The first day of the international conference “The Dynamics of Secularism, (Anti)Clericalism, Theology, and Science in Southeastern and Central Europe”, organised by the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Montenegro, took place on 28 September 2024 in the coastal town of Petrovac, Montenegro. The event opened with a keynote lecture by Hugh McLeod, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Birmingham and Fellow of the British Academy, titled “New Paths to Salvation in Modern Europe: A Religion of Sport?” McLeod’s lecture provided a thought-provoking analysis of the role modern sports associations play in sociopolitical spheres, traditionally occupied by religious institutions.
Following the keynote, the first panel, “Exploring Secularism and Religion in Montenegro’s Historical and Modern Context”, featured three presentations: Vuk Uskoković (European University Institute, Florence) presented “Early Modern Secularism in Montenegro: The Spiritual/Temporal Divide in the Rhetoric and Praxis of Bishop Daniel of Cetinje (d. 1735)”, Emil Hilton Saggau (Lund University) discussed “Nationalisation of the Sacred: A Paradigm to Understand the Role of Religion in the Public Sphere in Montenegro”, and Thomas Griffiths (King’s College London) offered insights with “National Indifference & Culture War: New Perspectives on National Contestation in Montenegro.”
The second panel, “Secularism, Atheism, and Cultural Heritage: Education and Identity in South-Eastern Europe”, included Teodoritschka Gotovska-Henze (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) with her paper “Introducing Secular Education in Religious and Culturally Diverse Societies: Slovak-Bulgarian Parallels”, Gašper Mithans & Mateja Režek (Science and Research Centre, Koper) with “The Truth About Religion is Revealed by History and Science: Atheism and Anticlericalism in School Education in Socialist Slovenia”, and Branko Banović & Miloš Milenković (Serbian Academy of Sciences and University of Belgrade) with their joint presentation “Bridging the Gap Between Academic Research and the Practice of Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding: A Case Study on the Underrepresentation of Minority Elements in Montenegro’s Register of Cultural Property.”
The third panel, “Secularism, Catholicism, and the ‘Other’: Rethinking Religious and Constitutional Identities in Central Europe”, included presentations by Maria Roginska (University of the National Education Commission, Kraków) on “Imagining the Sacred: Soviet Materialism and Its Impact on Science-Based Religious Imaginary in Poland and Ukraine”, Michał Warchala (University of the National Education Commission, Kraków) with “After Catholicism, or How to Conceptualize the Religious Situation in Poland”, and Marietta van der Tol (University of Oxford), who delivered “The Fashioning of ‘The Other’ in Europe’s Constitutional Repertoires: The Cases of Poland and Hungary.”
The final panel of the day, “Representations of Secularism Across Eastern Europe and Beyond: From Science Fiction to Caricature”, featured Olaf Blaschke (University of Münster) with “Caricatures as Indicators and Factors for the Dynamics of Secularism in the 19th and 20th Century”, Hauke Riesch (Brunel University London) with “Science, Spirituality, and Science Education in Eastern European Science Fiction”, and Turkay Gasimova (European University Institute) with “Secularism as a Political Doctrine Beyond the West: Origins of Secularism in the Russian Empire.”
The day concluded with a book promotion for the Montenegrin edition of Political Theology: A Critical Introduction by Saul Newman, with presentations by the author and Anton Markoč, the translator of the book.
This conference was organised as part of the project “Beyond the Anticlerical Paradigm: Rethinking Secularism in Contemporary Montenegro”, supported by a grant from the University of Oxford.
