Civil religion in Albania: A historical, cultural and qualitative analysis

According to Bellah (1991), American civil religion is an independent belief system with its own sacred symbols, not based on any specific denomination or church doctrine. Initially studied in the U.S. within the context of secularism and political discourse, the concept has since been explored in countries such as the UK, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Israel, and Nigeria. This study aims to examine the manifestations of civil religion in Albania at historical, cultural, and societal levels. In the first stage, traces of civil religion and cultural motifs in modern Albanian history were analyzed through a civil-religious theopolitical lens. The second stage explored to what extent Albanians experience or adopt civil religion and where it lies on a spectrum between discrimination and integration. Using purposive and maximum variation sampling, in-depth online interviews were conducted with 26 participants based on five key themes. The data were analyzed using MAXQDA. Historical findings show that the idea of civil religion, famously expressed by Pashko Vasa's phrase "The religion of Albanians is Albanianism," was later used by Enver Hoxha during the communist era to justify anti-religious policies. In the post-1990s era, civil religion's political influence diminished, but it retained social significance. Three levels of civil religion were identified: historically, national values were sanctified independently of religion; politically, a European-compatible Albanian identity was promoted, often accompanied by discriminatory rhetoric toward Islam; socially, civil religion played a partially integrative role. At the individual-level dimension of civil religion, some aspects aligned with the American model, while the relational (positional) dimension found no reflection. This research, the first of its kind in Albania, reveals that civil religion is experienced differently than in the U.S. and offers a cross-cultural perspective. It is hoped that the study will serve as a foundation for an interdisciplinary model in future civil religion research.