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Transformations of Religiosity pp 135–154Cite as

Religiosity and Bonding to the Church in East Germany in Eastern European Comparison – is East Germany Still Following a Special Path?

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Abstract

Again and again, researchers in Germany but also beyond, point out that the situation in East Germany is somewhat exceptional or, in other words, that it is a special case when it comes to matters of religion. Now, the use of the term “exceptional case“ refers to a peculiar status which can hardly be explained by other factors. But couldn’t it be that East Germany is merely an exceptional case in so far as a number of specific general conditions coincide here? In that case, is it still an exceptional case? 20 years after the major political changes it seems appropriate to take up this question once again and to test it empirically. At the same time, the question arises in how far there may have been an exceptional development in this region or whether we find that its situation is similar to that of those countries that started out under very similar conditions in a politically opened Europe 20 years ago, and that they have undergone similar trends of development.

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  1. Gert Pickel
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  1. Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Gert Pickel  & Kornelia Sammet  & 

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Pickel, G. (2012). Religiosity and Bonding to the Church in East Germany in Eastern European Comparison – is East Germany Still Following a Special Path?. In: Pickel, G., Sammet, K. (eds) Transformations of Religiosity. Veröffentlichungen der Sektion Religionssoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-93326-9_8

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