The role of world religions in the 21st century. The main goal of religion in the XXI century. "The role of world religions in the modern world"

Research work on the question: "Social functions of religion", "The attitude of graduates to religion".

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MOU "BUGROVSKAYA SOSH"

Religion in modern world

(research work on " Social functions of religion

Alumni attitudes towards religion").

Completed  11th grade student:

Tazabekova K.K.

Checked out by the history teacher

and social studies:

Bogaytseva N.V.

St. Petersburg

2007

Introduction. 3

Social functions of religion in modern society 4

Sociological Analysis of the Attitude of School Graduates to Religion 10

Conclusion 13

Appendix 1 15

Appendix 2 18

Appendix 3 25

Appendix 4 26

Introduction.

The program for a sociological study of the attitude of school graduates to religion.

Social problem:religion is an active agent in the socialization of young people in society, but young people treat it ambiguously.

Research problem:many social studies are devoted toproblems of youth, but the attitude of school graduates to religion has not been sufficiently studied.

Object of study:the idea of ​​youth about religion.

Subject of study:the attitude of school graduates to religion.

The purpose of the sociological research:study the attitude of high school students to religion.

Sociological research objectives:

1. define religion and characterize its main functions;

1. find out the role of religion and church in the representation of high school students;

1. compare the attitudes of young men and women towards religion Hypotheses:

1. You start-ups believe that religion is an aggregate of spiritual

representations, it helps to overcome difficulties and determines the status of a person.

1. Girls are more religious than boys.

1. Graduates do not consider it necessary to interact between church, state, family and school.

Sample: 12 students of the 11th grade of the Bugrovskaya Secondary School were interviewed. The sample is representative by gender (boys, girls).

Methods:

1. group questionnaire
2. comparative
3. analytical
4. calculation of data using the computer program "Chart Wizard"

Social functions of religion in modern society.

These verses of the wonderful poet Nikolai Zabolotsky say that the world that creates us is nature (believers believe that everything was created by the gods or God alone), but man can also be a creator... Man needs a lot in this world. A person wants to penetrate the secrets of the world, wants to understand who he is and why he lives in the world. Religion has been answering these questions for millennia. This word denotes the views, feelings and actions of people who believe that everything in the world is done by the will of mysterious and unknown forces, by the will of the gods or God alone.

The word religio means in Latinpiety, holinessand goes back to the verb religare - to connect, connect.Obviously, in this case we are talking about the connection with the otherworld, with other dimensions of being. All religions at all times believe that our empirical reality is not independent and not self-sufficient. It has a derivative, created character, in essence it is secondary. She is the result or projection of another real, true reality - God and gods. The word "God" has the same root as the word "wealth." In ancient times, people asked God to take care of the fertility of the fields, about a rich harvest, so that everyone was well fed. The most terrible enemy for people was hunger. But "man does not live by bread alone." You've probably heard these words? They are repeated when they want to say that there is something more important than daily bread.

Thus, religion doubles the world and points to a person who is superior to him, having reason, will, and their own laws. These forces have very different qualities from those that are directly familiar to us from everyday life. They are powerful, mysterious, miraculous from the point of view of an empirical person. Their power over earthly existence, if not absolute, is enormous. The world of the divine determines people both in their physical being and in their value system.

The idea of ​​the existence of God is central to religious faith, but it does not exhaust it. Religious faith includes:

1. norms of morality, norms of morality, which are declared to come from divine revelation; violation of these norms is a sin and, accordingly, is condemned and punished;
2. certain legal laws and regulations, which are also declared or occurred directly as a result of divine revelation, or as a result of the divinely inspired activity of legislators, usually kings and other rulers;
3. belief in the divine inspiration of the activities of certain priests, persons declared saints, saints, blessed, etc .; since, in Catholicism, it is generally accepted that the head of the Catholic Church - the Pope - is the viceroy (representative) of God on earth;
4. belief in the saving power for the human soul of those ritual actions that believers perform in accordance with the instructions of the Holy Books, priests and church leaders (baptism, circumcision of the flesh, prayer, fasting, worship, etc.);
5. belief in the direction of God in the activities of churches as associations of people who consider themselves adherents of one faith or another.

Modern religions do not deny the achievements of natural science, theories related to the structure of matter, and, moreover, the practical application of science. But they always emphasize that the business of science is to study only the realm of the other world. There are hundreds of different religions in the world. Most people adhere to traditions associated with one of the three world religions. These are Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. National religions exist among Jews, Japanese, Indians, Chinese. Some peoples remain faithful to their traditional (ancient) beliefs and there are people who consider themselves generally non-believers (atheists).

Further extends the field of religion and, perhaps, philosophy. The main thing is that, carried away by earthly concerns, humanity does not forget that it is not autonomous, that there are eternal higher authorities over it, their vigilant supervision and their judgment.

Sufficiently developed religions have their own organization in the form of a church. The Church organizes the internal and external relations of the religious community. It is a peculiar form of interconnection between the sacred and the profane (ordinary, everyday, humanly earthly). The Church, as a rule, divides all believers into clergy and laity. Through the church, religion enters the system of social institutions of society *.

* By 2000, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation registered churches:

Russian Orthodox Church - 5494;

Islamic - 3264;

Buddhist - 79;

Russian Orthodox Free Church - 69;

Old Believers - 141;

True Orthodox - 19;

Roman Catholic - 138;

Lutheran - 92;

Jewish - 62;

Armenian - 26;

Protestant-Methodist - 29;

Evangelical Christian Baptists - 550;

Pentecostals - 192;

New Apostles - 37;

Molokansky -12;

Presbyterian - 74;

Evangelical - 109;

Jehovah's - 72;

Krishnaites - 87;

Temples of interfaith missionaries - 132.

As of December 31, 2000, 443 religious organizations were registered in St. Petersburg, including:

Russian Orthodox Church - 167;

Islamic - 2;

Buddhist -12;

Old Believers - 2;

Roman Catholic - 10;

Lutheran - 30;

Jewish - 13;

Protestant-Methodist - 6;

Evangelical Christian Baptists - 16;

Jehovah's - 1;

Pentecostals - 120;

Krishnaites - 3.

At the same time, 290 religious organizations were registered in the Leningrad Region. Among them:

Russian Orthodox Church - 158;

Lutheran - 23;

Evangelical Christian Baptists - 18;

Pentecostals - 60;

Roman Catholic - 2

other.

(Data from the book by NS Gordienko "Russian Jehovah's Witnesses: History and Modernity". St. Petersburg, 2000).

A social institution can be viewed as a stable set of people, groups, institutions whose activities are aimed at performing specific social functions and are built on the basis of certain ideal norms, rules, and standards of behavior.

What does religion give, what are its main functions?The reference point for us here will be the well-known statement of Z. Freud: "The gods retain their threefold task: they neutralize the horror of nature, reconcile with a formidable fate, acting primarily in the form of death, and reward the suffering and deprivation imposed on a person by life in a cultured society" ...

1. First of all religion helps us to cope with the uncertainty of the world of the unknown... There is a lot we cannot explain, and it somehow presses, causing deep inner anxiety. It is, of course, not about the weather for tomorrow, but about things that are much more serious: about death, about the death of a loved one, in a word about the ultimate, final conditions of human existence. In the explanation of such things, we, as they say, are vitally interested, without knowledge of them it is simply hard for us to live. Introducing a supernatural being (God), sacred factors, religion in its own way explains what cannot be explained scientifically in general.
2. Religion helps to realize, somehow understand and completely hopeless, justabsurd situations... Well, let's say this: an honest, deeply conscientious person for some reason suffers all his life, torments, barely makes ends meet, and nearby people are furious with fat, they do not know what to spend their dishonestly earned money earned not by their own labor. Injustice blatant! And how to explain it, how to agree? Humanly - nothing and nothing. But if there is another world, where everyone is rewarded according to his merits, then it is another matter - justice will still prevail. One can then understand, even internally accept injustice.
3. Religion sanctifies, i.e. in my own way substantiates morality, moral values ​​and ideals of society... Without it, it is very difficult to awaken and affirm in people conscience, mercy, love for one's neighbor. All these and similar virtues receive from religion a certain obligation, persuasiveness and attractiveness, as well as a desire, an inner readiness to follow and obey them. God sees everything, you can't hide anything from him - this stops many. And it helps some not to deviate from the chosen path - direct, honest, labor. In this regard, religion acts as an essential element of folk or public conscience... Thus, in modern society, religion performs two main functions:
4. educational
5. distracting.

"The heart of a heartless world, the soul of a heartless world" - this is how K. Marx characterized the religion... He, however, is better known for another formula:"religion is the opium of the people", but it also cannot be neglected. Why do people turn to opium? To forget, to get away from everyday life, to get something that is not in real life. And it was not Marx, to be precise, who invented this formula. Long before him, even in ancient times, religion was compared to "intoxicating dope." Goethe saw in her a drug, Heine and Feuerbach - spiritual opium. Kant called the idea of ​​absolution "opium for conscience."

Religious communication is one of the strongest and most enduring in human history. It promotes the consolidation of all the spiritual forces of the people, and through this - the strengthening of the civil and state foundations of life. In Russia, for example, the church helped to collect Russian lands, strengthen the young statehood, and encouraged the development of new territories through monastic colonization. And during the period of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, she made a huge contribution to the survival of the Russian people, the preservation of its identity. It is not for nothing that two names are equally firmly inscribed in the victory on the Kulikovo field: Prince Dmitry Donskoy and the "abbot of the Russian land" Sergius of Radonezh.

Unfortunately, religion can not only unite, but also separate people, encourage conflicts, cause wars... The first thing that comes to mind Crusades, which were motivated by religious feelings and creeds that distinguish Christians from Muslims.

Modernity is also rich in religious discord: the confrontation between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, the conflict between Muslims and Jews in the Middle East, the Yugoslav Orthodox-Muslim-Catholic knot and much more. A strange situation: no religion by itself calls for violence. Where does it come from? In each specific case, apparently, non-religious factors are at work. But we must not forget that every religion claims not just to the truth, but to the Absolute Truth. The absolute, by definition, does not have and does not tolerate plurals.

Let's dwell a little on atheism ... He is most often identified with godlessness, which is not true. Godlessness is both a definition and a negative state. There is no god. What is there? Unclear. Ostap Bender, for example, denied the existence of God on the grounds that "this is a medical fact" of the great combiner could not fill the void created by denying God.

They tried to fill this void with everything: ideology, and politics, and the fight against religion, and party loyalty, and the most advanced science, etc. But emptiness, like Moloch, is insatiable, demanding more and more sacrifices. Besides, godlessness: in the latter trait, many are betrayed by him, remembering about religion.

There is atheism culture of being without God... In the place of God, they deliberately put History, Necessity, Law. But since this is done by a person, for a person and in the name of a person, then we can say thatin atheism God is replaced by Man... A person with a capital letter - the image, the ideal of humanity, humanism, real, earthly happiness of people. Atheism is actually anthropotheism.

Not everyone can master the culture of atheism. It requires a certain, courage, willpower, reason, willingness and ability to make a choice in favor of good without any hope of reward or retribution. With religion it is easier, most importantly, easier. There is an external instance to which one can always appeal, there is truth as the criterion of all human, relative truths, there is the consolation of “being after death”. You can, say, having sinned, go to confession, sincerely repent and, having received forgiveness, again become sinless and again ... sin. And there were times when absolution in literally(indulgence), and even now, having given money for the construction of a temple, one can count on the condescension of the Almighty.

There is nothing like this in atheism. All sins remain with a person, no one and nothing will free him from them. It’s hard, no doubt, but such is this culture. You have to rely only on yourself. And do not allow yourself to "sin". For there is no one to lighten the burden of your sins, to take off the burden of responsibility for what was thought and done, you cannot trick your own mind. The atheistic culture of being, in essence, has not yet gained the necessary scope. But its humanistic transformative potential is enormous.

Religion is an active agent in the socialization of young people in society, but young people treat it ambiguously. Many social studies are devoted to this problem, but the attitude of school graduates to religion has not been sufficiently studied. In our research work we tried to solve this problem.

Sociological analysis of the attitude of graduates to religion .

Testing our hypothesis that graduates believe that religion is a set of spiritual ideas, it helps to overcome difficulties and determines the status of a person, we received the following results. 83% of high school students (this is approximately 5/6 of the number of respondents) understand the word "religion" as a set of spiritual ideas. And only 8% of graduates (1/6 of the respondents) believe that religion is a belief in the supernatural. The variant “religion is certain legal laws and norms” was completely excluded by the high school students. This suggests that high school students understand religion primarily as a spiritual phenomenon and do not associate it with any legal laws. (Diagram 1).

Considering the functions of religion, we ranked the answers to the question "What, in your opinion, does religion give?" with a step of 10%, starting with the highest (table 1). As expected, the majority of the respondents, or 75% of the total number of respondents, believe that religion helps to overcome difficulties, and the same number of high school students (75%) singled out the main function of religion - providing psychological support. These two functions are in the first place. The next function (religion justifies morality) is II a place. Religion incites discord between people - on III place, and the provision of emotional assistance is at IV ... On the 5th place are such answer options as religion helps to know the world and provokes violence. VI place is occupied by the function of strengthening ties between peoples. The last VII place is occupied by such functions as influence on a person's position in society and the possibility of communication. All this suggests that high school students understand that religion justifies morality, but at the same time they forget that religious communication is one of the most durable and stable in human history, that religion helps us to cope with the uncertainty of the world. And only a few people paid attention to the fact that religion can not only unite people, but also stir up conflicts.

We also analyzed the answers to the question "How, in your opinion, does a person's financial situation affect his faith?" 34% of the respondents answered that the poorer the person, the stronger the faith, 58% of the respondents believe that a person's financial situation does not affect his faith and 8% do not know (Diagram 2). To the question "How do you think a person's position in society affects his faith?" only 8% of the total number of respondents answered that the lower the position, the stronger the faith, 9% of the senior pupils do not know what effect a person's position in society has on faith. And most of the graduates, 83%, believe that a person's position in society does not in any way affect his faith (Diagram 3). It follows from the above that high school students do not see a special connection between religion and a person's social position and do not attach importance to the status function of religion.

Thus, our first hypothesis was partially confirmed. High school students really believe that religion is a set of spiritual ideas, that it helps to overcome difficulties. But, according to the graduates, religion does not determine either the material or social status of a person in modern society.

Testing our hypothesis that girls are more religious than boys, we obtained the following results. 75% of the girls surveyed, 38% of the young men surveyed and 50% of all the respondents believe in God, but the girls speak about this more definitely, their faith is more pronounced. (Diagram 4.1).

Prayers are selectively known by 75% of the girls surveyed, 25% of the young men surveyed and 42% of all the respondents. The remaining number of girls and boys do not know prayer at all. Nobody knows all the prayers. (Diagram 5.1).

Considering the frequency of church attendance, we got the following results. Every week 12% of young men attend church and 8% of all students. Only 25% of girls, 13% of boys and 17% of all respondents attend church 1-2 times a month. 75% of girls, 25% of boys and 42% of all respondents go to church 1-2 times a year. And not at all 50% of the young men surveyed and 33% of all respondents do not attend church. We assume that young men take such a social institution as the church less seriously than girls. (Diagram 6.1).

Considering the functions of religion, we ranked the answers to the question "What, in your opinion, does religion give?" As can be seen from the table (table 1), girls are more categorical in their answers. In the first place, the girls put the function of providing psychological assistance, in the second place - assistance in overcoming difficulties. Then comes the third place: religion provides emotional assistance. All other functions (religion helps to know the world, substantiates morality, strengthens ties between peoples, provokes violence, affects a person's position in society and makes it possible to communicate) in fourth place. Young men have a broader understanding of the functions of religion. In the first place they put help in overcoming difficulties. Religion provides psychological support - 2nd place. On III place - religion justifies morality. On IV place - religion incites discord between people. Religion helps to understand the world, provides emotional assistance, provokes violence - V place. On VI place - religion strengthens the connection between peoples, and such functions as influence on a person's position in society and the ability to communicate turned out to be Vii place. Thus, our third hypothesis was confirmed. The religiosity of high school students depends on their gender.

Testing our hypothesis that graduates do not consider it necessary to interact between church, state, family and school, we evaluated the proportion of positive responses. 58% of the respondents believe that the state should support the church, and 42% of the respondents believe that the church should support the state.

Looking at the relationship between the church and the school, the following results can be seen: the majority of graduates believe that the school should not support the church in any way and the church should not support the school, i.e. high school students do not view school and church as related social institutions.

As for the relationship between the family and the church, then, based on the research, we got the following results. 33% of the respondents believe that the family should support the church and the same number of respondents believe that the church should support the family.

Thus, our third hypothesis was partially confirmed. Pupils believe that the interaction of church and state is necessary, but they do not see the need for the relationship between church and family, church and school.

The development of youth occurs through the influence of various social institutions (family, school, church, state) on it. But this influence will be fruitful only when the social institutions themselves are linked. According to the results of our research, we can assume that the process of socialization of young people in modern society is difficult due to the weakening of these ties.

Conclusion

According to the American Gallup Institute, in 2000, 95% of the inhabitants of Africa believed in God and the "supreme being", 97% in Latin America, 91% in the United States, 89% in Asia, 88% in Western Europe, 84% - Eastern Europe, 42.9 - Russia. These data indicate a widespread religion.

People differ from each other for many reasons, one of which is religion. Spiritual differences often have significant political and cultural implications. What can we say about such a scale, when there are conflicts in the same family because of different faiths. Most people treat with fear, charity, and even hatred of representatives of another religion. They do not want and do not want to understand each other. But they cannot be blamed for this, because for many centuries no one instilled in them respect for representatives of different confessions, and in some cases they were belligerently set up to achieve their own selfish goals. And only recently, in Russia in particular, many previously destroyed churches and monasteries are being restored. On television, we often see divine services taking place in churches, the consecration of buildings, ships, enterprises. Church music is played on the radio and in concert halls. Representatives of the clergy sit in the supreme bodies of power. The number of those who, for example, in Christianity went through the rite of baptism, increased. Newspapers and magazines appeared, which are the official press organs of the churches. Some non-state schools have a new subject - "God's Law". There are educational institutions where clergy are trained. All this is aimed at the socialization of young people.

During our research, we came up with the following recommendations:

1. it is necessary to educate high school students in order to increase religious literacy;

2.there is a need for a closer relationship between family, school, church and state in the upbringing of the younger generation

The influence of religion on a person is contradictory: on the one hand, it calls on a person to observe high moral standards, introduces them to culture, and on the other hand, it preaches obedience and humility, refusal to take active actions. (at least many religious communities do it). In some cases, it contributes to the aggressiveness of believers, their separation and even confrontation. But here the matter, apparently, is not so much in religious positions as in how they are understood by people, in particular by the younger generation. And, according to the results of our research, young people are not literate enough about religion. It seems to me that this question is one of the most urgent today. And in my further research, I would like to continue working on this problem.

Bibliography

1. Bogolyubov L.N., Lazebnikova A.Yu. and others. Man and society. Social Studies. Part 2. - M .: "Education", 2004.
2. Gordienko N.S. Fundamentals of Religious Studies. SPb, 1997.
3. Gordienko N.S. Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia: History and Present. SPb. 2000.
4. Grechko P.K. Society: the main spheres of being. - M .: "Unicum Center", 1998.
5. History (weekly supplement to the newspaper "First September"). - M., 1993 - No. 13.
6. History (weekly supplement to the newspaper "First September"). - M., 1994 - No. 35.
7. I know the world: culture: Encyclopedia / Comp. Chudakova N.V. / M .: "AST", 1998.
8. Site http://www.referat.ru .

Annex 1

QUESTIONNAIRE

Dear student!

Currently, sociologists are intensively researching the social problems of religion. We ask you to take part in one of these studies, the purpose of which is to study the attitude of students towards religion, and to answer the questions of this questionnaire.

The questionnaire is anonymous, i.e. You do not need to enter your surname. We guarantee that the responses received will only be published in a statistically aggregated form.

Filling out the questionnaire is simple: in most cases, you need to circle the letter of the answer that suits you best.

1. What is your gender? 1.Male 2.Female

1. What is your nationality? (Write) ________________________

1. How do you understand the word "religion"?

5.other (what? Indicate) ____________________________________

1. What, in your opinion, does religion give? (Indicate 2-3 options)

1.helps to know the world

3. justifies morality

7.provokes violence

9. makes it possible to communicate

11.other (what? Indicate) ____________________________________

1. Do you believe in God?

1.yes

2. more likely yes than no

3.more no than yes

4. no

1. Are there believers in your family?

1.yes

2. no

3. don't know

1. What religious holidays does your family celebrate? (Write) _____________________________________________________________

1. Do you know the prayers?

1.yes, everyone

2.selectively

3. no, I don't know

1. How often do you attend church?

1.every week

2. 1-2 times a month

3. 1-2 times a year

4.do not visit at all

1. Do you consider an adherent of another religion as an enemy?

1.yes, always

2.yes, if he is aggressive towards me

3.no, never

4.I am at a loss to answer

1. Do you think the school needs theology lessons?

1.yes, for everyone

2.only for those who wish

3.not needed at all

1. Are there any theology classes in your school?

1.yes

2. no

3. don't know

Do you think modern society needs support: (check one on each line)

	Yes	partially	No
13. the church by the state?
14. the state by the church?
15. a school for a church?
16. schools by church?
17. churches as a family?
18. families by the church?

19. How do you feel about your faith?

1.I'm proud of her

2.I'm comfortable in it

3.I'm ashamed of her

4.other (what? Indicate) ____________________________________

20. How do you think a person's financial situation affects his faith?

3.not affected

4. don't know

21. How do you think a person's position in society affects their faith?

3.No way

4. don't know

22. How do you represent a believer? (Write) ___________

____________________________________________________________

You have finished filling out the form, thank you for your help!

Appendix 2

Diagram 1

Distribution of answers to the question "How do you understand the word" religion "?"

1.it is a belief in the supernatural

2.these are certain legal laws and regulations

3.it is a collection of spiritual ideas

4.I agree with all of the above

5.other (what? Indicate) - faith in God

Diagram 2

Distribution of answers to the question "How, in your opinion, does a person's financial situation affect his faith?"

1.the richer, the stronger the faith

2.the poorer, the stronger the faith

3.not affected

4. don't know

Diagram 3

Distribution of answers to the question "How, in your opinion, does a person's position in society affect his faith?"

1.the higher the position, the stronger the faith

2.the lower the position, the stronger the faith

3.No way

4. don't know

Diagram 4.1

Distribution of answers to the question "Do you believe in God?"

1.yes

2. more likely yes than no

3.more no than yes

4. no

Diagram 5.1

Distribution of answers to the question "Do you know the prayers?"

Girls

Young men

Everything

1.yes, everyone

2.selectively

3. no, I don't know

Diagram 6.1

Distribution of answers to the question "How often do you attend church?"

Girls

Young men

Everything

1.every week

2. 1-2 times a month

3. 1-2 times a year

4.do not visit at all

Diagram 7

The share of positive answers, negative answers and answers "partially" to the question "Do you need support in modern society ...

1. ... the church by the state? "

1. ... the state by the church? "

1. ... a school for the church? "

1. ... a school by a church? "

1. ... family churches? "

1. ... families by the church? "

Appendix 3

Table 1

Distribution of answers to the question “What, in your opinion, does religion give?”, Ranks in 10% increments, starting from the highest.

Possible answer	general	girls	young men
1.helps to know the world
2.Helps to overcome difficulties
3. justifies morality
4. Strengthens the bond between peoples
5.Provides psychological support
6.Provides emotional help
7.provokes violence
8.Affects a person's position in society
9. makes it possible to communicate
10.increases discord between people
11.other (what? Specify)

Examination ticket number 23

During the communist system in the Soviet Union, religion as a state institution did not exist. And the definition of religion was as follows: “... Any religion is nothing more than a fantastic reflection in the heads of people of those external forces that dominate them in their Everyday life, - a reflection in which earthly forces take the form of unearthly ... ”(9, p. 328).

In recent years, the role of religion has been increasing more and more, but, unfortunately, religion in our time is a means of profit for some and a tribute to fashion for others.

In order to clarify the role of world religions in the modern world, it is necessary to first highlight the following structural elements, which are basic and connecting for Christianity, Islam, Buddhism.

1. Faith is the original element of all three world religions.

2. Teaching, the so-called set of principles, ideas and concepts.

3. Religious activity, the core of which is the cult - these are ceremonies, services, prayers, sermons, religious holidays.

4. Religious associations - organized systems based on religious teaching. They mean churches, madrasahs, sangha.

1. Give a description of each of the world religions;

2. Identify the differences and relationships between Christianity, Islam and Buddhism;

3. Find out what role world religions play in the modern world.

Buddhism

"... Buddhism is the only true positivist religion in the whole history - even in its theory of knowledge ..." (4; p. 34).

BUDDHISM, a religious - philosophical doctrine that arose in ancient India in the 6th-5th centuries. BC. and turned in the course of its development into one of three, along with Christianity and Islam, world religions.

The founder of Buddhism, Sidhartha Gautama, son of King Shuddhodana, the ruler of the Shakyas, who left luxurious life and became a wanderer on the paths of a world full of suffering. He sought liberation in asceticism, but convinced that mortification of the flesh leads to the death of the mind, he abandoned it. Then he turned to meditation and after, according to various versions, four or seven weeks without food or drink, he attained enlightenment and became a Buddha. After which he preached his doctrine for forty-five years and died at the age of 80 (10, p. 68).

Tripitaka, Tipitaka (Skt. "Three baskets") - three blocks of books of Buddhist Scripture, perceived by believers as a collection of Buddha's revelations presented by his disciples. Decorated in the 1st century. BC.

The first block - Vinaya Pitaka: 5 books characterizing the principles of organizing monastic communities, the history of Buddhist monasticism and fragments of the biography of Buddha-Gautama.

The second block - Sutta Pitaka: 5 collections, presenting the teachings of the Buddha in the form of parables, aphorisms, poems, as well as narrating about last days Buddha. The third block - Abhidharma Pitaka: 7 books, interpreting the main ideas of Buddhism.

In 1871, in Mandalay (Burma), a cathedral of 2,400 monks approved a single text of the Tripitaka, which was carved on 729 slabs of the Kutodo memorial, a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists around the world. Vinaya occupied 111 plates, Sutta - 410, Abhidharma - 208 (2; p. 118).

In the first centuries of its existence, Buddhism split into 18 sects, and at the beginning of our era Buddhism split into two branches, Hinayana and Mahayana. In the 1-5 centuries. the main religious and philosophical schools of Buddhism were formed in the Hinayana - Vaibhashika and Sautrantika, in the Mahayana - Yogachara, or Vij-Nyanavada, and Madhyamika.

Originating in the Northeast of India, Buddhism soon spread throughout India, reaching its greatest flowering in the middle of the 1st millennium BC - the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. At the same time, starting from the 3rd century. BC, he covered Southeast and Central Asia, and partly also Central Asia and Siberia. Faced with the conditions and culture of the northern countries, the Mahayana gave rise to various currents that mixed with Taoism in China, Shinto in Japan, local religions in Tibet, etc. In its internal development, having split into a number of sects, northern Buddhism formed, in particular, the Zen sect (currently most widespread in Japan). In the 5th century. Vajrayana appears, parallel to Hindu Tantrism, under the influence of which Lamaism appears, concentrated in Tibet.

Characteristic feature Buddhism is its ethical and practical focus. Buddhism has put forward as the central problem - the problem of the being of the individual. The core of the content of Buddhism is the Buddha's sermon about the "four noble truths" there is suffering, the cause of suffering, liberation from suffering, the path leading to liberation from suffering.

Suffering and liberation appear in Buddhism as different states of one being; suffering is a state of being manifested, liberation - unmanifested.

Psychologically, suffering is defined, first of all, as the expectation of failure and loss, as an experience of anxiety in general, which is based on a feeling of fear, inseparable from the present hope. In essence, suffering is identical to the desire for satisfaction - the psychological cause of suffering, and ultimately just any internal movement and is perceived not as any violation of the original good, but as an organically inherent phenomenon in life. Death due to the adoption of Buddhism of the concept of endless rebirth, without changing the nature of this experience, deepens it, turning it into an inevitable and endless. Cosmically, suffering is revealed as an endless "excitement" (appearance, disappearance and reappearance) of eternal and unchanging elements of an impersonal life process, flashes of a kind of vital energy, psychophysical in their composition - dharmas. This “excitement” is caused by the absence of the true reality of the “I” and the world (according to the Hinayana schools) and the dharmas themselves (according to the Mahayana schools, which extended the idea of ​​unreality to its logical end and declared all visible existence shunya, ie emptiness). The consequence of this is the denial of the existence of both material and spiritual substance, in particular the denial of the soul in the Hinayana, and the establishment of a kind of absolute - shunyata, emptiness, which cannot be understood or explained - in the Mahayana.

Liberation Buddhism imagines, first of all, as the destruction of desire, or rather - the extinguishing of their passion. The Buddhist principle of the middle path recommends avoiding extremes - both the attraction to sensual pleasure and the complete suppression of this attraction. The concept of tolerance, "relativity", from the standpoint of which moral precepts are not obligatory and can be violated (the absence of the concept of responsibility and guilt as something absolute, is reflected in the moral and emotional sphere, a reflection of this is the absence in Buddhism of a clear line between the ideals of religious and secular morality and, in particular, the softening, and sometimes the denial of asceticism in its usual form). The moral ideal appears as an absolute non-harm to others (ahinsa) arising from general gentleness, kindness, and a feeling of complete satisfaction. In the intellectual sphere, the distinction between sensory and rational forms of cognition is eliminated and the practice of contemplative thinking (meditation) is established, the result of which is the experience of the integrity of being (nondiscrimination of internal and external), complete self-absorption. The practice of contemplative thinking is not so much a means of cognizing the world as one of the main means of transforming the psyche and psychophysiology of a person - dhyanas, called Buddhist yoga, are especially popular as a specific method. The equivalent of quenching desires is liberation, or nirvana. On the cosmic plane, it acts as a stop to the agitation of the dharmas, which is later described in the Hinayana schools as an immovable, immutable element.

At the heart of Buddhism lies the affirmation of the principle of personality, inseparable from the surrounding world, and the recognition of the existence of a kind of psychological process, in which the world is also involved. The result of this is the absence in Buddhism of the opposition of subject and object, spirit and matter, a mixture of the individual and the cosmic, psychological and ontological, and at the same time emphasizing the special potential forces hidden in the integrity of this spiritual and material being. The creative principle, the ultimate cause of being, is the mental activity of a person, which determines both the formation of the universe and its decay: this is a volitional decision of the “I”, understood as a kind of spiritual-bodily integrity, is not so much a philosophical subject as a practically acting personality as a moral and psychological reality. From the non-absolute meaning for Buddhism of everything that exists, regardless of the subject, from the absence of creative aspirations of the individual in Buddhism, the conclusion follows, on the one hand, that God as a supreme being is immanent to man (the world), on the other, that in Buddhism there is no need for God as a creator, savior, providencer, i.e. in general, as, of course, the supreme being, transcendental to this community; from this also follows the absence in Buddhism of the dualism of the divine and the non-divine, God and the world, etc.

Starting with the denial of external religiosity, Buddhism in the course of its development came to its recognition. The Buddhist pantheon is growing due to the introduction of all kinds of mythological creatures into it, one way or another assimilating with Buddhism. The sangha appears extremely early in Buddhism - a monastic community, from which a kind of religious organization has grown over time.

The spread of Buddhism contributed to the creation of those syncretic cultural complexes, the totality of which forms the so-called. Buddhist culture (architecture, sculpture, painting). The most influential Buddhist organization is the World Society of Buddhists, created in 1950 (2; p. 63).

Currently, there are about 350 million followers of Buddhism in the world (5; p. 63).

In my opinion, Buddhism is a neutral religion, it, unlike Islam and Christianity, does not force anyone to follow the teachings of Buddha, it gives a choice to a person. And if a person wants to follow the path of Buddha, then he must apply spiritual practices, mainly meditation, and then he will reach the state of nirvana. Buddhism, preaching the "principle of non-interference", plays an important role in the modern world and, in spite of everything, gains more and more followers.

Islam

“… Many acute political and religious conflicts are connected with Islam. Islamic extremism stands behind it ... ”(5; p. 63).

ISLAM (literally - surrendering oneself (to God), obedience), Islam, one of the three world religions along with Buddhism and Christianity. It arose in the Hejaz (at the beginning of the 7th century) among the tribes of Western Arabia, in the conditions of the disintegration of the patriarchal clan system and the beginning of the formation of a class society. It quickly spread during the military expansion of the Arabs from the Ganges in the East to the southern borders of Gaul in the West.

The founder of Islam is Muhammad (Muhammad, Muhammad). Born in Mecca (about 570), was orphaned early. He was a shepherd, married a rich widow and became a merchant. He was not supported by the Meccans and in 622 he moved to Medina. He died (632) in the midst of the preparation of the conquests, as a result of which, subsequently, a huge state was formed - the Arab Caliphate (2; p. 102).

The Koran (literally - reading, reciting) is the holy scripture of Islam. Muslims believe that the Koran exists eternally, is kept by Allah, who, by the turn of the angel Jabrail, conveyed the contents of this book to Muhammad, and he orally acquainted his adherents with this revelation. The language of the Quran is Arabic. Compiled, edited and published in its current form after the death of Muhammad.

Most of the Quran is a controversy in the form of a dialogue between Allah, speaking either in the first person or in the third person, then through intermediaries ("spirit", Jabrail), but always through the mouth of Muhammad, and the opponents of the prophet, or Allah's appeal with admonitions and prescriptions to him followers (1; p. 130).

The Quran consists of 114 chapters (suras), which have no semantic connection or chronological sequence, but are arranged according to the principle of decreasing volume: the first suras are the longest, and the last ones are the shortest.

The Koran contains the Islamic picture of the world and man, the idea of ​​the Last Judgment, Heaven and Hell, the idea of ​​Allah and his prophets, the last of which is Muhammad, the Muslim understanding of social and moral problems.

The Koran began to be translated into Eastern languages ​​from the 10th-11th centuries, and into European languages ​​much later. The Russian translation of the entire Koran appeared only in 1878 (in Kazan) (2; p. 98).

The most important concepts of the Muslim religion are "Islam", "Din", "Iman". Islam in a broad sense began to designate the whole world within which the laws of the Koran were established and operate. Classical Islam, in principle, does not make national distinctions, recognizing three statuses of human existence: as a "faithful", as a "patronized" and as a polytheist who must either be converted to Islam or exterminated. Each religious group united into a separate community (ummah). Ummah is an ethnic, linguistic or religious community of people that becomes the object of deities, the plan of salvation, at the same time, ummah is also a form social organization of people.

Statehood in early Islam was thought of as a kind of egalitarian secular theocracy, within which only the Koran has authority in the legislative field; executive branch, at the same time civil and religious, belongs to one god and can be carried out only through the caliph (sultan) - the leader of the Muslim community.

In Islam, there is no church as an institution, there is no clergy in the strict sense of the word, since Islam does not recognize any mediator between God and man: in principle, any member of the Ummah can perform worship.

"Din" - deities, the institution that leads people to salvation - means primarily the duties that God prescribed to man (a kind of "law of God"). Muslim theologians include three main elements in din: the five pillars of Islam, faith and good deeds.

The Five Pillars of Islam are:

1) the confession of monotheism and the prophetic mission of Muhammad;

2) daily five-time prayer;

3) fasting once a year in the month of Ramadan;

4) voluntary cleansing alms;

5) pilgrimage (at least once in a lifetime) to Mecca ("hajj").

"Iman" (faith) is understood primarily as "evidence" of the object of one's faith. In the Qur'an, first of all, God bears witness to himself; the believer's response is like a returned testimony.

There are four main subjects of faith in Islam:

1) into a single god;

2) in his messengers and scriptures; The Koran names five prophets - messengers ("rasul"): Noah, with whom God renewed the alliance, Abraham - the first "numin" (believing in one god); Moses, to whom God gave the Torah for the “sons of Israel,” Jesus, through whom God communicated the Gospel to Christians; finally, Muhammad - “the seal of the prophets” who completed the chain of prophecy;

3) into angels;

4) on the resurrection after death and the day of judgment.

The differentiation of the secular and spiritual spheres is extremely amorphous in Islam, and left a deep imprint on the culture of those countries where it spread.

After the Battle of Siffin in 657, Islam split into three main areas, in connection with the solution of the issue of supreme power in Islam: Sunnis, Shiites and Ismailis.

In the bosom of orthodox Islam in the middle of the 18th century. a religious and political movement of the Wahhabis arises, preaching a return to the purity of early Islam during the time of Muhammad. Founded in Arabia in the middle of the 18th century by Muhammad ibn Abd al - Wahhab. The ideology of Wahhabism was supported by the Saudis, who were fighting for the conquest of all of Arabia. Currently, the Wahhabi doctrine is officially recognized in Saudi Arabia... Wahhabis are sometimes called religious and political groups in different countries, financed by the Saudi regime and preaching the slogans of the establishment of "Islamic power" (3; p. 12).

In the 19th and 20th centuries, largely as a reaction to the socio-political and cultural influence of the West, religious and political ideologies based on Islamic values ​​(pan-Islamism, fundamentalism, reformism, etc.) appear (8; p. 224).

Currently, about 1 billion people profess Islam (5; p. 63).

In my opinion, Islam is gradually starting to lose its main functions in the modern world. Islam is persecuted and gradually becomes a "forbidden religion". Its role is currently quite large, but, unfortunately, it is associated with religious extremism. Indeed, in this religion, this concept takes place. Members of some Islamic sects believe that only they live according to divine laws and profess their faith correctly. Often these people prove they are right by cruel methods, without stopping before terrorist acts... Religious extremism, unfortunately, remains a fairly widespread and dangerous phenomenon - a source of social tension.

Christianity

"... Speaking about the development of the European world, one cannot miss the movement of the Christian religion, which is attributed to the re-creation of the ancient world, and from which the history of new Europe begins ..." (4; p. 691).

CHRISTIANITY (from the Greek - "anointed", "messiah") is one of the three world religions (along with Buddhism and Islam) arose in the 1st century. in Palestine.

The founder of Christianity is Jesus Christ (Yeshua Mashiach). Jesus - the Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew name Yeshua, was born into the family of the carpenter Joseph, a descendant of the legendary King David. The place of birth is the city of Bethlehem. The parents' place of residence is the city of Nazareth in the Galilee. The birth of Jesus was marked by a number of cosmic phenomena, which gave reason to consider the boy the Messiah and the newborn king of the Jews. The word "Christ" is the Greek translation of the ancient Greek "Mashiach" ("anointed one"). About 30 years old he was baptized. The dominant qualities of his personality were humility, patience, and benevolence. When Jesus was 31 years old, from all his disciples he selected 12, whom he determined to be the apostles of the new teaching, of which 10 were executed (7; p. 198-200).

The Bible (Greek biblio - books) is a collection of books that Christians consider to be divinely revealed, that is, given from above, and they call Holy Scripture.

The Bible consists of two parts: the Old and New Testaments ("covenant" - a mystical contract or union). The Old Testament, created from the 4th to the second half of the 2nd century. BC e., includes 5 books attributed to the Hebrew prophet Moses (the Pentateuch of Moses, or Torah), as well as 34 works of a historical, philosophical, poetic and purely religious nature. These 39 officially recognized (canonical) books make up the Holy Scripture of Judah-Ism - Tanakh. To them were added 11 books, which are considered, although not divinely inspired, but, nevertheless, religiously useful (non-canonical) and are revered by most Christians.

The Old Testament sets out the Jewish picture of the creation of the world and man, as well as the history of the Jewish people and the main ideas of Judaism. The final composition of the Old Testament was fixed at the end of the 1st century. n. NS.

The New Testament was created in the process of the formation of Christianity and is actually the Christian part of the Bible, it contains 27 books: 4 Gospels, which describe the earthly life of Jesus Christ, describe his martyrdom and miraculous resurrection; Acts of the apostles - disciples of Christ; 21 epistles of the apostles James, Peter, John, Jude and Paul; Revelation of the Apostle John the Theologian (Apocalypse). The final composition of the New Testament was established in the second half of the 4th century. n. NS.

Currently, the Bible is fully or partially translated into almost all languages ​​of the peoples of the world. The complete Slavic Bible was first published in 1581, and the Russian one in 1876.

Initially, Christianity spread among the Jews of Palestine and the Mediterranean diaspora, but already in the first decades it gained more and more followers from other nations ("pagans"). Up to 5 in. the spread of Christianity took place mainly within the geographical limits of the Roman Empire, as well as in the sphere of its political and cultural influence, later - among the Germanic and Slavic peoples, later (by the 13-14 centuries) - also among the Baltic and Finnish peoples.

The emergence and spread of early Christianity took place in the context of the deepening crisis of ancient civilization.

The early Christian communities had many similarities with the associations and cult communities characteristic of the life of the Roman Empire, but unlike the latter, they taught their members to think not only about their needs and local interests, but about the fate of the whole world.

The administration of the Caesars has long viewed Christianity as a complete denial of the official ideology, incriminating Christians with "hatred of the human race", refusal to participate in pagan religious and political ceremonies, bringing repressions to Christians.

Christianity, like Islam, inherits the idea of ​​a single God that has matured in Judaism, the owner of absolute goodness, absolute knowledge and absolute power, in relation to which all creatures and forerunners are his creations, everything is created by God from nothing.

The human situation in Christianity is thought to be extremely contradictory. Man was created as the bearer of the "image and likeness" of God, in this primordial state and in the final sense of God about man, mystical dignity belongs not only to the human spirit, but also to the body.

Christianity highly appreciates the cleansing role of suffering - not as an end in itself, but as the most powerful weapon in the war against world evil. Only by “accepting his cross” can a person overcome evil in himself. Any obedience is an ascetic taming, in which a person “cuts off his will” and paradoxically becomes free.

An important place in Orthodoxy is occupied by sacramental rites, during which, according to the teaching of the church, a special grace descends on believers. The Church recognizes seven sacraments:

Baptism is a sacrament in which the believer, when the body is immersed in water three times with the invocation of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, gains spiritual birth.

In the sacrament of chrismation, the believer is given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, restoring and strengthening in the spiritual life.

In the sacrament of communion, the believer, under the guise of bread and wine, partakes of the very Body and Blood of Christ for Eternal Life.

The sacrament of repentance or confession is the confession of one's sins before the priest, who forgives them in the name of Jesus Christ.

The sacrament of the priesthood is performed through episcopal ordination when a person is ordained a priest. The right to perform this sacrament belongs only to the bishop.

In the sacrament of marriage, which is performed in the church at the wedding, the conjugal union of the bride and groom is blessed.

In the sacrament of blessing of oil (unction), when anointing the body with oil, the grace of God is called upon the sick person, which heals mental and bodily weaknesses.

Having become officially permitted in 311, and by the end of the 4th century. the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, Christianity comes under the patronage, tutelage and control of the government, interested in developing a like-mindedness among its subjects.

The persecutions experienced by Christianity in the first centuries of its existence left a deep imprint on its worldview and spirit. Persons who underwent imprisonment and torture for their faith (confessors) or who were executed (martyrs) began to be venerated in Christianity as saints. In general, the ideal of the martyr becomes central in Christian ethics.

Time passed. The conditions of the era and culture changed the political and ideological context of Christianity, and this caused a number of church divisions - schism. As a result, rival varieties of Christianity - “creed” - have emerged. So, in 311, Christianity becomes officially permitted, and by the end of the 4th century, under Emperor Constantine, it became the dominant religion under the tutelage of state power. However, the gradual weakening of the Western Roman Empire eventually ended in its collapse. This contributed to the fact that the influence of the Roman bishop (pope), who assumed the functions of a secular ruler, significantly increased. Already in the 5th-7th centuries, in the course of the so-called Christological disputes that clarified the relationship between the divine and the human principle in the person of Christ, the Christians of the East separated from the imperial church: the Monophists, etc. the conflict between the Byzantine theology of the sacred state - the position of church hierarchs subordinate to the monarch - and the Latin theology of the universal papacy, which sought to subjugate secular power.

After the death under the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks of Byzantium in 1453, Russia became the main stronghold of Orthodoxy. However, disputes about the norms of ritual practice led here in the 17th century to a schism, as a result of which the Old Believers separated from the Orthodox Church.

In the West, during the Middle Ages, the ideology and practice of the papacy evoked more and more protest from both the secular upper classes (especially the German emperors) and the lower classes of society (the Lollard movement in England, the Hussites in the Czech Republic, etc.). By the beginning of the 16th century, this protest took shape in the Reformation movement (8; p. 758).

About 1.9 billion people profess Christianity in the world (5; p. 63).

In my opinion, Christianity plays a big role in the modern world. Now it can be called the dominant religion of the world. Christianity penetrates into all spheres of life of people of different nationalities. And against the background of numerous military actions in the world, its peacekeeping role is manifested, which in itself is multifaceted and includes complex system, which is aimed at forming a worldview. Christianity is one of the world's religions that adapts as much as possible to changing conditions and continues to have a great impact on the mores, customs, personal life of people, their relationships in the family.

Conclusion

The role of religion in the life of specific people, societies and states is not the same. Some live according to the strict laws of religion (for example, Islam), others offer complete freedom in matters of faith to their citizens and generally do not interfere in the religious sphere, and religion may be prohibited. In the course of history, the situation with religion in the same country can change. A striking example of this is Russia. And confessions are by no means the same in the requirements that they place on a person in their rules of conduct and codes of morality. Religions can unite people or separate them, inspire them to creative work, to feats, call for inaction, peace and contemplation, promote the spread of bookishness and the development of art and at the same time limit any spheres of culture, impose bans on certain types of activity, science etc. The role of religion must always be seen specifically as the role of a given religion in a given society and at a certain period. Its role for the whole society, for a particular group of people or for a particular person may be different.

Thus, we can highlight the main functions of religion (in particular world religions):

1. Religion forms in a person a system of principles, views, ideals and beliefs, explains to a person the structure of the world, determines his place in this world, shows him what the meaning of life is.

2. Religion gives people consolation, hope, spiritual satisfaction, support.

3. A person, having a certain religious ideal in front of him, changes internally and becomes able to carry the ideas of his religion, to assert goodness and justice (as the given teaching understands them), resigning himself to hardships, not paying attention to those who ridicule or offend his. (Of course, a good beginning can be affirmed only if the religious authorities leading a person along this path are themselves pure in soul, moral and strive for the ideal.)

4. Religion controls human behavior through its system of values, moral attitudes and prohibitions. It can significantly influence large communities and entire states living according to the laws of a given religion. Of course, one should not idealize the situation: belonging to the strictest religious and moral system does not always keep a person from committing unseemly actions, and society from immorality and criminality.

5. Religion promotes the unification of people, helps the formation of nations, the formation and strengthening of states. But the same religious factor can lead to division, disintegration of states and societies, when large masses of people begin to confront each other on a religious basis.

6. Religion is an inspiring and preserving factor in the spiritual life of society. She preserves the public cultural heritage, sometimes literally blocking the way for all kinds of vandals. Religion, constituting the basis and core of culture, protects man and mankind from decay, degradation and even, perhaps, from moral and physical death - that is, all the threats that civilization can bring with it.

7. Religion contributes to the consolidation and consolidation of certain social orders, traditions and laws of life. Since religion is more conservative than any other social institution, in most cases it strives to preserve the foundations, to stability and peace.

A lot of time has passed since the emergence of world religions, be it Christianity, Buddhism or Islam - a person has changed, the foundations of states have changed, the very mentality of mankind has changed, and world religions have ceased to meet the requirements of a new society. And there have long been tendencies for the emergence of a new world religion, which will meet the needs of a new person and will become a new global religion for all mankind.

Content

Introduction
Religions in the modern world
Religion as an element of the spiritual life of society
Functions of religion
The place of religion in the system of relations between man and the world around him
World religions in the modern world
Freedom of conscience
Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction
The main question for every person has always been and remains the question of the meaning of life. Not everyone can find a final answer for themselves, not everyone is able to sufficiently substantiate it.
Religion (from Latin religio - piety, shrine) is a special type of spiritual and practical activity, which is an indissoluble unity of ideological attitude, experience, action based on faith in the sacred. Sacred - a kind of supernatural, going beyond the natural, natural course of events, "miracle". But the sacred, in contrast to the supernatural in general, includes the recognition of its unconditional value for man.
For most of human history, religion has played a decisive role in the construction of social reality by man and has been the most effective and widespread means of exercising social control in society.
Modern man is surrounded by a wide variety of faiths and ideologies. In each religion there are certain rules of behavior that its adherents must follow, as well as the purpose for which people follow the postulates of this religion. Maintaining the faith is expressed in confession, prayers, going to places of worship, where people of the same faith gather.
Purpose of the work: on the basis of a comprehensive study and generalization of theoretical sources - to define the concept and essence of religion, to characterize its functions, to study the current state of world religions, to find out the role of religions in the modern world.
The work consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion and a list of used literature.

Religion as an element of the spiritual life of society

Religion is one of the most ancient and basic (along with science, education, culture) forms of spiritual culture.
The religious worldview is characterized by the division of everything into the earthly and heavenly worlds, as well as the recognition of the immortality of the soul.
Religion assumes the presence of a mysterious (mystical) connection between man and God (or other supernatural forces), worship of these forces, the possibility of human interaction with them.
Religion is one of the ways of life of people, associated with the recognition of the existence of God and other supernatural phenomena, the possibility of their positively or negatively impact on a person, the optionality of any argumentation of the supernatural, the replacement of knowledge with faith.
Why does a person believe in the supernatural? Researchers of the past explained this, for example, by the fear of the unpredictability and power of nature or the deep ignorance of most people, the mythology of mass consciousness. Are these characteristics applicable to modern society? Philosophers, culturologists, sociologists, psychologists answer this question in different ways. But it is obvious that religion retains its position even at the post-industrial stage of society's development, since it performs socially significant functions, which we will consider below.
Specificity religion - in the special nature of its "second world" and its semantic role for a person, in recognizing the ability of a person to turn to God, to establish special interaction with him on the basis of illumination, vision, revelation in order to save a person from sinfulness or make his life easier.
The basis of the religious worldview is the belief in the existence of one or another kind of supernatural forces and in their dominant role in the worldview and life of people. Religion differs from superstition primarily in that there is no God in superstition.
Any religion includes several essential elements (Fig. 1):

faith - religious feelings, moods, emotions;
doctrine - a systematized, specially developed for a given religion, a set of principles, ideas, concepts;
religious cult - a set of actions that believers perform with the aim of worshiping gods, i.e. a system of established rituals, dogmas, ceremonies, prayers, sermons, etc.

Figure 1 - Distinctive features of religion

Faith is the core of religion, it is in it that the most important features are found that determine the place of religion in the relationship between man and the world. Faith is a way of existence of religious consciousness, a special mood, an experience that characterizes the inner state of a person. Religious faith consists of:
1) faith proper - belief in the truth of the foundations of religious teaching;
2) knowledge of the most essential provisions of the doctrine;
3) recognition and adherence to the norms of morality contained in the religious requirements for a person;
4) compliance with the norms and requirements for everyday life.
It is anchored in the creed, dogma and religious cultures. Symbol of faith it is framed in a different way: it is either a listing of the gods in paganism, their attributes and spheres of "responsibility", or a set of basic dogmas of faith. The Christian creed is the most developed; it includes twelve basic dogmas regarding God and the church, adopted at the Ecumenical Council in 525 and revised at the Councils of 362 and 374. Religious dogma is contained, as a rule, in written sources: scriptures, teachings (created by God himself or gods), sacred legends - written documents of faith drawn up by church leaders and their meetings. Religious cults reinforce faith in the practical attitudes and actions of believers. In Christianity, for example, sacraments are important cults: rites of purification, baptism, repentance, marriage, blessing (healing of the sick), etc.
Religious beliefs cannot be derived from the sphere of feelings, experiences of an individual. They are a product of the historical development of society. Religious culture is an essential element of the spiritual culture of any society. Historically long-lived societies as civilizations are also evaluated on a religious and spiritual basis. Religion is a socially organized and organizing sphere of human communities, a way of expressing one's spiritual culture and the most revered values.
Worshiping "higher powers" leads to the formation of the image of God - a supreme being, an absolute worthy of worship.
The place and significance of religion in society is determined by the functions it performs. Next, we will consider the main functions of religion.

Functions of religion

The functions of religion are the different ways of its activity, the nature and direction of the influence of religion on individuals and societies.
World outlook function religion realizes due to the presence in it of a system of views that reflect the picture of the world, the essence of man and his place in the world. Religion includes world outlook (explanation of the world as a whole and individual phenomena and processes in it), world outlook (reflection of the world in sensation and perception), world outlook (emotional acceptance or rejection), world relations (assessment), etc. The religious worldview sets the "limiting" criteria, the Absolutes, from the point of view of which people, the world, society are understood, goal-setting and meaning-setting are provided.
Regulatory function religion is based on the accumulated moral experience of many generations of people, expressed in the commandments, moral canons. Within the framework of various religious beliefs, symbols of faith, uniform samples (canons) were formed that normalized the way of feelings, thoughts, and behavior of people. Thanks to this, religion acts as a powerful means of social regulation and regulation, ordering and preserving morals, traditions and customs.
Religion not only establishes a certain framework for human freedom, but also encourages him to assimilate certain positive moral values, decent behavior, and in this it manifests itself educational function.
Compensatory function- relieves social and mental stress of a person, compensates for the shortcomings or deficiency of secular communication with religious communication: social inequality is compensated by equality in sinfulness, suffering; human disunity is replaced by brotherhood in Christ. This function is especially clearly realized in prayer and repentance, during the fulfillment of which a person passes from depression, mental discomfort to a state of relief, calmness, and a surge of strength.
Religion fulfills communicative function, being a means of communication between believers. This communication unfolds in two ways: in the plane of dialogue with God and the "celestials", as well as in contact with other believers. Communication is carried out primarily through cult activities.
Integrating function - the direction of uniting people, their behavior, activities, thoughts, feelings, aspirations, efforts of social groups and institutions in order to preserve the stability of society, the stability of the individual, common religion. By directing and uniting the efforts of individual individuals, social groups, religion contributes to social stability or the establishment of something new. There are many examples of how religion can act as a factor in the integration of society: let us recall the role of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, for example, St. Sergius of Radonezh, in uniting the Russian lands and fighting the invaders.
Cultural function consists in the fact that religion preserves and translates the social experience of mankind, being an integral part of the culture of human society.
Humanistic function - religion cultivates feelings of love, kindness, tolerance, compassion, mercy, conscience, duty, justice, seeking to give them special value, to connect them with the experience of the sublime, the sacred.

The place of religion in the system of human relations
and the surrounding world
Religion is a certain form of spiritual culture that has a social nature and functions. One of the historical missions of religion, which is acquiring unprecedented relevance in the modern world, is the formation of awareness of the unity of the human race, the importance of universal human moral norms, and enduring values. For many people, religion plays the role of a worldview, a ready-made system of views, principles, ideals, explaining the structure of the world and determining a person's place in it. Religious norms are one of the most powerful social regulators. Through a whole system of values, they regulate the social and personal life of a person. Many millions find consolation, comfort, hope in faith. Religion makes it possible to compensate for the shortcomings of an imperfect reality, promising the "Kingdom of God", reconciles with earthly evil. In the face of the inability of science to explain many natural phenomena, religion offers its own answers to painful questions. Religion often contributes to the unification of nations, the formation of united states. Religion acts as a powerful means of social regulation and regulation, ordering and preservation of morals, traditions and customs. This expresses its important cultural and historical role.
But a religious worldview can also contain ideas of fanaticism, hostility to people of other faiths, and be an instrument of socio-political oppression. Historical experience shows that many conflicts and wars are caused by religious intolerance. Even deep faith did not always keep a person and society from committing crimes and misdeeds. Often, religion and the church imposed bans on certain types of activities, science, art, fettering the creative power of people; social injustice, despotic regimes were sanctified by the authority of the church, which promised genuine liberation only in another world. Religion called to spend earthly life in peace and humility, not resisting evil.
However, predicting the future of religion is extremely difficult. Multidirectional processes are taking place in society: on the one hand, all more spheres of human activity are secularized, freed from the influence of religion, on the other hand, in many countries the role and authority of the church is growing.

World religions in modern world

In the history of society and modern planetary civilization, a huge number of religions have existed and still exist. The main religions are presented in Tables 1, 2 and Fig. 2.
Table 1 - The largest religions and worldviews in the modern world

№	Religion		Relative number of followers
1	Christianity	> 2 billion	32%
2	Islam	1 billion 300 million	20%
3	"Non-religious"	1 billion 120 million	17,3%
4	Hinduism	900 million	14%
5	Tribal cults	400 million	6,2%
6	Traditional Chinese religions	394 million	6,1%
7	Buddhism	376 million	5,8%
	Other	100 million	1,5%

The following distribution of believers is typical for Russia: Orthodoxy - 53%; Islam - 5%; Buddhism - 2%; other religions - 2%; found it difficult - 6%; 32% do not consider themselves to be believers.

Table 2 - Religions and sects, the number of adherents of which is more than 1 million people, but less than 1% of the world's population

№	Religion	Absolute number of followers
1	Sikhism	23 million
2	Jehovah's	16 million 500 thousand
3	Judaism	14 million
4	Shintoism	10 million
5	Baha'ism	7 million
6	Jainism	4.2 million
7	Zoroastrianism	2.6 million
8	Neopaganism	1 million
	Non-traditional religions	120 million

Figure 2 - Confessional structure of the modern world (percentage of religions and worldviews in the world)

All currently existing religions can be conditionally divided into three groups:

tribal primitive beliefs;
national-state- associated with a particular people or peoples (the largest national religions are: Hinduism in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc .; Shintoism in Japan and China; sikhism in India; Judaism in Israel, etc.);
world religions- those who do not recognize national differences.

Major world religions in modern world: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism(fig. 3).

Figure 3 - World religions

About half of the world's population are adherents of any of these three world religions. The signs of world religions include:
a) a huge number of followers all over the world;
b) cosmopolitanism: they are inter- and supra-ethnic in nature, going beyond the boundaries of nations and states;
c) they are egalitarian (preach the equality of all people, appeal to representatives of all social groups);
d) they are distinguished by extraordinary propaganda activity and proselytism (the desire to convert persons of other confessions to their faith).
All these properties have determined the wide spread of world religions. Let's consider the main world religions in more detail.
Buddhism- the oldest world religion, the most common in China, Thailand, Burma, Japan, Korea and other countries of Southeast Asia. Russian centers of Buddhism are located in Buryatia, Kalmykia and the Republic of Tuva.
Buddhism is based on the teaching of four noble truths:

everything in human life is suffering - birth, life, old age, death, any attachment, etc .;
the cause of suffering is that a person has desires, including the desire to live;
the cessation of suffering is associated with liberation from desires;
in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to adhere to the eightfold path of salvation, which includes the assimilation of the four noble truths, acceptance of them as a life program, refraining from words that are not related to the moral goal, not harming the living, turning true actions into a way of life, constant self-control, detachment from the world, spiritual self-absorption.

Following this path leads a person to nirvana - a state of absence, overcoming suffering. The severity of Buddhist morality and the complexity of the technique with which one can achieve nirvana, led to the allocation of two ways of salvation - the Hinayana ("narrow chariot"), accessible only to monks, and the Mahayana ("wide chariot"), following which ordinary laymen can act to save other people and yourself. Buddhism blends easily with national religions such as Confucianism and Taoism in China or Shintoism in Japan.
Christianity is the second in time of occurrence; the most widespread and one of the most developed world religions. The peculiarity of Christianity as a religion is that it can exist only in the form of the Church. Bible- the main source of the Christian faith. It includes the Old Testament, common to the Jews (the religion of the Jewish people, in which Christ is recognized as only one of the Messiahs) and Christians, and the New Testament, which consists of the four Gospels (gospel), as well as the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of the Apostles and the Revelation of John the Evangelist (Apocalypse ). Christianity is a religion of redemption and salvation. Christians believe in the merciful love of the triune God for sinned humanity, for the sake of whose salvation the Son of God Jesus Christ was sent into the world, who became human and died on the cross. The idea of ​​the God-Man-Savior is central to Christianity. The believer must follow the teachings of Christ in order to partake of salvation.
There are three main streams of Christianity: Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism.
What are the fundamental dogmatic differences of the churches?
The Catholic Church claims that the Holy Spirit comes from both God the Father and God the Son. The Eastern Church recognizes the procession of the Holy Spirit only from God the Father. The Roman Catholic Church proclaims the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, her chosen by God for the role of Mother Jesus Christ and her ascension to heaven after death, hence the cult of the Madonna in Catholicism. The Orthodox Church does not accept the dogma of the Pope's infallibility in matters of faith, and the Roman Catholic Church considers the Pope to be the governor of God on earth, through whose mouth God Himself speaks in relation to matters of religion. The Roman Catholic Church, along with hell and heaven, recognizes the existence of purgatory and the possibility of atonement for sins already on earth by acquiring a particle of the super-proper stock of good deeds performed by Jesus Christ, the Mother of God and the saints, which the church "disposes" of.
In the countries of Western Europe in the XV-XVI centuries. the Reformation movement unfolded, which led to the separation from the Catholic Church of a significant part of Christians. A number of Christian Protestant churches emerged from the Pope's authority. The largest of them are Lutheranism (Germany and the Baltic countries), Calvinism (Switzerland and the Netherlands), the Anglican Church (England). Protestants recognize Holy Scripture (Bible) as the only source of faith and believe that each person will be rewarded according to his faith, regardless of the means of its external expression. Protestantism shifted the center of religious life from the church to the individual. Catholicism remained a strictly centralized religion. Of the European countries, Catholicism is most widespread in Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Portugal. A significant number of Catholics live in Latin America. But in none of these countries is Catholicism the only religion.
Despite the division of Christianity into separate churches, they all have a common ideological basis. An ecumenical movement is gaining strength in the world, striving for dialogue and rapprochement of all Christian churches.
All three directions of Christianity operate in the religious life of modern Russia; the overwhelming majority of believers in our country are Orthodox. Orthodoxy is represented by the Russian Orthodox Church, various directions of the Old Believers, as well as religious sects. Catholicism also has a certain number of followers. Protestantism among the citizens of Russia is represented by both official churches, for example Lutheranism, and sectarian organizations.
Islam- the latest world religion in terms of time of emergence, distributed mainly in the Arab states (the Middle East and North Africa), in South and Southeast Asia (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc.). A significant number of Muslims live in Russia. This is the second most adherent religion after Orthodoxy.
Islam originated on the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century. n. e., when the religious center of the Arab tribes was formed in Mecca and a movement arose for the veneration of the one supreme God-Allah. The activity of the founder of Islam, the Prophet Muhammad (Mohammed), began here. Muslims believe that the one and almighty God - Allah - transmitted to people through the mouth of the Prophet Muhammad through the mediation of the angel Jebrail the holy book - the Koran, which is an indisputable authority in spiritual life, law, politics and economic activity. There are five most important prescriptions of the Quran: knowledge of the creed; five times prayer (namaz); observance of the fast At times the whole month of Ramadan; distribution of alms; making a pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). Since the Koran contains prescriptions relating to all aspects of the life of Muslims, the criminal and civil law of Islamic states was based, and in a number of countries is still based on the religious law - Sharia.
The formation of Islam took place under the noticeable influence of the more ancient religions of Middle Eastern origin - Judaism and Christianity. Therefore, the Koran contains a number of biblical personalities (the archangels Gabriel, Michael and others, the prophets Abraham, David, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus), the holy book for the Jews is mentioned - the Torah, as well as the Gospel. The expansion of Islam was facilitated by the conquests of the Arabs and Turks, who marched under the banner of religion.
In the XX century. in Turkey, Egypt and a number of other states, reforms were carried out to limit the scope of religious laws, separate church from state, and introduce secular education. But in some Muslim countries (for example, Iran, Afghanistan) Islamic fundamentalism is extremely strong, which requires the organization of all spheres of life on the principles of the Koran and Sharia.
Areas of distribution of the largest religions in the modern world are shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 4 - Areas of distribution of the largest religions (dark color indicates the area of ​​distribution of Christianity, in all its three directions)
Christianity distributed mainly in Europe, North and Latin America, as well as in Asia (the Philippines, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, India, Indonesia and Cyprus), Australia, New Zealand and Africa (South Africa and Gabon, Angola, Congo and etc.). Since Christianity as such does not exist, there are a number of its directions and trends, we will give information on each of its main directions.
Catholicism in Europe prevails in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, France, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg, Malta, Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland. The Catholic faith is also held by about half of the population of Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, part of the population of the Balkan Peninsula, Western Ukrainians (the Uniate Church), etc. In Asia, the Philippines is predominantly a Catholic country, but many citizens of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, India and Indonesia also profess Catholicism ... In Africa, many residents of Gabon, Angola, Congo, the island states of Mauritius, Cape Verde are Catholics. Catholicism is also widespread in the USA, Canada, and Latin American countries.
Protestantism is not very homogeneous, it is a collection of many movements and churches, the most influential of which are Lutheranism (mainly the countries of Northern Europe), Calvinism (in some countries of Western Europe and North America) and Anglicanism, half of whose adherents are English.
Orthodoxy
etc.................

"... Speaking about the development of the European world, one cannot miss the movement of the Christian religion, which is attributed to the re-creation of the ancient world, and from which the history of new Europe begins ..." (4; p. 691).

CHRISTIANITY (from the Greek - "anointed", "messiah") is one of the three world religions (along with Buddhism and Islam) arose in the 1st century. in Palestine.

The founder of Christianity is Jesus Christ (Yeshua Mashiach). Jesus - the Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew name Yeshua, was born into the family of the carpenter Joseph, a descendant of the legendary King David. The place of birth is the city of Bethlehem. The parents' place of residence is the city of Nazareth in the Galilee. The birth of Jesus was marked by a number of cosmic phenomena, which gave reason to consider the boy the Messiah and the newborn king of the Jews. The word "Christ" is the Greek translation of the ancient Greek "Mashiach" ("anointed one"). About 30 years old he was baptized. The dominant qualities of his personality were humility, patience, and benevolence. When Jesus was 31 years old, from all his disciples he selected 12, whom he determined to be the apostles of the new teaching, of which 10 were executed (7; p. 198-200).

The Bible (Greek biblio - books) is a collection of books that Christians consider to be divinely revealed, that is, given from above, and they call Holy Scripture.

The Bible consists of two parts: the Old and New Testaments ("covenant" - a mystical contract or union). The Old Testament, created from the 4th to the second half of the 2nd century. BC e., includes 5 books attributed to the Hebrew prophet Moses (the Pentateuch of Moses, or Torah), as well as 34 works of a historical, philosophical, poetic and purely religious nature. These 39 officially recognized (canonical) books make up the Holy Scripture of Judah-Ism - Tanakh. To them were added 11 books, which are considered, although not divinely inspired, but, nevertheless, religiously useful (non-canonical) and are revered by most Christians.

The Old Testament sets out the Jewish picture of the creation of the world and man, as well as the history of the Jewish people and the main ideas of Judaism. The final composition of the Old Testament was fixed at the end of the 1st century. n. NS.

The New Testament was created in the process of the formation of Christianity and is actually the Christian part of the Bible, it contains 27 books: 4 Gospels, which describe the earthly life of Jesus Christ, describe his martyrdom and miraculous resurrection; Acts of the apostles - disciples of Christ; 21 epistles of the apostles James, Peter, John, Jude and Paul; Revelation of the Apostle John the Theologian (Apocalypse). The final composition of the New Testament was established in the second half of the 4th century. n. NS.

Currently, the Bible is fully or partially translated into almost all languages ​​of the peoples of the world. For the first time, the complete Slavic Bible was published in 1581, and the Russian - in 1876 (2; p. 82 - 83).

Initially, Christianity spread among the Jews of Palestine and the Mediterranean diaspora, but already in the first decades it gained more and more followers from other nations ("pagans"). Up to 5 in. the spread of Christianity took place mainly within the geographical limits of the Roman Empire, as well as in the sphere of its political and cultural influence, later - among the Germanic and Slavic peoples, later (by the 13-14 centuries) - also among the Baltic and Finnish peoples ...

The emergence and spread of early Christianity took place in the context of the deepening crisis of ancient civilization.

The early Christian communities had many similarities with the associations and cult communities characteristic of the life of the Roman Empire, but unlike the latter, they taught their members to think not only about their needs and local interests, but about the fate of the whole world.

The administration of the Caesars has long viewed Christianity as a complete denial of the official ideology, incriminating Christians with "hatred of the human race", refusal to participate in pagan religious and political ceremonies, bringing repressions to Christians.

Christianity, like Islam, inherits the idea of ​​a single God that has matured in Judaism, the owner of absolute goodness, absolute knowledge and absolute power, in relation to which all creatures and forerunners are his creations, everything is created by God from nothing.

The human situation in Christianity is thought to be extremely contradictory. Man was created as the bearer of the "image and likeness" of God, in this primordial state and in the final sense of God about man, mystical dignity belongs not only to the human spirit, but also to the body.

Christianity highly appreciates the cleansing role of suffering - not as an end in itself, but as the most powerful weapon in the war against world evil. Only by “accepting his cross” can a person overcome evil in himself. Any obedience is an ascetic taming, in which a person “cuts off his will” and paradoxically becomes free.

An important place in Orthodoxy is occupied by sacramental rites, during which, according to the teaching of the church, a special grace descends on believers. The Church recognizes seven sacraments:

Baptism is a sacrament in which the believer, when the body is immersed in water three times with the invocation of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, gains spiritual birth.

In the sacrament of chrismation, the believer is given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, restoring and strengthening in the spiritual life.

In the sacrament of communion, the believer, under the guise of bread and wine, partakes of the very Body and Blood of Christ for Eternal Life.

The sacrament of repentance or confession is the confession of one's sins before the priest, who forgives them in the name of Jesus Christ.

The sacrament of the priesthood is performed through episcopal ordination when a person is ordained a priest. The right to perform this sacrament belongs only to the bishop.

In the sacrament of marriage, which is performed in the church at the wedding, the conjugal union of the bride and groom is blessed.

In the sacrament of blessing of oil (unction), when anointing the body with oil, the grace of God is called upon the sick person, which heals mental and bodily weaknesses.

Having become officially permitted in 311, and by the end of the 4th century. the dominant religion in the Roman Empire, Christianity comes under the patronage, tutelage and control of the government, interested in developing a like-mindedness among its subjects.

The persecutions experienced by Christianity in the first centuries of its existence left a deep imprint on its worldview and spirit. Persons who underwent imprisonment and torture for their faith (confessors) or who were executed (martyrs) began to be venerated in Christianity as saints. In general, the ideal of the martyr becomes central in Christian ethics.

Time passed. The conditions of the era and culture changed the political and ideological context of Christianity, and this caused a number of church divisions - schism. As a result, rival varieties of Christianity - “creed” - have emerged. So, in 311, Christianity becomes officially permitted, and by the end of the 4th century, under Emperor Constantine, it became the dominant religion under the tutelage of state power. However, the gradual weakening of the Western Roman Empire eventually ended in its collapse. This contributed to the fact that the influence of the Roman bishop (pope), who assumed the functions of a secular ruler, significantly increased. Already in the 5th-7th centuries, in the course of the so-called Christological disputes that clarified the relationship between the divine and the human principle in the person of Christ, the Christians of the East separated from the imperial church: the Monophists, etc. the conflict between the Byzantine theology of the sacred state - the position of church hierarchs subordinate to the monarch - and the Latin theology of the universal papacy, which sought to subjugate secular power.

After the death under the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks of Byzantium in 1453, Russia became the main stronghold of Orthodoxy. However, disputes about the norms of ritual practice led here in the 17th century to a schism, as a result of which the Old Believers separated from the Orthodox Church.

In the West, during the Middle Ages, the ideology and practice of the papacy evoked more and more protest from both the secular upper classes (especially the German emperors) and the lower classes of society (the Lollard movement in England, the Hussites in the Czech Republic, etc.). By the beginning of the 16th century, this protest took shape in the Reformation movement (8; p. 758).

About 1.9 billion people profess Christianity in the world (5; p. 63).

In my opinion, Christianity plays a big role in the modern world. Now it can be called the dominant religion of the world. Christianity penetrates into all spheres of life of people of different nationalities. And against the background of numerous hostilities in the world, its peacekeeping role is manifested, which in itself is multifaceted and includes a complex system that is aimed at forming a worldview. Christianity is one of the world's religions that adapts as much as possible to changing conditions and continues to have a great impact on the mores, customs, personal life of people, their relationships in the family.

At all stages of the development of human civilization, religion has been and remains one of the most important factors influencing the worldview and way of life of every believer, as well as relations in society as a whole. Every religion is based on belief in supernatural forces, organized worship of God or gods, and the need to observe a certain set of rules and regulations prescribed by believers. plays almost the same important role in the modern world as it did millennia ago, since according to polls conducted by the American Gallup Institute, at the beginning of the 21st century, more than 90% of people believed in the presence of God or higher powers, and the number of believers is about the same in highly developed states, and in the countries of the "third world".

The fact that the role of religion in the modern world is still great refutes the secularizing theory popular in the twentieth century, according to which the role of religion is inversely proportional to the development of progress. The supporters of this theory were sure that scientific and technological progress by the beginning of the twenty-first century would become the reason that only people living in underdeveloped countries would retain faith in higher powers. In the second half of the twentieth century, the secularization hypothesis was partly confirmed, since it was during this period that millions of adherents of the theory of atheism and agnosticism developed rapidly and found, however, the end of the twentieth century early XXI centuries were marked by a rapid increase in the number of believers and the development of a number of religions.

Religions of modern society

The process of globalization has also affected the religious sphere, therefore in the modern world they are gaining more and more weight, and fewer and fewer adherents of ethnoreligions remain. A striking example of this fact is the religious situation on the African continent - if just over 100 years ago adherents of local ethnoreligions prevailed among the population of African states, now all of Africa can be conditionally divided into two zones - Muslim (northern part of the mainland) and Christian (southern part mainland). The most widespread religions in the modern world are the so-called world religions - Buddhism, Christianity and Islam; each of these religions has over a billion followers. Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, Sikhism and other beliefs are also widespread.

The twentieth century and modern times can be called not only the heyday of world religions, but also the period of the birth and rapid development of numerous religious movements and Neoshamanism, neo-paganism, the teachings of Don Juan (Carlos Castaneda), the teachings of Osho, Scientology, Agni Yoga, PL-Kyodan - this is only a small part of religious movements that emerged less than 100 years ago and currently have hundreds of thousands of adherents. Front modern man a very large selection of religious teachings opens up, and the modern society of citizens in most countries of the world can no longer be called one-confessional.

The role of religion in the modern world

It is obvious that the flourishing of world religions and the emergence of numerous new religious movements directly depend on the spiritual and psychological needs of people. The role of religion in the modern world has practically not changed compared to the role played by religious beliefs in past centuries, if you do not take into account the fact that in most states, religion and politics are separate, and clergy do not have the power to significantly influence political and civil processes in the country.

Nevertheless, in many states, religious organizations have a significant impact on political and social processes. Also, one should not forget that religion shapes the worldview of believers, therefore, even in secular states, religious organizations indirectly influence the life of society, since they shape the views on life, beliefs, and often - the civic position of citizens who are members of a religious community. The role of religion in the modern world is expressed in the fact that it performs the following functions:

The attitude of modern society to religion

The rapid development of world religions and the emergence of many new religious movements at the beginning of the 21st century caused an ambiguous reaction in society, as some people began to welcome the revival of religion, but another part of society is strongly opposed to the increase in the influence of religious confessions on society as a whole. If we characterize the attitude modern society to religion, then you can notice some trends that apply to almost all countries:

A more loyal attitude of citizens towards religions that are considered traditional for their state, and a more hostile attitude towards new trends and world religions "competing" with traditional beliefs;

An increase in interest in religious cults, which were widespread in the distant past, but were almost forgotten until recently (attempts to revive the faith of their ancestors);

The emergence and development of religious movements, which are a symbiosis of a certain direction of philosophy and dogmas from one or several religions at once;

The rapid increase in the Muslim part of society in countries where for several decades this religion was not very widespread;

Attempts by religious communities to lobby their rights and interests at the legislative level;

The emergence of trends opposing the increasing role of religion in the life of the state.

Despite the fact that most people have a positive or loyal attitude towards various religious movements and their fans, the attempts of believers to dictate their rules to the rest of society often provoke protest in atheists and agnostics. One of the striking examples demonstrating the dissatisfaction of the unbelieving part of society with the fact that state authorities to please religious communities, laws are being rewritten and members of religious communities are endowed with exclusive rights, the emergence of Pastafarianism, the cult of the "invisible pink unicorn" and other parodic religions.

At the moment, Russia is a secular state, in which the right of every person to freedom of religion is legally enshrined. Now religion in modern Russia is going through a stage of rapid development, since in the post-communist society the demand for spiritual and mystical teachings is quite high. According to the polls of the Levada Center company, if in 1991 a little more than 30% of people called themselves believers, in 2000 - about 50% of citizens, then in 2012 more than 75% of the residents of the Russian Federation considered themselves religious. It is also important that about 20% of Russians believe in the presence of higher powers, but at the same time do not classify themselves as belonging to any confession, therefore at the moment only 1 out of 20 citizens of the Russian Federation is an atheist.

The most widespread religion in modern Russia is the Orthodox Christian tradition - 41% of citizens profess it. Islam is in second place after Orthodoxy - about 7%, in third place are adherents of various branches of Christianity, which are not branches of the Orthodox tradition (4%), followed by adherents of the Turkic-Mongolian shamanic religions, neo-paganism, Buddhism, Old Believers, etc.

Religion in modern Russia plays an increasing role, and it cannot be said that this role is unambiguously positive: attempts to introduce a particular religious tradition into the school educational process and conflicts arising on religious grounds in society are negative consequences, the cause of which is a rapid increase in the number of religious organizations in the country and a rapid increase in the number of believers.