God in Albania

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Albania is unique. This statement may seem exaggerated in many ways, but it certainly applies to the area of religion, at least in the European context. Nowhere else on the continent do so many religions exist side by side: Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islam and the Bektashi Dervish order, plus a small Jewish community and, more recently, neo-Protestant cults. But what makes Albania genuinely unique is its state atheism. From 1967 until the fall of the communist regime, all religions were banned. So how can this diversity be explained? And what does it mean for Albanian culture and the way Albania perceives itself today?

As the photographs in this book show, Albania is religiously diverse, and its people and their options and decisions regarding religion are also varied. However, this diversity must not be allowed to lead to the exoticisation of Albania. Stereotypes of all kinds should be met with some scepticism, and similarly, in the present day, the statements of religious officials, who like to exaggerate their importance. Albania lies at crossroads of influences on its citizens from both very secular and religiously radicalized societies around the Mediterranean. Albanians are a trans-territorial ethnic group. Many live in European and American countries, but few live in Islamic countries. When Albanians vote with their feet, the roads lead to Rome, to Athens, to Munich, to Zurich, but much less to Istanbul, Riyadh or other capitals of Islamic states. It is also true that old, textbook certainties about Albanian religion and religiosity no longer apply. But then why shouldn't the Albanians in this world of radical transformation also change?

Oliver Jens Schmitt