Religious Situation Research Articles

Maitreya and the Religious Situation According to Two Old Uyghur Poems of Yuan Dynasty. Edition of SI 4485 and SI 4958

This paper offers the edition of SI 4485 and SI 4958, two manuscripts of the Old Uighur section of the Serindia Collection of the IOM written in alliterating verses. Their contents are praises on Maitreya, the future Buddha. The author tries to show why praises on Maitreya like the two presented here were written. He argues that it was to advocate the preservation of Buddhism through proving the superiority of the Maitreya cult over other religions in the current viral times of the Yuan.

ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ КОНЦЕПЦИИ ПОСТСЕКУЛЯРНОГО ОБЩЕСТВА В РОССИИ

The article deals with the problem of interpreting J. Habermas' concept of the postsecular society. It is pointed out that in Russian academic and journalistic discourse the concept of postsecular society is often conflated with the notion of de-secularization and often identified with the end of the secular age. Such an interpretation differs from the original meaning of the concept. The difference is due to the specifics of the religious situation in contemporary Russia.

Антиклерикальный дискурс в современной российской науке

One can often read about the religious revival that came about in Russia after the collapse of Soviet power, both in the media and in scientific literature. According to opinion polls, the majority of Russians are believers, mostly orthodox Christians. The Russian state clearly patronizes religion, at least some specific ("traditional") religions. In socio-political discourse, the prevailing view is that religion is a good thing, and if sometimes religion is a source of problems, it is associated with some deviations from the norm, a perversion of the very essence of religion. This point of view can easily be found in Russian scientific periodicals. However, a critical attitude towards the growing role of religion in Russia is also often expressed in Russian science. The article highlights the main reasons for the dissatisfaction of scholars with the current state of affairs. It is also shown that such works have no influence on the religious situation in Russia. Although anti-clerical sentiments are quite clearly expressed in Russian science, they do not fall into the socio-political discourse, since there is simply no such force in Russia that could consistently promote the principle of secularism. In search of an additional electoral resource and a replacement for the Soviet ideology, the authorities did everything to enhance the importance of religion and strengthen the authority of religious leaders. As a result, today, despite the fact that the real level of religiosity of the population is apparently much lower than is commonly believed, politicians (even opposition ones) are not ready to openly doubt the positive role of religion, fearing PR problems.

ANALYSIS OF SOME ASPECTS OF RELIGIOUS POLICY IN KAZAKHSTAN

Currently, representatives of more than 140 ethnic and 18 religious groups live together in Kazakhstan, among which favorable conditions for coexistence and development have been formed in the country. The development of religions in Kazakhstan is the result of a well-established state policy aimed at ensuring freedom of religion, spiritual progress, preservation and strengthening of civil peace and interfaith harmony in the country. Over the past two decades, the situation in the field of religions and interfaith relations has changed significantly. The analysis of the state and dynamics of the religious situation shows that the religiosity of the younger generation is increasing. Moreover, it increases not only due to the natural need of the individual for spiritual self-determination, but also due to the activities of pseudo-religious organizations that seek to destroy the generally accepted cultural and spiritual traditions that have developed in society. In this regard, this article analyzes the results of a sociological survey, the purpose of which is to determine the opinion of citizens on some aspects of state policy in the religious sphere.

Esotericism in Botswana

Abstract The article argues that “esotericism” can usefully be applied to a number of religious currents in Southern Africa. With a focus on Botswana, we survey a range of practices, from traditional “shamanic” healing to Pentecostal NRM s to New Age spiritualities and neoshamanism, some presented here for the first time. The term esotericism is useful for analysing the religious situation in Southern African contexts for three reasons. First, through a typological understanding of esotericism as initiation-based knowledge systems, we define one part of the landscape (usually termed “shamanism”) as constituting a form of “indigenous esotericism”. Second, through the European colonial expansion, this indigenous esotericism faced a violent rejection campaign that parallels the construction of “rejected knowledge” in Europe. While this forced many practices underground, they have resurfaced within Southern African Christianity. Third, “western” esoteric currents have recently been imported to Southern Africa and enter into dialogues with the “indigenous” forms.

Factors influencing the process of religious conversion and related typology of religious conversion

The article examines one of the phenomena of personality transformation called religious conversion. Increasing scientific interest to the phenomenon of religiosity, in particular to religious conversion, has been observed in the last decade in Kazakhstan. The current religious situation in our country, namely, the growth of new religious movements, an increase in the number of adherents of traditional religions, including Islam, makes it makes it necessary to comprehend the rapid transformation processes of religiosity, and as a result, the transformation of social identity. This article describes the main types of the changes in the semantic sphere, namely ascetic, crisis and positive types. Their key characteristics are presented. As a result of religious conversion, transformation of social identity occurs. Due to this the convert focusing on Islamic moral values ​​in everyday life rebuilds identifications in the self-image according to the religious beliefs and ideas of the Muslim about himself or herself and the reality around. Thus, religious conversion is a long-term, multi-level process of conscious transformation of personality due to the emergence internal craving for the search for truth within the religious vision of the world, which leads to the transformation of social identity through a change in the hierarchy of its elements. The new converts who took part in this study correspond to the dominance of religious identity over its other elements. Keywords: transformation, religious conversion, semantic sphere of personality, religiosity, religious socialization.

Interaction of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church with Christian communities in Egypt and Ethiopia in the second half of the 19<sup>th</sup> — early 20<sup>th</sup> century

The article presents the history of the relationship of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Christian communities of Egypt and Ethiopia. The article is also concerned with the issue of contacts between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church of Egypt in the second half of the 19th and early 20th century. The first almost informal contacts between representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Alexandria Patriarchate allowed Egyptian Christians to get acquainted with the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, and representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church — with the real state of the religious, political and cultural situation in Egypt. The article also examines the attempts of representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church to establish ties with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which was part of the Alexandria Patriarchate until 1959.

Reception of period cultural and literary trends in the prints of Slovak authors active in Bohemia at the turn of the 16th century

At the turn of the 16th century for a variety of reasons related to the socio-political, educational and religious situation in Hungary, relatively many natives from the area of today’s Slovakia lived and permanently worked in Bohemia and Moravia. These were mostly Protestant scholars, writing and publishing their work in Bohemia. Due to the authors’ origin, their works are also considered to be related to Slovakia. This paper illustrates the circumstances of Slovaks active in Bohemia and selectively presents the inspiration sources (the ancient times, the Bible, the Renaissance authors of the time…) that the scholars originally from today’s Slovakia used in their work, published largely in Bohemia or intended primarily for the Bohemian market and audience. It also reflects on societal, cultural, religious and philosophical trends of Humanism.

ISLAMIC REVIVAL IN KAZAKHSTAN: STATE POLICY

It is widely known that Islamic revival is behind numerous national security threats, religious tension and political challenges. This is confirmed by the fact that practically all terrorist acts are committed by extremist and terrorist groups, which reproduce and execute specific projects of Islamic revival, the Islamic Caliphate being one of the pertinent examples. Fully aware of the threats rooted in the radical and extremist ideas of Islamic revival, the state has no choice but an active and determined opposition. In the 2005-2020, Kazakhstan adopted several normative legal program documents and took certain organizational measures to improve the regulation of the religious situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Many of these laws and organizational measures, however, stirred up heated discussions: the opposition insisted that the state should secularize the society, securitize Islam, etc. Much has been said about the efficiency of opposition to radical and extremist models of Islamic revival. Together, this creates a varied and even contradictory background for the state policy related to Islamic revival and calls for closer attention to the situation unfolding among the Muslims of Kazakhstan. We are already in the third decade of the 21st century, an important stage at which the religious and political environment created by Islamic revival and the relations between the state and confessions should be assessed. In this article, we analyze the state policy in the context of Islamic revival and offer its conceptual analysis as a multifaceted phenomenon. A modernist trend, which often prevails, is developing along with the fundamentalist trend within the framework of the Islamic revival. Accordingly, the authors argue that state policy is not directed against the Islamic revival as such and does not aim for the securitization of Islam or the secularization of society; on the contrary, it seeks to preserve the historically formed recontextualized Islam, which is rooted in the fundamentals of Islam and is simultaneously consistent with modernization and national heritage. In the concluding part of the article the authors touch upon a scholarly discussion of whether state policy of opposing the extremist Islamic revival models is efficient and to which extent. Our discussion and conclusions are supported by sociological data on the religious situation in the Muslim community, obtained through comparison of the religiosity level and the extent of people’s respect for the country’s authorities.

Commanding Police Operations Using a Mobile Distribution Point of ICT Infrastructure

Currently, public safety is threatened by emergencies related to broadly understood terrorism, natural disasters and technical failures or related to mass events, public gatherings and state or religious ceremonies and other situations causing risks that may lead to losing control over the course of events. It makes the police take specific actions as part of organised police activities, primarily police operations. The condition for the efficiency and effectiveness of the command in the police is to develop new, alternative, innovative technical solutions. The Mobile Distribution Point of ICT Infrastructure serves as an example in this respect. It will be an autonomous node that integrates technologically advanced ICT services, such as voice, data and image transmission, GPS positioning, for the needs of mobile command posts and the provision of ICT infrastructure in a specific area. Currently, the Polish police do not have a similar device, which reduces effective operation in emergencies.

The Formation and Development of Women’s Secondary Education in Volyn in the 19th–the Beginning of the 20th Century

Aim. The article aims to analyse the formation and development of women’s secondary education in Volyn in the 19th-early 20th centuries under historical, sociocultural, and religious factors. Methods. The authors describe the historical, sociocultural, and religious situation in Volyn of the late 19th-early 20th centuries and apply comparative diachronic and synchronous analyses of the charters of the educational institutions for girls, their curricula and weekly workload. Systematised pedagogical approaches to teaching and testing students of the analysed schools are used. Results and conclusion. The formation and development of women’s education in Volyn in the 19th-early 20th centuries represents a natural, consistent change in the content and structure of educational processes under certain specific historical conditions. Due to subordination changes in the region, private Orthodox boarding houses for noble girls became widespread in Volyn. Ostroh Women’s Specialised School, founded by Countess Antonina Bludova, underwent a qualitative and structural transformation under the influence of specific historical events. Both Women Count D. Bludov Specialised School and the Bratsvo School aimed to raise a certified woman who can teach children at home and other educational institutions. Analysis of the statutes of educational institutions, programmes of academic disciplines, and weekly workload indicates following the educational sequence principle. In Women Count D. Bludov Specialised School, attention was paid to general disciplines in the first years of study (arithmetics, languages, geography, general history etc.). At the last stage (4th grade), students were taught pedagogy (methodology) directly related to their future profession.

The land is mine

The parables told by Jesus the Galilean, when read from a realistic perspective, can be seen as a window to the exploitative socio-economic, political and religious situation of the peasantry in first-century Roman Palestine. The Galilean’s parables picture this exploitative world, and also speak of ways to address the societal ills of his day. In an agrarian world, land meant life. For most of the peasantry, however, this was not the case anymore. In reaction to this situation, Jesus proclaimed the possibility of a world in which the land, especially its produce, belongs to everyone. This world he called the kingdom of God, a different kind of world, a world ruled by God’s generosity and goodness. In this world, everybody has enough.

-COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERCONFESSIONAL RELATIONS IN KAZAKHSTAN AND UZBEKISTAN

The article examines the history of religions of the Turkic past, Islamic Renaissance, Tsarist imperialism, Soviet atheism, and nowadays. The author analyzes constitutional and special laws, describes religious diversity and cultural pluralism, examines the system and institutions of religious education, identifies the main reasons for the radicalization of the two countries. He pays special attention to the specifics of the manifestation of religious radicalism in each of the two countries, their approaches to this problem and ways of countering the terrorist threat, and systematizes the opinions of various scientists. The negative consequences of historical and political events on the religious life of the Uzbek and Kazakh societies are determined. The choice of these states is due to the similarity of their history, culture, and political system. A comparative analysis of the state of interfaith relations in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan is carried out according to the following criteria: historical stages, legislative and legal framework, religious associations, religious education, the problem of religious extremism and fundamentalism. The purpose of the article is to determine the features of the interaction of the authorities with religious and confessional structures, to identify the main problems of interfaith relations and the religious situation in general. This study contributes to a better understanding of ethno-confessional and inter-confessional politics in modern realities, as well as an analysis of the state and forecast of the prospects for the development of tolerant inter-confessional relations in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the context of religious pluralism, globalism, and actual challenges of the postmodern era. It is necessary to gradually strengthen the legislative, political and socio-economic base, which will be aimed at the secular path of development of our countries, without prejudice to confessions and religious organizations, which are separated from the state by definition. In the Turkic period history of Central Asia, many concrete examples testify to the positive experience of historically peaceful coexistence of various religions in the Central Asian Turkic-Muslim region. These historical facts should and can positively influence the further strengthening of interreligious cooperation and harmony

Prussia against Rome, 1724–1742: Mathurin Veyssière La Crozeʼs and Giuseppe Simone Assemaniʼs Mediterraneist views on the Nestorians in India*

In 1740 the Roman Church – through its major expert on Oriental languages and regions, Giuseppe Simone Assemani – was censoring Mathurin Veyssière La Croze’s Histoire du Christianisme des Indes, his second work on Christians between the Mediterranean and Ethiopia. This article puts censorship of this book into a global political context: first, of the competition of European powers between Catholics and Protestants (Prussia, France, and Rome) and, second, of the entanglements of the Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, and German merchants, colonizers, and missionaries with Eastern Christianity and non-Christian cultures between the Mediterranean and India. Third, the censorship proves to have happened at a time when Rome wanted to resolve definitively the Malabar rites controversy. Conservative Christian-Mediterraneanist hermeneutics to perceive the global religious situation can be revealed, opposed to a Pietist scheme of four world religions coexisting.

India’s Other Religious Freedom Problems

There is no doubt that India is far from perfect when it comes to religious freedom. Indeed, India’s religious freedom problems have become an increasing focus of scholarly and policy attention. However, almost all of this attention is directed at one particular subset of religious freedom problems—i.e., restrictions imposed on the religious freedom of India’s minority communities, and particularly Muslims and Christians. Meanwhile, serious religious freedom challenges experienced by members of India’s Hindu majority population tend to be ignored. In this article: (1) I first describe the religious freedom situation in India as a complex terrain that requires a multi-dimensional mapping. (2) I then survey existing, influential studies of the religious freedom situation in India and identify their tendency to generate flat, one-dimensional mappings, and their consequent failure to analyze restrictions on the religious freedom of India’s Hindus, including both Hindu individuals and institutions. (3) I briefly analyze India’s regime of “Hindu Erastianism”—i.e., its extensive system of state regulation and control of Hindu institutions—and suggest how and why this regime amounts to a direct attack on core features of institutional religious freedom. (4) I conclude by briefly suggesting that the whole range of India’s religious freedom problems—including its “other”, less discussed problems—can be traced to a longstanding and destructive pattern of ideological polarization that owes as much to an uncompromising statist secularism as to Hindu nationalism. The existence of this now deeply ingrained pattern bodes ill for improvements in India’s religious freedom situation in the short term, and suggests that it is the country’s public culture, rather than its political balance of power, that must change if the world’s largest democracy is to enjoy greater religious freedom and tolerance in the future.

The religious situation in Buryatia in the late 1980s and early 1990s

Based on archival data the paper describes the religious situation in the Buryat ASSR, then the Buryat SSR and the Republic of Buryatia during the change of socio-political development of the national state in the late 1980s early last decade of the XX century. The authors say that this problem has not received serious analysis in the framework of scientific publications. Therefore, the research was based on archival documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SA RF) and the State Archive of the Republic of Buryatia (SARB). The purpose of the study is to characterize the religious situation in the border area of the local territory in a difficult transition period of national history. The research methodology is based on the fundamental principles of historical science, the principles of historicism and objectivity, which allowed us to consider a rather complex component of the life of society religion, without bias, in its historical development. The result of the study was the identification of features of religious processes in Buryatia during the period under review. The authors provide quantitative indicators for registered religious associations and religious buildings. The religious situation is assessed against the background of the General situation in the RSFSR (Russian Federation), with statistics for the Republic and the country. It is noted that the trends of religious processes in Buryatia, at the time under review, were similar to the national ones. This is a sharp surge in religiosity, against the background of the resolution of religious freedom, on the one hand, and, in the context of the socio-economic crisis, on the other. It is said that in Buryatia, in addition to traditional religious teachings for the region, new ones appeared, among which, there were the teachings of totalitarian sects. It describes the difficulties that arose in connection with the change in the attitude of the authorities to religions. It is noted that further work with sources is necessary, which will allow us to recreate the most complete picture of the religious situation in Buryatia during the difficult transition period of the late 1980s early 1990s.

Trends in the development of the religious situation in post-secular society in Kazakhstan over the years of independence

Religion is considered as a source of human values in any society. Humanity would have neither history nor culture without religion. After the collapse of Soviet power, the law on religious beliefs and religious associations in independent Kazakhstan gave freedom to religious activity, promotion of religious teachings, distribution of religious literature, and worship. Thus, the years of independence of Kazakhstan are characterized not only by the creation of a civil society and a market economy, but also by the passage of a religious breakthrough. Kazakhstan become a home to representatives of many nationalities and different religious confessions. Today, the current religious situation in multi-religious Kazakhstan is multiconfessional, complex and progressive. The state policy of Kazakhstan in the field of interreligious relations is aimed at developing of interreligious dialogue, strengthening tolerance and compliance with the requirements of the law in the religious sphere. Kazakhstan has all the conditions for further strengthening of interreligious harmony and stability. Maintaining interethnic and interreligious harmony, security, and stability of international relations is one of the main directions of Kazakhstan's future development. Traditional religions, such as Islam and Christianity play a significant role in the formation of the spiritual values of Kazakhstani society. It should be noted that religions have a very important humanistic peacekeeping approach and have a positive impact on the life of society in Kazakhstan. The development of relations between traditional religions within the framework of a constructive dialogue contributes to interreligious and interethnic harmony in Kazakhstani society. It is a noteworthy factor in its stability and security as well. Key words: Kazakhstan, independence, law, post-secular society, religious situation

Современная религиозная ситуация в Удмуртской Республике: конфессиональная идентификация жителей и состояние межконфессиональных отношений

Современная религиозная ситуация в Удмуртской Республике: конфессиональная идентификация жителей и состояние межконфессиональных отношений

Service of the Orthodox military clergy in the occupied territory of Galicia during the First World War

The activity of the Orthodox military clergy in the Russian army on the territory of Galicia during the First World War is considered. It was established that the religious situation in Galicia and the conduct of hostilities on the enemy’s territory had a great influence on the activities of military priests. The attitude of the protopresbyter of the military and naval clergy to the uniate question, the specificity of the interaction of military priests with the local population are shown. The features of the organisation and implementation of services are analysed. The work of priests to maintain a fighting spirit is considered. Cases of both conscientious and unacceptable attitude to the service was established.

Религиозная ситуация в Бурятии в условиях пандемии COVID-19

Under the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, states had to change the political, economic, cultural and other aspects of social everyday life. The article presents a study of the religious situation in the Republic of Buryatia in terms of the coronavirus. Interviewing of clergymen of Orthodoxy, Buddhism and Shamanism was carried out; the ways of functioning of temples within the limits of restrictions during a pandemic are considered. The author concludes that society, despite significant restrictions, continued to turn to religion.