle began, and fortunately, thanks to the Almighty, is ended with a complete victory of the true principles of just democracy.

However, the great war has left upon the minds of the people a scar of evil. Brute force to be conquered had to be met by like methods. Nations that have quietly pursued their religious, social, political, educational and commercial interest previously to the great war were compelled to abandon them and were thrown into a murderous conflict with a system of Germanic militarism to safeguard their lives, wealth and national integrity. Thrown from their peaceful pursuits into the throes of war, seeing millions of human beings killed and wounded, seeing cities destroyed, women and children maltreated, witnessing whole sale rapine and murder, these millions of human beings forgot their peaceful pursuits, their homes and their better nature and were swayed by the evil effects brought on by long and cruel wars. In one respect the religious inclinations of the war-afflicted peoples create a situation well worth one’s attention and study. This article is limited to a brief study of after-war religious conditions in the newest of the worlds republics, that of Czechoslovakia.

The Czechs, MraviansMoravians [sic] and Silesians and all other nationalities of the Kingdom of Bohemia as it existed under the Austro-Hungarian government, as well as the Slovaks of Hungary, are confronted as a result of the war with the question of separation of Church and State. It must be admitted by thinking men that the effect of this change will have a tremendous influence upon the religious inclinations of the people involved. The importance of stabilizing religion in the new Czecho-Slovak Republic is attracting the attention of all the civilized nations, where this question, recognized as most important for the tranquillity of national life, does not require any radical change from its pre-war status.

How will the Czechoslovaks in their newly gained independence respect the rights of individuals to religious freedom? This and similar questions have been asked of political representatives of the new nation long before the independence of Czechoslovakia had been recognized by the principal allied nations. The answers given have shown that the men who guided the fortunes of the newly forming republic have had not only political welfare of the nation at heart, but also realized that the delicate question must be given proper and due attention. They realized that the mind of the world must be satisfied on this point, if the Czechoslovaks are to be considered as a nation truly matured for self-government. A retrospective view into the history of religion in the former Kingdom of Bohemia, proves conclusively in this particular instance as it always did in the past, that religion has been the cause of more national strife and international conflicts, than perhaps any other known existing cause.

The ninth century witnessed the introduction of Christianity into Bohemia and Moravia by the great and saintly apostles of the Slavs, St. Cyrill and Methodius, who showed heroic virtues in their evangelization of the Czechs. Slav rulers, the Bohemian duke Bořivoj, Moravian grand duke Svatopluk, Bořivoj's wife, saintly Ludmila, and most of their relations were baptized in the Catholic faith. Bořivoj's and Ludmila's grandson Václav, the sainted King of Bohemia, was a model of religious per-