Psychology and Sociology

Ph.D. Ershova I.F., Grigorieva G.B.

South-Russia State University of Economics and Services, Russia

The Role of Religion in Contemporary Russia

In recent decades in Russia the Orthodoxy and the Russian Orthodox Church have significantly changed their attitudes to science by using it to achieve their goals and stressing that science and religion, each within its own limits, carries out, though equally important work on the foundation and spreadg spiritual civilization values for people.

Lately, especially in the beginning of the XXI century, contacts between science and religion have intensified and strengthened.

The last fifteen years of the XX century and the beginning of the XXI century in Russia are characterized by an extraordinary increase in the influence and role in the social, cultural, civilization, and public life of the religion and the Church. And, first of all, not only of the most popular, powerful, traditional in Russia, the Russian Orthodox religion and Russian Orthodox Church but also in other religions: Islam, especially Mohammedanism as well as Judaism and Buddhism.

Since 1985 spiritual crisis and the collapse in Russia has led to the formation of spiritual vacuum, confusion, disorder and chaos. People did not know what they should believe in and hope for. It was a heavy blow to values, beliefs and scientific values and pillars of the Russian culture shared by lots of people for many decades.

The mass propaganda waiting upon the new government forcibly and hastily “debunked” and actually trampled attractive and compelling, important spiritual values and scientific ideals, their confidence in the present day, a strong belief in the future, serious hope for a better tomorrow shared by people for a long time. People were spiritually exhausted. [2]

Even stronger and sharper the crisis has hit social values, beliefs and hopes of people. People can not live without any social orientation and aspirations.

Lightning reorientation of the spiritual and social values and ideals could not become persistent and strong opinions with the masses of people so hasty. It became just a fashion pleasing to the new pro-capitalist oriented authorities and their surroundings, the way people adapted slogans and appeals thrusted on them from the top and absolutely opposite to the previous ones.

Realizing the danger of spiritual and social emptiness and vacuum with lots of people occurred in the Russian society as a result of the spiritual and social revolution happened in 1985, the new government focused its main attention, as a way to escape, on religion and, above all, the Russian Orthodox religion, and the Russian Orthodox Church as the only implementors of spiritual and social values of the Russian culture and the very national idea of Russia

As a result, this faith in God strongly thrusted from the top for some people was the revival of the beliefs persecuted in former times, for others - a convenient change of ideological standards, ensuring an attractive political image, for the third - the costs of ideological infantilism, a fear to be against the spiritual fashion, reputed an enemy of freedom and communion to civilization. [3]

Turn and move of the country to a qualitatively new, transitional, uncertain transformational state not only led to political and economic crisis but a crisis of spiritual and social values, world outlook. [4]

For many people who started to visit churches and other religious institutions in the late XX century and the early XXI century, it became simply an external expression of their adaptation to the religious “preferences” officially thrusted on them by a new goverment, without having the true religious faith, in fact, turned into a religious imitation and showing off. It was just their adaptation to the new powerful religious ideology.

Forcibly imposed in the late XX - early XXI century by the authority and its surroundings, as well as by the church hierarchy, religious beliefs and attitudes in the essential extent undermined and weakened the most powerful scientific and rational potential of the Russian culture, conquered and developed by it during the XX century - the century of scientific, technical, technological, organizational, managerial, information and other great revolutions, created by talents of people of the world-wide civilization.[5]

“Having lost”in the last 15 years of XX century. and the early XXI century the powerful, spiritual - advanced scientific and social ideas which unite people, appealing and attractive values, ideals and scientific predicting ideological aspirations to the future of socially just, socialist nature, today’s Russia is finding attractive new spiritual and social, ideological basis and support that can unite and close Russian people.

New scientific worldview values and concepts, really nationwide ideas will be found by Russian people in the powerful self-manifestation and self-realization as a “nation for themselves” in the increasing movement for self-government, freedom, democracy, a truly democratic autocracy in Russia.

Speaking of the major trends in the development of the modern world, we should focus primarily on the religious renaissance in the world of. Especially it is true for countries that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union and East European bloc - the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the Warsaw Pact. In these countries there was an awakening interest in religions - mostly Christianity and Islam. In the opinion polls most of people started to declare themselves supporters of religion. For example, in Russia, according to ISPI RAM, 80% of the population identified themselves as supporters of Orthodoxy, about 8% - Islam, a few percent - Buddhism, which correlates with the ethnic structure of Russia. [6]

As for the Orthodoxy, a number of religious leaders do not concede in the proof of their orientation and attitudes. For example, Metropolitan Kirill, speaking to students at the Rostov University expressly stated that the best form of government for Russia would be a theocracy. Moreover, the Russian Orthodox Church in March 2006 at the Russian Assembly presented its ideological vision, the essence of which lies in the fact that Western orientation on freedom and human rights must be supplemented by the ideas of morality. While claiming to be a new word in the theory and practice of construction and operation of the world, the Church claims that it alone can represent the requirements of morality and responsibility for the implementation of this outlook. [1]

References

1. Kirill, Metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. The Russian Church and the Christian dimension of problems of rights and freedoms // Izestiya. - 2006. - April 5

2. Mitrokhin, L.N. Religion and Culture (Philosophical Essays) - M. INFRAN, 2000.

3. Okulov, A.F. Social Progress and Religion. //. M.: Mysl, 1982

4. Osipov, G.V. Will the end of time come? //. Social peacemaking and social practices. - M., 2000

5. Prussakov, V. Mystical Policy / / Lit. newspaper. - 2006. - March 29 - April 4 (№ 13).

6. Semenov, VS, Science and Religion: the relationship, confrontation and prospects // Problems of Philosophy. - 2007. (№ 6).