Psychology of Nationalism and Religion on Example of Serbi-an Orthodox Church for a Period 1980-2000 (At the End of 20th Century)

Abstract

This paper is to show nationalism through psychological perspective as a world's widespread phenomenon which impacts to internal social, economic and political radical changes. Religion as a nationalism itself has an ideological structure, and there is a fundamental explanation for that.  Religion, because of its eternal character, has an exclusive, omnipresent pattern with its constituent elements (religious beliefs and feelings, rituals and symbols, as well as the fifth element) – and finally clergy, that psychologically fulfil human spiritual needs. Influenced by, usually, unpleasant historical events and many social changes, religion very often played a role in maintaining some visions that have always been of special significance to human. Process of secularization brought to religion marginalized position in society and it was reduced mainly to its elementary activity (in Christianity, those would be ceremonies related to baptism, matrimony, burial). However, its ideological postulates remained in the function of the new secular environment and manifested themselves with recognizable religious characteristics, which is given in the paper through a theoretical psychological approach.