"If the main pillar of the system is living a lie, then it is not surprising that the fundamental threat to it is living the truth," Vaclav Havel wrote. "This is why it must be suppressed more severely than anything else." For writing such words, Havel ended up in a jail cell. From the very same Prague jail cell, I read those words, which had the power to transform a Communist secret police dungeon into a hostel catering to tourists. Read my piece @ FrontPageMag on how a vibrant Prague stands as one of many legacies of one of the towering figures of the twentieth century.

Vibrant, save for its former Christian heritage. The churches are nice places to hear a concert, or to see some pretty pictures. For mass or actual worship - not so much. A Catholic colleague of mine, finding himself in Prague on a Sunday, tried in vain to find directions to or even the name of the local church. He tried the concierge, and countless others, and was eventually told by one of the natives that if you want to find an operational Catholic church, "ask an old woman". He did, and received excellent directions/times. No one else even understood why the hell he was asking.

I found it interesting on one trip that a beautiful Catholic chruch that I attended in Prague had about 15 people at mass. It was certainly a structure more impressive than just about any church in the U.S. When I went to church the next week in Krakow--on Saturday no less--the place was standing room only several minutes before mass started. One culture retained the faith despite Nazi and Communist occupation; the other didn't. Perhaps the homogeneous nature of Poland's Christianity explains why it endures there but doesn't in Prague, where I think there were numerous Christian sects vying for the public's allegiance before the evangelical athiests bearing red flags stomped it all out.

I should also note that the link to my article has been fixed. I had mistakenly linked to the second page of the two-part piece. It now goes to page one (and it's up to you to click through to read page two).

The Czechs had a reputation for irreligion long before the Communist regime came along.

Since the 15th century, a long conflict had gone on between the followers of Jan Hus (who was a sort of proto-Protestant) and the Catholic Church. The conflict pitted the pro-Catholic imperial authorities against the Hussites, whose motivations were often as much nationalistic as theological. The heavy-handedness of the Catholic and imperial authorities had the effect of alienating large numbers of Czechs from religion, and by the 19th century, the Czechs had acquired a reputation for anticlericalism and "Freethought." No doubt these tendencies made it easier for the Communists to slap down religious dissent when they came to power after World War II.

The whole thing can be read as an object lesson about the use of the coercive power of the state to enforce religious orthodoxy.

By contrast, the Slovaks remained Catholic.

Seems like you left out a bunch of stuff....

Czechs were the original bohemians, as in from Bohemia.