Abstract
With the advent of a legitimate, democratic state in Poland it is necessary not only to reconsider the traditional role and the predominant place of the Catholic Church in Polish society, but also — and more significantly —to redefine the bases of national identity. The author's thesis is that the national and political legitimacy of the state is leading to a transition from a primarily cultural and religious definition of the nation and of Polish national identity (ethnic nation), to one that is more political and civic in character (civic nation). This gradual identity shift is characterized by tensions between two opposed visions of the nation, indicating a slow move away from an essentialist conception of the nation to a more pluralist one. It is in that broader perspective of national redefinition that we can best understand the debate over the place of the Catholic Church in post-communist Poland, since the Church has much to lose from such an identity transition.