This thesis deals with the conception of religion in texts written by the representatives of the Czech- jewish movement in the period of the first Czechoslovak republic. By analysing the literary, theoretical and journalistic texts I compose the image of religion that was received by the readers of Czech-jewish periodicals, calendars and books. This image is as manifold as the genres of the scrutinized texts are: There are contemplations on religion, nostalgic and humorous literary scenes from religious life and essays on pressing political and cultural aspects of religious question. The authors, excepting Rabbi Richard Feder, are laymen, who discuss religious question with regard to common sense and humanist ideals. Traditional Judaism belongs usually to the nostalgic memories. The main image of the ideal and universal religion, which emanates from the studied material, consists of the immediate and natural relationship of man to God and mainly of the unflagging humanity, understood as a religious value. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The Diploma thesis titled 'The Development Of The Anarchist Press In The Czech Republic Since 1991' takes the examples of magazines A-kontra and Existence to examine not only anarchist media as the representatives of the alternative media, but also the anarchist movement itself and its thought foundations. It further examines the anarchist groups active on the territory of the Czech Republic since 1991 and the press published by them. The quantitative content analysis is used to further examine the anarchist media using the examples of the magazines of A-kontra and Existence, for instance in the area of topics, and to look for the common traits with alternative media.

1 Zdeněk Štipl: The Christian Ashram Movement in India Abstract This thesis deals with the Christian Ashram Movement. The Movement represents a remarkable experiment of Christian inculturation in India, through which Christianity attempted to penetrate the cultural as well as the religious world of India. In spite of its long- lasting presence in India, approaching almost 2000 years, Christianity is still generally regarded a foreign element in the country. The story of Christian ashrams has been developing continuously throughout the 20th century and the idea of an ashram can be found in use across the various Christian denominations. First ashrams were established by the Protestant churches, especially in southern India. However, the Catholic Church got hold of the Movement in the late sixties, as a consequence of changes that were brought into the life of the Church by the Second Vatican Council. The Movement reached its peak in the seventies and eighties. At that time the number of ashrams in existence exceeded one hundred, they were found in every linguistic region of India, and the idea of a Christian ashram spread out not only to the neighbouring countries, but even across the globe. In the first chapter a brief overview of the history of Christianity in India is presented through the prism of...

It is seen on problems denominations and religious movements from many angles. After introductory part where we can find basic determination of problem and explanation of essential religions follows specification of religious movements and their main features. Next part devotes to mental manipulation and rules how to behave towards representatives of denominations. Integral part of work forms empirical research which was performed by the help of nonstandardized questionnaire at primary school in Chýnov. His object was charting of infomedness of students. Enclosures contain wording of nonstandardizes questionnaire, graphs and other documents.

Sects as a Threat Sects are both a social and religious phenomenon in contemporary society. We often hear about religiously motivated violence. Therefore, the phrase Sects as a threat is not a very suprising term. Often, there appears a situation in which sects threaten not only their members but also the whole society. Based on that, it is important to characterize them and determine where religiously motivated violence or extremism could be seen. In the introduction of the theoretical work I mention the basic terminology, explain the nature of religion and differentiate the basic religious faiths. Next, the new religious movements follow. Related to that is the legislation of churches and religious societies, their registration, rights, obligations and the like. Followingly, the religious movements which could represent a potential threat or raised public awareness by their controversial affairs are described. Despite the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses are a registered church, the thesis includes also them. I have mentioned them because the majority of respondents believe that they actually are a sect. A similar situation is with Satanism. Even they have church associations. At the same time, there sometimes happen situations, when extremist groups refer to satanism, for example after an act of violence. This phenomenon appears in far more religious movements. The next step is to sketch the negative influences of new religious movements on both an individual and society as a whole. After that the term Sect is described in detail. This part contains information on the features of particular sects, psychical manipulation methods and the ways of recruiting new members. Nevertheless, even the characteristics of sect leaders is included. What we cannot forget is the prevention of affecting of these dangerous groups and also help for the sect members who want to escape them. In the last part of the theoretical work I concentrate on The Czech Republic as a state. I describe the attitude of the state to churches and religious societies. Next, I aim at the religion policy of the state and how different govermental and nongovermental organizations participate in the problem. The thesis also deals with the rate of participation of different governmental offices, such as Home office and Culture office and also with the rate of participation of Police. The main goal of the thesis is the evaluation of the activity and threats of religious groups active both in the area of The Czech Republic and foreign countries as well. I have also dealt with a statistic qantitative research strategy using the questionaire research in both non-professional and professional public. The questions were asked in the areas possibly threatened by sects and mainly concerned the security risks of The Czech Republic related to the activities of sects. Next, the statistic evaluation of differences between non-professional and professional public awareness of the issue followed. The thesis also dealt with the analysis of available literature sources on the issue of sects. The result of the research shows a considerable difference between non-professional and professional public awareness. The thesis could be possibly used as a summary of possible risks originating in sects and can also serve as a source of information of the problem of religious groups.

The problem of new religious movements is quite a current topic. Therefore, I have decided to write my thesis about this subject. The theoretical part contains the definitions of the basic terms, the characteristics of new religious movements, their catagories and characteristics of their victims, the context of new religious movements and the law, as well as the connection of religious groups and socially-pathologic phenomena. Each of the phenomena is attached to concrete examples of the social groups involved. Both qualitative and quantitative research was employed in the practical part. The methods that have been used to obtain this information were a survey and and interview, as well as the anaylsis of the data and content. One of the files for the survey was collected in the Klatovy Region, while the other was gathered from the people of the Ceske Budejovice Region. Thus, the acquired data were compared in order to reach the aim of the work. The two aims were set based upon the secondary data and one hypothesis was declared for each. The first aim, which was `to find out the public opinion on the problems of new religious movement{\crq}, was connected with the hypothesis `although the public is not sufficiently informed about the religious cults in the region, they are perceived as negative{\crq}. The other aim was to map the socially-pathological phenomena connected with the activity of the movements in these particular regions. Regarding that research, which was qualitative, the hypothesis was declared on the ground of the acquired data. Hypothesis No. 1 was verified. Based on an interview with local policemen, the other hypothesis was set: Although information about the socially-pathological phenomena connected with the activity of the movements reached the public, the Police of the Czech Republic do not have evidence of any crime of that character in the given regions. A booklet was put together, based upon the acquired information, giving the overall information about new religious movements, their characteristics and possible risks. In my opinion, the aim of my thesis was met. The research showed that the public awareness of new religious cults is rather low and the information is mostly distorted. The results of my work may serve as further insight into this problem and, threby it may become a stimulus to raise the state of awareness in this sphere.

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The main topic of the thesis is the religious development of Pilsen at the times of the First Republic (1918-1938), which is understood as the development of the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, the Czechoslovak Church and the Non-believers' Movement. The aim is to introduce individual religious entities, to show their mutual interaction and their ability to influence the surrounding society. The influence of religion is observed throughout the society, from the communal politics through the school education to the regional identity. This is all happening on the background of complex social processes (demographical, economic, cultural, political and social) that are properly taken into account. Another important topic of this work is the ability of religious organizations to respond adequately to the new challenges that emerge with these processes. The regional data identified are compared to similar urban areas and the rest of the country. Religious development in Pilsen should not only give evidence of the city itself, but also about the First Czechoslovak Republic as such. Key words: Czechoslovakia, First Republic, Pilsen, religion, social movement

There are two main parts in this thesis. In the first one, we are focused on different approaches to the relationship of religion and government. We point out the influence of religion (both positive and negative) on individual. These issues are viewed from the perspective of some famous theories. For example: G.S. Becker's Accounting for Tastes, F. A. Hayek's theory of spontaneous order, H. Bergson's philosophy or M. Weber's sociology of religion. The second part analyses situation in Czech Republic and compares it to situations in Austria and Sweden. There are appendixes, which can be used as bases for new research.

Presented thesis focuses on civil society within the context of ongoing processes of globalization. The core of disputed issues lies in creation of relationships between the actors of civil society (with stress on alter-globalization movement) and institutions of international governance (with accent on multilateral economic institutions -- WB, IMF, WTO). The thesis analyzes concepts of (global) civil society and functions which civil society fulfills in relations to centres of political power -- traditionally towards the state, currently also towards international governance institutions. It deals also with preconditions of creation and existence of global civil society (post-material middle-class, cosmopolitism and the role of the internet). Theoretical chapters are supported by empirical datas which are analysed especially regarding alter-globalist discourse, self-definition of the actors and current state of relationships between civil society and WB, IMF and WTO. Applied research shows that these institutions open themselves to the control of public and civil society (although with different pace) in levels of transparency, accountability and access, and thus civil society contributes to their democratization.