Religion in the Lyrics of the Czech Underground

Abstract

The study analyses various types of religion manifested in the lyrics of Czech underground musicians in the 1970s and 1980s. The author primarily examines the religious, implicitly religious, and social sources of musicians and the recipient communities in religion. In the second part of the study, he focuses on the types and ways of presenting religious content. Although much of it was derived from ecclesiastical Christianity (which does not mean that it corresponded to specific confessions or religious traditions), he also notes non-Christian and alternative spiritualities parallel to any organised religion. Although the article does not pay much attention to the reception of the underground religion and its communities, the author concludes that this phenomenon was among the key manifestations of modern self-oriented spirituality in Czech society.