Tract distribution

Today, we started distribution of the "Judgement Day" (Soudný Den?) tracts to the apartments just north of us. Please remember to pray for those who will be receiving them.

Spring is finally here

Brno, Apr 3 (BD) – For most people in the city, the most pleasant seasons are spring and summer, when azure blue skies and comfortable temperatures become the norm.
Today, we can expect a high of 16°C and sunny skies with variable clouds, according to Accuweather, the popular weather website and app. The hottest days of the week will be Wednesday and Sunday, with highs of 18°C and 19°C respectively.
Except for occasional showers on Thursday, we will see mainly sunny weather. It would be wise to take advantage of the pleasant weather conditions and get some fresh air, as the following week is not expected to be as balmy, according to forecasts. The second half of next week will bring rain, and daytime highs are only supposed to reach 13°C.
According to the weather forecasting website timeanddate.com, the average daily high temperature in April is 16°C, and the average low is 5°C. According to that same website, the mean April temperature is 10 °C, with 13.1 mm of precipitation and a humidity of 64%. In contrast, the average daily high in the month of March is 9°C.

The religious setting of the Czech Republic

The religious setting of the Czech Republic

Brno Daily  March 22, 2018  Adapted from an article written for Brno Expat Centre by Ricky Yates. Title image: Casadei Graphics.     

Palm Sunday is this weekend, so this week Brno Expat Centre (BEC) is publishing their updated infosheet on Christianity in the Czech Republic as well as religious services for both Christian and other major religions.

The Czech Republic is frequently described as one of the most atheistic countries in Europe. However, the unwillingness of Czechs to answer census questions about religious denomination may result in an underestimate of the number of religious Czechs. While it is true that the Czech Republic is relatively irreligious, religion has played an integral role in its history.

For example, St. Cyril and St. Methodius created an alphabet which allowed the language of the Slavic people to be written down for the first time. Jan Hus, who inspired what is known as the Bohemian Reformation, was also responsible for the introduction of diacritics into Czech spelling.

The crushing of the Bohemian Reformation movement in 1620 under the Habsburgs led to the international diffusion of the works of the last Bishop of the Unity of Brethren (Bohemian Brethren), Jan Amos Comenius, an educational reformer whose methods were far ahead of their time.

After World War Two, the Church and its followers experienced a very hard period under the Communist regime. The Church itself suffered oppression, and individuals were subjected to judicial and less institutionalized murder, imprisonment and torture, and to severe and systematic discrimination.

In 2012, more than twenty years after the Velvet Revolution, the oppressed churches were granted final restitution of assets, or financial compensation for what could no longer be returned.

  Czechs and their attitude to faith / religion / church

Today, the average Czech often complains that churches are not very welcoming to newcomers. One reason for this is past communist oppression, which resulted in church congregations suspecting outsiders of being informers.

The second reason is the attitude that those who decide to come to church should already ‘know what to do’. Yet there is now an almost completely un-churched generation who cannot be expected to ‘know what we do in church’.

This negative perception is frequently reinforced by the local media, which emphasize the very stereotypes that people dislike at the expense of reporting on beneficial church activities or churches that are welcoming and growing.

Nevertheless, religious freedom and free expression of faith are now not only guaranteed by law, but also generally respected as a personal (albeit private) right, i.e. Czechs do not mind if someone is a believer as long as their faith is not forced on others around them…