Religious Freedom as a Factor of Religious Pluralism: Theoretical Explanations

Abstract

The article defines the features of contemporary discourse in the sociology of religion, in particular the peculiarities of the theory of religious economy. Religious freedom has been characterized as a key factor in religious pluralism. It is stated that the degree of freedom of the religious market influences pluralism: the less regulated the market, the more pluralism thrives. It is determined that religious organizations that have reached a certain level of monopoly will try to put their efforts in the direction of influence on all other institutions and, thus, society will be «sacred». The factors influencing the development of religious organizations are analyzed. The first factor is that governments and other institutional constraints can prevent certain groups from developing or even begin to operate. The four main types (types) of state regulation of religion are considered: religious prohibition, religious monopoly, religious oligopoly and religious pluralism. The second factor influencing religious organizations is the cost of launching new religious organizations that are nonlinear and dependent on the degree of regulation of the religious economy. The third factor is cultural inertia (tradition), which can delay the adoption of new firms as a legitimate phenomenon. The fourth factor influencing the development of religious organizations is the significant transformation in the size and composition of the population, due to migration (internal and external) and general population growth