Contemporary religiosity in practice: experiencing religion

Abstract

The aim of the study is to reconstruct and analyse selected aspects of religious experience present in the media discourse in Poland. Religious experience is explored from a broad perspective and refers to religious beliefs and reference frameworks, commitment, and emotions. The social practices analysed in this paper fall within the context of everyday life. In the sociology of religion, religious experiences embedded in everyday life are a subject of the “lived religion” approach. The study discussed in this paper is exploratory in nature. The area of research covers the discourse analysis of the information portals that users, journalists, and social researchers describe as right-wing or conservative. The assumption made here is that the portals chosen set knowledge boundaries and acceptable religious and secular beliefs, establish the hierarchy of values, and define aesthetic and moral principles in their message. Based on the analysis of the statements, four contexts of referring to religious experiences were identified. The contexts focused around 1. subjectivity, intersubjectivity and institutionalisation, 2. testimonies of faith, 3. religious experience as the basis for religious coping, 4. interaction with God.