Multi-religious Houses in Postsecular Cities as Sign of the Refiguration of Religion in Late Modernity

This article is devoted to the role of religion in modern society. The author reveals the main directions of religion in society, the problems associated with understanding religious dogmas and solving these problems. Special attention is paid to the problem of activization of ultra-radical groups based on religious grounds, the perception of the world community of religion and the problem of correct understanding of religion on the example of Islam. Based on the analysis, the main causes of the emergence of problems related to religion and its perception were identified. Using sources whose authors directly deal with the problems of religion throughout their life, the author gives some recommendations for eradicating the problems that arise from a misunderstanding of religious values.

This paper discusses the position of religion in contemporary society by examining the religious thoughts of two prominent religious leaders: Pope Francis from the Catholic Church and Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayyeb from Al-Azhar University, Egypt. The meeting between Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayyeb in Abu Dhabi (February 2019) is a starting point for understanding the process by which the two religious leaders redefined the role of religion in society. Moreover, their responses to contemporary social issues such as terrorism, ecological crisis, war, and social injustices also show how they redefined the role of religion. While each religious leader formulates theological account into its religious tradition, it is obvious that the role of religion for social transformation and humanity is shown to be the central concern of the two religious’ leaders. The two religious traditions go further to put religion as a fundamental agent for society transformation.

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Following the collapse of the Communist system in the early 1990s, past decades have witnessed the re-institution of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and the Polish Catholic Church in Poland. As a crucial part of these developments, both churches have significantly increased their presence throughout several areas of public life and established ever-closer relations to their respective states and political establishments. This paper applies Jose Casanova’s conception of public religion to frame how these tendencies are perceived and experienced by the present young adult generation in Poland and Russia. The analysis of the Russian and Polish young adults’ views on the present-day role of religion in the wider society and public life reveal several concerns about the current church-state relations in both countries. Without necessarily taking a negative stance towards religion or religious traditions as such, respondents mostly expressed their views on the public role of religion in society through three interrelated main discourses: a discourse of differentiation, a discourse of diversity and plurality, and a discourse of tradition and modernity. In general, narratives are built upon the prevalent discursive formations on individual rights and freedoms as the natural and taken-for-granted states of affairs in modern democratic societies.

This study examines the perspective of Malek Bennabi regarding the role of religion (religious idea) in building civilization. Bennabi’s writings are analyzed to comprehend his understanding of religion and its multiple dimensions. Specifically, the paper focuses on three dimensions of religion, namely religion as a part of universal laws, as a historical force, and as a governing principle of thought. Bennabi’s view about the civilizing function of religion is also highlighted, including its objectives as outlined in the Quran, its historical significance, and its social dimensions. The study concludes that his perception of religion encompasses various dimensions, including existential, metaphysical, teleological, and practical dimensions. Furthermore, religion serves a crucial role as a compound of civilizational values, providing a medium for individual and group formation, organizing human thought towards spiritual goals, embodying the relationship between God and man, and establishing a moral law that gives meaning to human life and actions. Bennabi’s work on religion and civilization is of utmost significance in contemporary discussions about the role of religion in the society. Hence, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse by providing an in-depth analysis of his perspective, which emphasizes the positive and constructive impact of religion on human society. By recognizing the civilizational function of religion, Bennabi’s work promotes a more nuanced and inclusive understanding of religion in the contemporary society.

In his earliest writings Durkheim comments upon the importance of religion in society, recognising it to be the original source of all subsequently evolved moral, philosophical, scientific and juridical ideas. In The Division of Labour , he outlines the thesis that any belief which forms part of the conscience collective tends to assume a religious character, although in that work this is advanced only as a ‘highly probable conjecture’ which needs further study. But Durkheim's recognition of the probable significance of religion in relation to the influence of the conscience collective in society is counterbalanced by an awareness of the fact that very profound changes have occurred with the emergence of the modern societal type. Durkheim consistently supports the conclusion, reached at an early point in his intellectual career, that both the ‘defenders of the old economic theories are mistaken in thinking that regulation is not necessary today’ and ‘the apologists of the institution of religion are wrong in believing that yesterday's regulation can be useful today’. The declining importance of religion in contemporary societies is a necessary consequence of the diminishing significance of mechanical solidarity: the importance we thus attribute to the sociology of religion does not in the least imply that religion must play the same role in present-day societies that it has played at other times. In a sense, the contrary conclusion would be more sound. Precisely because religion is a primordial phenomenon, it must yield more and more to the new social forms which it has engendered.

This chapter assumes that the attitude towards compatibility of religion and modernity, the acceptance or rejection of religious pluralism, and the dealing with religious truth claims affects the individual belief. It provides new insights into the nature of individualized beliefs by taking the distinction of literal and symbolic belief or disbelief into account. The chapter investigates whether the altered situation of religion in modern society has an impact on individual belief. Most studies on the relationship of religious pluralism and religiosity use the diversity index to assess the societal degree of religious pluralization. Referring to Dobbelaere who introduced the individual's secularization-in-mind as an indicator for secularization besides GNP, the chapter focuses on the individual's attitude towards religious pluralism and on the attitudes of the Catholic respondents and on the evaluation of data from seven countries with a high number of Catholics. Keywords:attitudes; belief; modern Europe; modernity; religion

The relevance of the article lies in the need to analyze and evaluate the role of religion in post-postmodern society. The problems of the global technogenic society require not only scientific solutions, but also their moral assessment. The strengthening of the role of religion and its relevance in society is due to its ethical content and focus on the spiritual life of a person. The purpose of this article is to examine the features of understanding religion in the philosophy of postmodernism, in order to understand the processes in the sphere of religion at the beginning of the XXI century. Representatives of European postmodernism carried out a reflection of the postmodern era, including the state of religion. The scientific novelty of the research consists in considering two aspects of postmodernism’s view of religion. First, philosophers foresaw the wide spread of non-confessional religion, the coexistence of various religious forms. The transformation of the forms, status and role of religion in postmodernism was explained by the pluralism of postmodern society (the complexity of modern societies, processes, different worldviews, beliefs). The essence of religion is not connected with traditional religious dogmas, but with the possibility of spiritual transformation of a person. Religious experience can be translated through art (J. Deleuze), self-awareness (M. Foucault). Second, postmodern philosophers reveal the socio-political role of religion. Traditional religious teachings are considered as constructions of the human mind created by the power structures of society. individuals are Managed in society through religious discourse (M. Foucault). The main function of religion is to compel people, so we should be freed from the authoritarian power of traditional religion. In modern society religion continues to be the most important element. As a result of the development of the features of postmodern society, the «pluralization of the religious situation» occurs and the tendency to politicize it increases. Non-traditional religious movements and various forms of religion are widely spread. Reflections on the religion of representatives of postmodernism remain relevant, since they allow us to focus on the spiritual component of religion, to understand the status and position of religion in modern society.

The article deals with the relationship between religion and economy in modern, functionally differentiated society. Based on Max Weber’s famous study on the emergence of capitalism from the spirit of puritan ethics, the religious socialism of Paul Tillich and conscious capitalism are reconstructed as ways of dealing with the destructive tendencies of modern economics. But in modern societies religion and economics are autonomous systems. Religion doesn’t answer economic problems and vice versa. Religion deals with religious questions and economics with economic questions. How is then a relation or a debate between both religion and economics possible? Could it be possible to construct on a meta-level in which religious themes translate into economics, and economical themes translate into religious? Or must both systems develop in itself a critical solution for its own problems? This paper agues for the second option.KeywordsMax WeberPaul TillichReligionEconomyCapitalismModern societies

This article explores the idea of postsecularism and the concept of post-secular society, focusing on the evolving relationship between religion and contemporary society. In the contemporary world, the interplay between religion and public life has undergone significant transformations due to globalization, multiculturalism, and the persistence of religious influence in social and political spheres. The study highlights the limitations of secularism, which advocates for the separation of religion from public and political life, and contrasts it with post-secularism, which acknowledges the enduring relevance of religion in modern societies. Habermas characterizes post-secular societies as those where religion retains a prominent role despite the processes of secularization. He argues that religious communities must adapt to modernity by engaging with scientific knowledge and secular laws, adopting a reflexive stance. Simultaneously, secular citizens should recognize the social value of religious beliefs rather than dismissing them as archaic remnants. This reciprocal adjustment fosters a dialogic space where religious and secular perspectives coexist and contribute to public discourse. The article outlines the differences between secularism and post-secularism. Secularism seeks to marginalize religion to the private sphere, emphasizing rational and scientific thought in public decision-making. In contrast, post-secularism integrates religion into the public sphere, viewing it as a source of moral and cultural values. Habermas proposes a "translation process," where religious arguments in public debates are reframed in universally accessible, secular language. To summarize, the article emphasizes that post-secularism offers a more inclusive framework for democratic societies, balancing religious and secular perspectives while addressing global challenges collaboratively.

In the last few decades, religion and its terms have shown to be implicated in projects of colonial modernity. While this critique of religion is now generally accepted, the term continues to be used in the field with little regard to its history and its colonial construction. This essay aims to bring greater attention to the continuing relevance of religion in contemporary society as articulated in postcolonial scholarship. It proposes closer attention to the critique of religion in the work of David Chidester, Talal Asad and Charles Long. Two distinct dimensions of religion are identified in their work. The first is a construction of religion in colonial modernity, while the second suggests ways of studying religions in light of this construction. I show in this essay that their work points to multiple complementary ways of studying religions in the contemporary. Their work suggests that the field of religious studies cannot ignore its discursive history and construction.

The theme of this thesis is the relations between Protestantism and modernity in Brazil. The primary goal is the understanding of the transformations in the relations between Protestantism and modernity in Brazil. In order to achieve the objective we used in the examination of the theme, the sociology of the comprehensive Weberian matrix. The sociological research that reserved a place of prominence for Protestantism in the emergence of a western modernity, has become, on one hand, interested in the understanding and explanation of the decline of Protestant religion in modern society and, on the other hand, if the Pentecostal religions in Latin America still maintained affinities with Protestantism and with modernity. Due to its affinity with the modernity represented by the United States, the Protestantism was inserted in Brazil in the mid-nineteenth century. However, the meaning of modernity for Protestantism changed over the twentieth century. The first transformation in the relations between Protestantism and modernity in Brazil occurred when the identification with the modern legacy of the North American, changed from questioning, in the first decades of the twentieth century, to the complete rejection in the sixties by the theological liberalism. The second transformation in the relations of Protestantism with modernity in Brazil was found in the introduction of reflexivity in the field of theological knowledge. In the effort to present as a modern religion, the Protestantism of a liberal inspiration used the reflexivity to reinterpret the Bible in the light of culture and reason and to redefine its relations with Roman Catholicism. From time to time, throughout the twentieth century, we saw a polarization within the Protestant Brazilian field around efforts of accommodation and rejection of cognitive assumptions of modernity, represented by the reflexivity. The sociology of the Brazilian Protestantism focused on the analysis of the Protestant groups gathered around the rejection of reflection, usually called fundamentalists. We demonstrate that the attitude of accommodation to the cognitive assumptions of modernity has constant presence in the Brazilian Protestantism and its minority condition in the Protestant religious field can not be explained only by means of repression suffered by the conservative sectors, but taking into account also the very nature of liberal beliefs. The conservative repression offers to the liberal sectors the opportunity to conduct rituals of disruption, which in the case of Protestantism, basically consists in some transgression in the field of ideas and words. The particularity of Protestantism lies in the construction of their identity in intimate relation with modernity, whether rejection or accommodation.

In the social sciences, a new discourse on religion in modern societies has established itself. It is no longer the master narrative that religion is waning in significance that dominates the perspectives in the social sciences. The new key words are “deprivatization of the religious” (José Casanova), “return of the gods” (Friedrich Wilhelm Graf), “re-enchantment of the world” (Ulrich Beck)—or, quite simply, desecularization (Peter L. Berger). Insights of the sociological classics into the strained relationship between religion and modernity are regarded as no longer valid. Instead of speaking of the decline of religion in modern societies, of a strict contrast between modernity and tradition, scholars nowadays emphasize the blurring boundaries between tradition and modernity and the resurgence of religion in modern societies. Obviously, the logic of reversal governs this new way of thinking: Criticizing the secularization theory has become a new master narrative itself and often has a great deal to do with scaremongering. That's why what is required first is as precise a reconstruction as possible of what secularization theory is actually saying. The article in its first part provides a reconstruction of the propositional content of secularization theory. The second step will then be to elaborate the various meanings of the concept of secularization. The third part finally deals with the criticisms of secularization theory and discusses the extent to which they are justified or not.

Religious beliefs and practices – including symbols, customs, clothes and buildings – not only play a significant role in forming the religious and cultural identities of believers, but also make major contributions to the socio-cultural and moral fabric of the wider communities. However, these religious expressions and beliefs also sometimes cause controversy due to conflicting perceptions of them in modern, secular settings. In recent years, Europe has witnessed various controversies, including regarding Islamic face-covering veils in Belgium and France; the publication of provocative cartoons in Denmark; and in the UK, the enactment of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act in England and Wales; Archbishop Rowan Williams’ lecture on Sharia Law; and various legal cases concerning the expression of religious views in the public services. These controversies reflect complex issues involving religious freedom, community identity, social integration, the secular state and constitutional and public laws. The above controversies may be regarded as clashes of differing cosmopolitan values between religious freedom and secular ideology, respect for faith and freedom of expression, or minority and majority tensions within a nation or society (see Kim 2011: 195-211). Religion in modern and secular societies is often regarded as a private matter or even in opposition to cosmopolitanism, but as I will demonstrate in this chapter, there is much in common between cosmopolitanism and religious diversity particularly when it comes to the public issues above. Although there are many differences, and even conflicting views, between scholars of cosmopolitanism and religion respectively, the search for an appropriate methodology or mechanism for recognizing religions in the public sphere is common to both camps. Walter D. Mignolo (2000: 721-48) argues for ‘critical and dialogic cosmopolitanism’. He regards the challenges today as religious, ideological, ethnic and racial exclusions and calls for epistemic diversity or ‘diversality’ to be the ground for political and ethical cosmopolitan projects. Ulrich Beck and Natan Sznaider (2006: 1-23) insist that while globalization is taking place ‘out there’, ‘cosmopolitanization’ – a function of coerced choices or unconscious decisions – happens ‘from within’ as people in different contexts cooperate across the boundaries of nation-states. I would argue that religions are examples of such local and ‘from within’ movements, which draw on their religious texts, traditions and experiences in order to meet people’s spiritual, moraland ethical needs. Because, according to Robert Fine (2006: 49-67), cosmopolitanism tends to interact with politics and law whereas religious studies with ethics, morality and traditions, the disciplines rarely intersect. Considering that the religions are a major part of the diverse and locally generated ways of life which make up society, we should expect much more interaction. It is especially desirable that scholars from both disciplines utilize their findings to address such complex situations as the recent debates about religious freedom and secular values in Europe. This chapter focuses on one recent controversy: the dispute which arose in Switzerland about a proposal to build a minaret, which deeply divided public opinion. This chapter will examine the reason for this and assess the arguments for and against, raising questions of identity, value and integration, and introducing concepts of tolerance and critical dialogue. Last, I will discuss what the theological and religious studies approaches outlined have in common with cosmopolitanism. I shall argue that the minaret controversy represents the complex dynamics of both cosmopolitan and religious values in the public sphere and that, rather than the perceived interpretation of secular-religious dichotomy, some findings from public theology could help us to understand it.

Despite the secularization process, popular religion in modern or post-modern societies still retains a central role. In this article, we analyze the worship of Santa Rosalia and Mamma Schiavona. The former is worshiped by Romani and Tamil people; the latter, the Mary of Montevergine Sanctuary, is also venerated by groups of homosexuals and transsexuals. The reworking of religious categories made by these subaltern groups reminds us of the dynamic nature of Catholicism, which changes thanks to continuous contact with external and internal elements. Through Gramsci’s interpretation of popular religion as a symbolic instrument of social recognition and affirmation in opposition to the hegemonic culture, we demonstrate that popular religion plays a central social role in the construction of worldviews, sometimes in contrast with the hegemonic culture, not only as an affirmation of a different identity but as an affirmation of presence.