Religion as a Form of Spiritual Culture

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Religion as a Form of Spiritual Culture

Religion is an integral worldview system. Trying to cover all aspects of human life, it proceeds from the positions of the irrational – divine – origin of the universe. Hence, statements about the divine management of the world come from.

Thus, it is:

  • Manifestation of a person’s irrational consciousness;
  • Striving to build a systemic and holistic worldview picture;
  • Streamlining ideas about being;
  • Creation of a psychologically convenient explanation of the existing world order, based on the idea of ​​divine origin and world governance.

Religion and mythology

By definition, these two concepts of culture are linked by common ideas about the divine creation of all things. However, in the future, they diverge since religion is based on the ethical doctrine of good and evil.

The opposition of dark forces is forces of light. This is one of its main properties, the task of which was to solve precisely the worldview tasks of people. The formation of a religious outlook and the suppression of a mythological outlook by it occurs since the 1st millennium BC. 1 millennium AD during the development of early urban civilizations, where the personal activity of a person and his initiative began to play a significant role.

With the formation of this institution of society, this phenomenon also began to acquire socio-regulatory and even ideological functions.

Religion and culture

The similarity of these normative and regulatory functions in the field of rationing and streamlining the life of society makes it legitimate to compare these two concepts. However, there is one significant difference, namely:

Culture exists on the basis of a social agreement (convention) between members of a given society, which is represented in traditions, and religion – on the basis of a sacred agreement (convention) between man and God, which is “fixed” in the forms of various types of religious doctrines.

The basics of religious belief and belief are laid out in the scriptures. It should be noted that these works in themselves are striking examples of world culture, inexhaustible sources of new and new creations.

Religious and secular faith – concepts and differences

The fundamental dogma of any religion is faith. Hence the designation of supporters of a particular religion – believers.

Faith is based on dogmas – a kind of axioms, i.e. on the fact that it must be accepted without any evidence and attempts to verify.

Any events, no matter how they seem unreal, far-fetched, supernatural, must be accepted as an indispensable fact. Doubt is a grave sin, heresy.

Religious faith is nothing more than the unconditional acceptance of any information presented to the word, as such that does not require confirmation or verification.

In addition to the religious, there is also a secular faith, which clearly distinguishes: this actually exists, and that is beyond the limits of the human mind.
Secular faith relies mainly on the judgments and assessments of scientists and specialists when the possibility of testing certain knowledge by means of experiment, logic, scientific research is not denied. Secular faith is not an immutable and immutable subject but arises situationally, based on certain conditions.

Hence – not every faith and not every worship is capable of generating a religion.

Actually, the rudiments of secular faith should be sought already in the late Middle Ages and at the beginning of the New Age, when a scientific and rational system of worldview is being formed. In fairness, it should be noted that certain elements of such a worldview appeared already in Antiquity, and the rational basis for the interpretation and systematization of worldviews was also present in religious teachings.

Religion and science

Nevertheless, the main difference between the scientific-rational worldview and the religious one becomes:

  • Complete absence of irrationality and mysticism in matters of teaching about the origin of the world and its management;
  • The emergence of a skeptical attitude towards the problem of eschatology and teleology;
  • The emergence of new principles of classification and systematization, based on the emergence of new tools and research methods.

It is also wrong to confuse faith with superstitions – various prejudices and delusions, omens, etc. It is interesting that both types of faith – both secular and religious – are quite intolerant or ironic about these remnants of pagan ideas about the universe.

Faith in religion is usually accompanied by the performance of certain rituals related to the worship of the subjects of faith. Any religion is based on these two whales – faith and worship.

Structure and key concepts of religion

Religion is defined by a multi-component structure, where the following are common to all beliefs:

The first is the obligatory presence of a spiritual core. Beliefs themselves constitute it. Everything else is a framing that serves to translate the idea into reality. God is the creator and supreme arbiter of destinies. (Polytheism is inherent in a number of religions – a tribute to pagan traditions (pantheism). But religions that claim to be world religions, as a rule, are based on the idea of ​​the supremacy of one god (monotheism).)

Religions have generalized human ideas about the world that surrounds them, based on very real facts and events. Historical events are presented in them taking into account the causal relationships, however, inevitably seasoned with a bit of mysticism. They give a person not so much an understanding as a rethinking, empathy for the events they are telling about.

The second principle is the influence on all spheres of the behavior of its adherents. The weaker the influence of religion on the object, the stronger are the possibilities of worldly influence on it. And vice versa.

But be that as it may, the behavior of a believer in society is always correlated with the confession. In other words, to one degree or another, a person behaves as prescribed by his or her religion.

And the third principle is that beliefs are reflected in the cult. A cult is a set of canonical forms of worshiping God, as well as all kinds of shrines (objects, places, etc.). These can be processions, prayers and other sacred ceremonies and rituals. They go both in the temple and in everyday life.

Key questions of religious understanding

  • The problem of the finiteness of life (being);
  • Death phenomenon;
  • Sin and its retribution issues;
  • The problem of redemption and moral existence.

This spiritual phenomenon can be considered the most systematized and complete doctrine of death and its moral and philosophical foundations, where it is “stated”:

  • The theory of the imperfection of the world and its incomplete correspondence to the plan of the Creator;
  • The problem of the presence of “dark forces” opposing the Creator;
  • The question of the sinfulness of a person.

The modern world and religion: functions and tasks

All world religions are characterized by certain functions performed by them in society.

These are the functions:

  • compensatory (replenishment of limited human capabilities);
  • ideological (creation and implantation of ideas about the structure of the world);
  • communicative (communication);
  • integrating-disintegrating (unification and separation of groups of people and individuals);
  • and regulatory (control of the consciousness and behavioral line of believers with the help of dogmas, traditions, rituals).

It is obvious that even in the most industrial and post-industrial societies, based on the complete triumph of the scientific paradigm and a secular worldview, religion as a social institution remains the most important regulatory instrument of the life of society, when religiosity is one of the forms of collective psychological and moral self-organization of people.

In addition, an important property of modern religions is the sufficient plasticity of these beliefs, which made it possible for their equilibrium coexistence both with the scientific picture of the world of modern man and the interaction of religion with art, the media, etc.

Thus, the modern world is distinguished by an almost complete absence of any rivalry between secular and religious worldviews.

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Tags: christian, culture, religion, spiritual