Page:The religious conditions in Czechoslovakia.djvu/6

 members of the Reformed Church suffered racial oppression just as the Catholic majority. In Carpathian Ruthenia the Uniates were likewise Magyarised and the Orthodox movement was oppressed. The Jews had succeeded in gaining the favour of the Hungarian and Viennese authorities.

To-day, with ecclesiastical liberty prevailing, the conditions have changed, and particularly upon the historical territories, those who did not believe that the religious question is a very important one for our nation are now compelled to change their opinion.

If we compare the figures of the official census for 1910 and 1921 (we have no detailed figures showing how the conditions in the Churches changed during the individual years), we see that during the existence of the Republic the Czechoslovak Church has been established with 525,333 members, who with few exceptions have seceded from the Catholic Church, and according to all accounts the number to-day is much greater. During the same period the number of persons who left the Catholic Church is 724,507 (with the other Churches such cases were few) and these persons remain without religious denomination. Under Austria in 1910 the number of persons without denomination upon the historical territories was only 12,981; of the above-mentioned number 6,818 belong to Slovakia and 1,174 to Carpathian Ruthenia.

The Catholic Church (Uniate) in Carpathian Ruthenia was also reduced in numbers; under Hungary in 1910 the number of members of the Orthodox Church in that area was 558, while in 1921 it was 60,986.

Side by side with this considerable increase of the Czechoslovak and Orthodox Churches a considerable increase of all the Protestant Churches can likewise be noted, but this applies to the Czech population, the increase among the Germans having been negligible. In 1910 the number of Reformed and Lutheran Czechs upon the historical territories was 157,067 (Germans 153,612), while in 1921 there were 231,199 (Germans 153,767). Thus there was a very considerable increase among our Protestants.

Similarly, there was an increase of members also in the smaller Churches, mainly among the Unity of Brethren, the number of whom increased from 1,022 to 3,933; the Free Reformed Church (Congregationalists) increased from 2,497 to 5,511; the Baptists from 4,292 to 9,360; while the number of Methodists is at present 1,455.

The number of Protestants of various denominations and all nationalities in the Republic is now almost a million (990,319).