Country Listing

Yugoslavia Table of Contents

Yugoslavia

RELIGION

YU020501.

YU020502.

YU020503.

Examples of Yugoslav religious architecture
Courtesy Chuck Sudetic

Religious affiliation in Yugoslavia was closely linked with the politics of nationality; centuries-old animosities among the country's three main religions, Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, and Islam, remained a divisive factor in 1990. Forced conversions of Orthodox Serbs to Roman Catholicism by ultranationalist Croatian priests during World War II had made a lasting impression; more recently, Serbian official spokesmen often characterized Serbian conflicts with Kosovan nationalists as a struggle between Christianity and Islam. Religious tension existed even in the most prosperous regions: in the 1980s, local politicians delayed construction of an Orthodox church in Split and a mosque in Ljubljana, both predominantly Roman Catholic cities.

Data as of December 1990