"The Catholic religion continues to have a great influence on Spanish culture". This was stated by Astrid Grue, an anthropologist from the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), on the occasion of a seminar that she gave together with her colleague Heiko Henkelat the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra. The activity was organized by the project "Religion and Civil Society".

The Danish expert affirmed that this presence of Catholicism continues to be strong despite the fact that it has been losing ground in the public sphere, a factor she blamed on the Church's involvement in political issues during the 20th century. A different context, she said, would probably have influenced how society perceives Catholic identity today and would have favored the expression of Catholic visions in the public sphere. 

Religious and secular varieties in Europe

These statements by Grue are part of the research study he is conducting together with anthropologist Heiko Henkel on religious and secular varieties in Spain, Denmark and Turkey, which they presented at the ICS. Henkel explained that they had selected these three countries because of "the way in which the majority religions interact with the national tradition. In the case of Spain, there is Catholicism; in Denmark, Protestantism; and in Turkey, Islam".

In this connection, Henkel pointed out that "in Denmark, religion was incorporated into the state after the Protestant Reformation, so religion and state are not two separate traditions. In Spain, religion is outside the state. The case of Turkey is interesting because of its ambivalence, religion is both inside and outside the state."

Both Astrid Grue and Heiko Henkel work at department Anthropology at the University of Copenhagen. Henkel is a specialist on topics such as the religiosity of citizens, Protestantism in Denmark and Islam in Turkey. Grue, on the other hand, is doing his thesis on Catholicism in Spain and, in particular, on Opus Dei.