PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS FUNCTIONING IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL PRACTICES

Abstract

The principles of the functioning of the phenomenon of religion in contemporary post-secular society are considered. An analysis of the relationship between the social and the religious, as well as the triad of being-society-religion, has been carried out, which allows for a significant actualization of the conceptual apparatus of religious ontology – an element that is exceptionally important for philosophical anthropology in determining the place of the human as a spiritual being within the religious contexts of the modern globalized world. It shows how the matrix of religion is changing in the era of digital technologies, responding to changes in sociocultural environments. Under the influence of globalization, the implementation of existing social practices requires the introduction of a whole range of new ideas, strategies, and tactics, as well as the introduction of a new model of religious communication that is acceptable in a post-secular society. Religion is relatively autonomous from other spheres of sociocultural life, as well as functional in terms of self-regulation and self-control. In the digital age, religion also acts as a virtual information space in which, through the introduction of cyber technologies, information is encoded and decoded and transmitted using technical means. The religious sphere reproduces various aspects of the religious world, which can be represented in numerous versions as: an “imprint,” a “copy,” an “imitation”; a spiritual layer in which the deepest human experiences and emotions echo polyphonically; a theologically grounded and modeled virtual picture of the religious world. Religion is what a person can perceive at a given moment in time, given their religious experience, knowledge, and faith, or what they imagine it to be. It is reasonable to assume that modern religious communication is one of the components of social practices. Religious communication acts as: a way of paving the way for establishing new religious relations; a condition for the coexistence of communicators in the sphere of religious functioning and the establishment of links between them; a model of religious communication; a means of transmitting religious information; a specific form of interaction between religious subjects, which is carried out in religious language, including sign systems. Religious communication is realized in the forms of conversation, dialogue, and the process of transmitting and exchanging religious information, which structures the activities of religious organizations and gives them new meaning, influencing people's religious consciousness. Digital technologies contribute to the constant renewal of religious communications, changing the functioning of religion. Religious communication can take the form of a set of verbal and nonverbal means of religious communication used in modern social practices when exchanging information and performing religious rituals, using all possible technical means of communication.