The article O.Horkusha, L.Fylypovych «Interfaith dialogue in contemporary Ukraine: expediency and efficiency of its implementation in the conditions of War» discusses the state of interfaith communication in Ukraine, available dialogue platforms, which were created spontaneously for a long time, and now they grow up to a certain network. There are 5 types of interfaith dialogs, their effectiveness is analyzed, based on the purpose of the dialogue, topics, language, methodological approaches, criteria for the rules of conduct and subjects invited to the (...) dialogue. The recommendations on the success of the interfaith dialogue in Ukraine in the conditions of war are given. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the history of UARR, its first steps – from the inception of the idea of creating a professional association of religious researchers to a constitutive conference and its decisions. On the basis of archival documents that we managed to collect, and surveys of participants of those events, the process of emergence and institutionalization of the society of religious scholars of Ukraine was restored. It was found that thanks to the enthusiasm of representatives of academic and (...) university science, the solidarity of those who supported the tradition of studying religion, the awareness of the need to develop impartial scientific observation of the religious revival, in order to overcome post-communist stereotypes in relation to religion, in 1993 an association of researchers of religion appeared in Ukraine. The author dwells on the organizational aspects of the creation of UARR, highlights the role of certain scientific, educational, religious and cultural institutions which were the initiators of this process. UARR wouldn’t have appeared so quickly and efficiently without the broad support from interested people and organizations as well as friendly relations and assistance. The organizational basis of UARR comprised the principles of democracy in management, wide representation, creativity, personal and institutional interest both in the results and in the process of research of religiosity and history of religion in Ukraine. Special role in the creation of UARR belongs to the team of the Religious Studies Department of the Philosophy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine headed by Professor A. Kolodnyi who was supported by his colleagues P. Yarotskyi, B. Lobovyk, P. Kosukha and M. Babiy. M.Babiy prepared a draft Charter and all the constitutive documents for the state registration of the UARR as a public organization. Without the participation of the Department of Religious Studies of Taras Shevchenko National University, Department of Cultural Studies of Kyiv Pedagogical Institute and its head M. Zakovich, it is difficult to imagine that the initiative to unite scholars on religion would have so successfully spread throughout Ukraine. At the time of registration of UARR at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, regional divisions were created in 13 cities. The idea of creating an association was ardently supported in Lviv, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Odessa, Sumy, Uzgorod, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lutsk, which showed the all-Ukrainian character of the new organization. The article presents evidences of scientific, educational, publishing activity of Ukrainian scholars in the early 1990s, when the foundations were laid for subsequent successful years of activity of Ukrainian scientists. The first steps witnessed the scale and ambitiousness of plans for the development of religious studies in Ukraine. Its conductors took the matter seriously, systematically and scientifically and defined the main directions of UARR: organizational, scientific publications and educational activities. UARR still moves in these directions annually attracting new members to religious research and dissemination of scientific knowledge about religion and religious organizations. The purpose of the article is to familiarize the wider community of study of religion with the first years of the emergence and institutionalization of religious studies in independent Ukraine. Scientific novelty is that for the first time archival documents on the beginnings of creation and development of activities of UARR are introduced which are supported by testimonies of those people who participated in those events. (shrink)

The article is updated by several circumstances, which the authors reflect on. In their opinion, there are 1) obvious and external threats — violations of freedom of conscience in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, which arose as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and 2) internally hidden and potential dangers for freedom of religions of Ukrainian citizens. The well-known examples of discrimination of believers of certain faiths in the so-called DPR-LPR and Crimea given by the authors are constantly (...) updated. Relevant monitoring and analytical reports are prepared by both Ukrainian and international experts. They submitted these reports to international human rights organizations, including the rights for Freedom of Religion and Belief. Despite such convincing documented materials, separate accusations have recently appeared against Ukraine, which allegedly violates freedom of religion in the territory under its control. Some are trying to prove that Ukraine, taking advantage of the war situation and referring to the spiritual dangers for Ukraine from those religious organizations whose centers are in the aggressor country, threatens some churches, thereby violating the Constitution and the Law on Freedom of Conscience, which guarantee for all citizens, regardless of from their religious affiliation, freedom of religion. The authors refute these narratives lashed out by Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. Such negative conclusions, which express concern about the situation in Ukraine regarding freedom of conscience and religion, influence on the world public, experts on issues of freedom of conscience, religious organizations, spoil the image of Ukraine as a country with high level of freedom of conscience even among European countries. Religious freedom, as the authors conclude, needs protection today, but they call for separating real threats from imaginary ones and clearly defining who persecutes, whom he/she persecutes and where persecutes. Ukraine is consistent in its intentions to protect the rights of people and communities, to protect the freedoms of believers and their organizations. (shrink)

Історія відродження хрестительки Київської Русі річки Почайни – це найкращій приклад «глибинної географії», за Тімоті Снайдером. Річка дуже змінилася за століття людської діяльності, а за радянських часів постраждала від політичних репресій та цілеспрямовано була піддана забуттю. Сьогодні історичне річище поділено на частини: верхня є водною системою з шести озер та малої ріки із сучасним гирлом під Північним мостом, на середній створена річкова гавань, а нижня біля сучасної Поштової площі поєдналася із Дніпром. Останнім часом було повернуто історичне значення річки: гідронім Почайна (...) знову прив’язаний до водойми, а найбільш ймовірне місце хрещення киян у історичному гирлі річки Почайни отримало статус Пам’ятки національного значення за видами історія та археологія. Ця стаття присвячена змінам, які відбулися з Почайною протягом століть, причинам зникнення річки з мап Києва, а також сучасній історії відродження. (shrink)

The article proposes to deepen and expand the classical methodological approaches formulated at the beginning of the 21st century within the framework of academic religious studies. Based on the methodological works of the founder of modern Ukrainian religious studies, Prof. Kolodnyi, who first clearly defined the principles of the scientific study of religion, in particular objectivity, historicism, worldview neutrality, pluralism, etc., the authors justify the need for contextualization as one of the main methodological approaches in the study of current religious (...) processes. They insist on rethinking not only the universality and effectiveness of some methodological principles in new circumstances — the Russian-Ukrainian war, but also on the actualization of new ones, critically rethinking their neglect in the pre-war period. It is proved that in the hierar- chy of religious principles, the principle of contextuality becomes a particularly sought-after re- ality of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Even the concepts that researchers use describing a new religious situation must be contextualized. The authors remind about those contextual dangers for the life world of Ukraine that exist in its religious segment, highlighting external and internal factors that cannot be ignored when analyzing the contemporary religious situation in Ukraine and in the world. Analyzing the current reality, the authors conclude that contextuality as a methodological approach in religious studies should consider: 1) The event context — Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine — as a condition for the manifestation of religion, which determines its functional and substantive features; 2) Features, depth and intensity of research’s contextual inclusion/exclusion. Tragic changes in the context of the life of Ukrainians — linguistic, cultural, informational, religious, etc. necessarily correct expert neutrality, objectivity, non-involvement. According to the authors, the war situation liberates from an unbiased, out-of-contextual analysis. The admis- sibility of such contextualization is a matter of debate. (shrink)

By the anniversary of UARR, it was decided to collect the memories of the founders and active members of the association, for which the Questionnaire was developed, sending out to everyone who was somehow involved in the creation of this trade union. We have received some materials from leading religious scholars of Ukraine, whose publication we start with this issue. All respondents received the same questions, subjectively submitting their memories. Consider that more than a quarter of a century has passed (...) since the creation of the UARR, something could be forgotten, something may be distorted, but these materials are of paramount importance as they tell the story of the first professional association of religious scholars in Ukraine, which is well known not only in Ukraine but also abroad. (shrink)

In the context of modern world religious processes, in recent years Ukraine has become a field of active attention from various non-traditional and up-to-date religious movements. According to the State Committee of Ukraine for Religious Affairs, as of January 1, 1995, there were registered 147 non-Christian communities, 52 communities of Orientalist orientation, 23 communities of the Russian Federation, etc., registered in Ukraine. And although in the confessional environment of Ukraine, the fate of such currents is negligible, but their activities can (...) not be ignored in state-church policy in solving the tasks of building a democratic society. (shrink)

In March this year is 20 years old Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies - all-Ukrainian secular public organization. UAR united on a voluntary basis scientists-religious scholars, teachers of religious studies disciplines of educational institutions, employees of museums, and other educational institutions of Ukraine. Membership in the Association is individual and collective. The work of UAR is based on public principles.

In March this year is 20 years old Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies - all-Ukrainian secular public organization. UAR united on a voluntary basis scientists-religious scholars, teachers of religious studies disciplines of educational institutions, employees of museums, and other educational institutions of Ukraine. Membership in the Association is individual and collective. The work of UAR is based on public principles.

The Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church has had a fatal significance in its history. In addition to the important documents that were adopted by the Council, and then creatively developed by the theorists and practitioners of the Church, Catholicism was enriched with a new awareness of significant changes in the world. The Church acknowledged that there have been radical transformations in the outlook and behavior of people, in particular Catholics, in their attitude to issues of faith, to God, (...) to the relationship between God and man. But perhaps the most influential for the further development of Catholicism in the world was the social doctrine of the Church, which eventually turned into a social doctrine. The latter is understood not only as a list of practical guidelines for solving the "social question", but also not a sum of knowledge in contemporary sociology1, but a set of religious beliefs developed by theologians and endorsed by the whole Church in the form of a body of special documents on the Church's views on society and social issues. In addition to the general theological principles of attitude towards peace and relations with society, the Catholic social doctrine contains the historical work of the Church in solving social problems in different epochs, recorded information about the social challenges of the past and present, eschatological expectations and real forecasts for the future of mankind. (shrink)

It has been 17 years since Ukraine has been in the world religious space, but it is hardly aware of its presence there, and the world community does not notice that this space has been enriched by another country and spiritual tradition. Thanks to Ukraine, the world religious space has increased territorially by 603.7 thousand km², which is 5.7% of European and 0.44% of world land area. This geographical area is inhabited by nearly 50 million, of which more than 30 (...) million are believers. Ukraine, accounting for 0.7% of the population, has respectively 0.5% of believers in the world's total population. Such territorial and human quantitative growth is not too noticeable for the world. But this territory and human resources have long been present in the history of mankind. The spiritual weight of the Ukrainian religious experience requires verbalization both for the Ukrainians themselves and for other peoples who inhabit a certain local and global religious space. (shrink)

The end of the twentieth century in the religious life of the Ukrainian people was marked by dramatic changes: the network of religious organizations increased rapidly, the number of believers increased, the Church from the persecuted and followed authority of the institution turned into an active element of society, beginning to seek a common understanding with the state. The national uplift has coincided with the complex transformational processes associated with the globalization of the world economy, finance, natural and labor resources, (...) population migration, culture, the spiritual sphere. All this is extremely relevant to the problem of self-identification of Ukraine as a state and every single Ukrainian as its citizen in different coordinates, especially spiritual ones. (shrink)

Recognizing that our prediction attempt is far from truly scientific prognosis, which requires knowledge of prediction theory and the experience of using the latter in a particular type of socio-spiritual reality - religion, it still makes sense to reflect on the future of new religious movements in Ukraine, satisfying and pure research interest, and the need for modern publiclife.

The authors of the book set a simple goal: to find out the role and place of religion in modern socio-cultural processes of Ukraine and to determine ways to optimize its social functionality. It envisaged, on the basis of gathering and summarizing the facts, sources, to conceptualize the processes taking place in the religious life of Ukraine, to identify the main tendencies of socio-cultural changes, to predict the transformations expected in the near future in the religious sphere. The complexity of (...) fulfilling the stated tasks is due to the fact that before us religion has emerged as a living organism, which, despite all its tradition, is constantly in motion, specifically responding to changes in society. (shrink)

International inter-religious dialogue is one of the directions of modern foreign policy of any church. Until recently, the latter was determined by narrow church interests. Due to the changes taking place in the religious sphere, in particular its globalization, which itself responds to the challenges of today, the field of external interests of the church extends to single-religious or even all-religious clean water or planetary warming). Therefore, the list of tasks defined as elements of the church's international activity includes not (...) only spiritual guardianship and protection of their believers abroad, missionary work among unbelievers and non-believers, pastoral visits to the diaspora, but also friendly communication with the brotherly churches, contacts with theologians spiritual leaders of other religions, consultations with prominent statesmen and public figures, scholars, politicians, representation in international interreligious associations, etc. (shrink)

Religious life in all eras is accompanied not only by real facts, but also by their subjective perception. It is fixed not so much reality as the imagination of it. Among the common beliefs, a special place belongs to stereotypes, which, on the one hand, systematize and generalize ideas about the world, helping people to adequately perceive and interpret being, and on the other - preserving these ideas, which sometimes prevents people from entering new life. History has given rise to (...) many religious stereotypes, by virtue of which the constitution and preservation of ethnic groups, nations, religious communities, and confessions took place. However, uncontrolled domination, and especially the use of these stereotypes in the theory and practice of social and individual existence, led to complications in the functioning of ethno-religious communities, to their struggle, even destruction, resulting in the disappearance of some and other ethnicities, nations, religions. and churches. The reality of the society in which we live is on. (shrink)

Стаття присвячена переосмисленню методологічних підходів у релігієзнавчому розумінні релігії як цінності. Критичне ставлення до попереднього досвіду інтерпретації релігійного феномена дає можливість сприймати релігію як рівнопокладену цінність з іншими типами самоусвідомлення людини. До цього спонукає сам статус релігії у сучасному світі, який змінюється під впливом глобалізації і секуляризації. Однією з тенденцій цих процесів є відхід від обмежень «сектанства» і «націоналізму» в релігії до розширення меж розуміння духовності як універсальної релігійної цінності. У статті визначається цінність релігії в її онтологічному статусі, в її (...) екзистенційності, життєвості, вітальності, в епістемологічному навантаженні, праксеологічній запитуваності, есхатологічній перспективі та ієрархічній пріоритетності духовного начала, добра і гуманності. Виходячи з такого розуміння релігії, автори експлікують її у системі релігійних цінностей, що імплементуються у повсякденне життя послідовників певної релігії та взагалі всього суспільства. У статті наводяться матеріали соціологічних опитувань як на міжнародному і всеукраїнському рівнях, так і на локальному. (shrink)

Religion and education are a topic that has emerged relatively recently in the Ukrainian information, research, and educational space. The relationship between religion and education meditated before, but usually in a negative sense. New circumstances also dictate new approaches to the stated topic. Polyphony of thoughts holds in itself and explicit criticism of any possibility of coexistence of religion and education, vulgarly linking religion with obscurantism, which can not bear any enlightenment, blurring the brain of a person. Such pre-historic estimates (...) of religion are less and less popular in society, which in those years has "opened" a religion as a spiritually rich reality as something that fills the meaning of human existence, defines the vocation of the person asserting it in the world, in society, in their own lives. (shrink)

Sevastopol Religious Studies has its own tradition. It was initiated here by Associate Professor I.I.Fursin from the day of organization of the instrument-making institute in the city.

Considering the fifteen years of experience in studying NRT in Ukraine, it should be noted that the interest in the new in religion has always been and will be sustainable, and the study of these innovations will never lose its relevance. Due to the specificity of the object itself in its estimations there will be ambiguity, polysyllosity, heterogeneity, alternatives, etc., that is, all that characterizes the modern literature on new religions.

The jubilee event took place on January 15 in Kyiv at the Department of Religious Studies. Several institutions - All-Ukrainian Society Prosvita, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, KamyanetsPodil National University named after. Ivan Ogienko - gathered a cohort of devoted scientists, ethnologists, journalists devoted to the gentian themes for the purpose of the solemn completion of the Ogievinki anniversary - the 130th anniversary of the birth of this glorious man and the 40th anniversary of her restoration. The birthday of (...) Ivan Ogienko, which falls on January 15, has been celebrated in Ukraine since the early 90's of the twentieth century, when the name of the prominent figure of the Ukrainian national movement was eliminated from the list of names that are not forbidden in Ukraine: Ogienko returned to his people, bursting in the ravings of reviving spiritual and religious processes. (shrink)

Sociology of religion in the West is a field of knowledge with at least 100 years of history. As a science and as a discipline, the sociology of religion has been developing in most Western universities since the late nineteenth century, having established traditions, forming well-known schools, areas related to the names of famous scholars. The total number of researchers of religion abroad has never been counted, but there are more than a thousand different centers, universities, colleges where religion is (...) taught and studied. If we assume that each of them has an average of 10 religious scholars, theologians, then the army of scholars of religion is amazing. Most of them are united in representative associations of researchers of religion, which have a clear sociological color. Among them are the most famous International Society for the Sociology of Religion and the Society for Scientific Study of Religion. (shrink)

The discussion article raises questions about the strategy for the survival and development of contemporary Ukrainian religious studies. The author proposes the author's position on the ways of overcoming the crisis in which the national science of religion is now located.

The intensive development of the religious and ecclesiastical sphere, which was called to life by the democratic changes in Ukraine in the early 1990s, contributed to the rapid quantitative growth of educational institutions. According to statistics of the State Committee of Ukraine for Religious Affairs, as of 2005, there were nearly 10 thousand Sunday schools and 173 religious educational institutions of different religious affiliations and structures, a quarter of which belong to the Orthodox branch of Christianity. This has created a (...) new situation in the religious education system that needs special study and research. (shrink)

In the L.Fylypovych’s article «Does the religious studies expertise need?» the basis of the expert activity in the field of religious life sets out, and the main principles of scientific expertising formulates. The aims of expertising is the essential understanding of the modern expressions of functionality of religion and its impact on society and human.

The ethnology of religion as a relatively new discipline and a separate branch of religious studies, which arose as a result of interdisciplinary study of ethnos and religion, studies various aspects of their interaction. First, within the framework of the ethnology of religion, terminological and semantic problems are solved: how to define and which semantics to put into the concept of ethnos and religion, ethnic religion, national religion, national church, and others like that. Secondly, this science considers the ontological status (...) of ethnic group and religion, that is, the possible existence of religion and ethnos in their interconnection and interaction. Second, the ethnology of religion poses and decides whether religion is an indispensable, organic feature of the ethnic group and what is religion about ethnos and ethnos in relation to religion. Investigating the functionality of religion and ethnos, the ethnology of religion, fourthly, deals with the problem of the origin and the origins of these two phenomena: whether they are one-time or different. Fifthly, the influence of religion on the formation of an ethnic group is revealed, and vice versa. Sixth, the ethnology of religion determines the patterns of ethnicity and religion in their interaction. And last, the ethnology of religion has to predict the prospects of the interrelations and mutual influence of the ethnic group and religion on the future. (shrink)

The ethnology of religion is a relatively young field of religious studies that emerged as a result of an interdisciplinary study of ethnicity and religion. It is she who studies the great variety of aspects of the interaction and combination of these social phenomena, although, as is well known, religion and ethnicity are the object of attention of various branches of science - religious studies, ethnology, anthropology, ethnography, cultural studies, history, etc. Each of them in their context analyzes their essence, (...) functionality, history, even some specific aspect of their interaction. The emergence of the ethnology of religion as a separate sphere of religious science due to the need for a holistic approach to the study of a complex system of relations "religion-ethnos" in all their diversity of forms, types, types. The synthetics of social phenomena that have arisen as a result of the interaction of ethnicities and religions have prompted to life at first comprehensive studies of these phenomena, and later - a synthesis of the sciences that studied them. The latter is a testimony to the further development of human knowledge, a necessary step towards an in-depth understanding of the relationship between ethnic and religious. These social phenomena throughout history are so closely intertwined that during certain periods of social life significantly influenced the tendencies and directions of the world historical process, determined the character of the formation of its laws. (shrink)

The geography of religions is one of the religious sciences, which is intended to study the spatial pattern of the process of the origin and distribution of different religions, to give a modern religious map of the world and statistical data on the spread of different religions, to predict the prospects of changing confessions in the territorial configuration of their activities. Within this science, the role of the natural factor in the emergence and distribution of religions of a certain denominational (...) certainty in different countries and continents is explored, the autochthonality of certain religious entities of certain geographical regions is revealed, it turns out in the historical retrospect of the appearance of other religions there and, accordingly, the fate of local currents, the spread world religions, the conditions of origin and ways of possible overcoming of inter-confessional and interreligious confrontation are considered, the relationship between ethnic and religious denominations in religious mobility is revealed, mapping of religions is carried out. (shrink)

We continue to publish the memoirs of the founders of the Ukrainian Association of Reseachers of Religion, which is rightfully the long-term director of the Lviv Museum of the History of Religions Volodymyr Haiuk. He headed this museum for almost 20 years, with which his life destiny is still connected. His support for the initiative of Kyiv colleagues to establish a professional union of religious researchers played an important role, as it expanded the geographical, thematic and sectoral boundaries of scholars' (...) communication, and the May roundtables on the history of religions in Ukraine, founded by V. Haiuk, have become a tradition. 2020 is the year of the 30th International Forum, which for decades brings together and unites researchers from different parts of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, other Baltic countries and Europe. (shrink)

1995 became decisive for Ukrainian religious studies in its breakthrough in the world arena. About the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies learned in many countries. She has been in contact with well-known international religious scholarships, for example, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, the International Association of History the International Association for the History of Religions, the New York Academy of Sciences, and others.

On September 12, 2000, in Kyiv, an international scientific and practical seminar "Humanism and Democracy of Legislative Initiatives in the Sphere of Freedom of Conscience: International and Ukrainian Context" was organized by the International Academy of Religious and Religious Belief, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Culture and Spirituality, the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy named after GS Skovoroda of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Center for Religious Information and Freedom of (...) the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies. (shrink)

Monograph A.Aristova "The phenomenon of religious deviation: theoretical essays".

Summing up the decade's state independence of Ukraine, it is necessary to note certain positive changes in the life of the people, in particular in the spiritual sphere, which is most often associated with national and religious rebirth. One can argue about the pace and scale of these processes, but they undoubtedly changed the direction of the historical development of our state, which seeks to rethink its past, to decide on its present presence in the cultural world, to make the (...) right civilizational choice. (shrink)

The end of the twentieth century in the religious life of the Ukrainian people was marked by dramatic changes: the network of religious organizations rapidly increased, the number of believers increased, the Church with the persecuted and followed by the institution of the institution became an active element of society, seeking to find a new place in the relationship with the state. The national uplift has coincided with complex transformation processes related to the globalization of the world economy, finance, natural (...) and labor resources, culture, the spiritual sphere, and population migration. All this is extremely relevant to the problem of self-identification of Ukraine as a state and every single Ukrainian as its citizen in different coordinates, especially spiritual ones. (shrink)

Under such a name in Kiev on April 22-23, 1996, a colloquium on problems of Eastern religiosity was held on the basis of the Department of Religious Studies and with the assistance of the UAR. It was attended by academics from academic institutions to research centers, university lecturers and high school students, students, postgraduate students, representatives of eastern religious communities, informational agencies and public organizations. Visitors to the colloquium came from India, Donetsk, Lutsk.

Historically, the development of religions occurs according to the law of cyclic wave-like, where the maximal points of the sinusoid are represented by opposite states-markers. Thus, known periods in the history of religions, when dominated by internal or external signs of their development, when victory vulgar religion, in contrast to the elevation of theological revelations, when the teachings of modernity prevail, trying to get rid of orthodoxy anyway. In place of the newest trends in the understanding of God, man, their (...) relationship comes fundamentalism as a decisive trend in their development228. To find absolute modernist or fundamentalist epochs in religiongege, to calculate the duration of each of them, to clearly periodize them difficultly. Both the religions themselves and the society in which they existed quickly "tired" from the severity of the requirements of purity of faith, and from the unrestricted liberalization of religious life, which led to a periodic change in sentiment and orientation, either on fundamentalism, or on the modernization of religions. (shrink)

The article by Liudmyla Fylypovych «Religious Identities in Ukraine: formulation of the problem» is devoted to the problem of religious identities, which were activated in modern Ukraine in connection with radical political and civilizational challenges-shifts, and therefore they require deep study.

Ukraine for the third time in its history is experiencing a process of national revival, which not only intensified the activities of different faiths, but also raised the question of the place of religion in the life of the nation in general. That rehabilitation of religion, which took place in public opinion during the years of Ukraine's independence, changes in social assessments of its role in spiritual and national revival, Ukrainian state building, as we are, is more likely to be (...) a response to propagation of religious spirituality by the mass media, a kind of illusion of the desired, rather than a reflection of the real processes in church and religious life. (shrink)

Ukrainian religious studies has recently entered the world scientific community and the educational process. Along the way, many difficulties awaited him. First, it was necessary to determine the content, structure, representation of Ukrainian religious studies, to navigate the world of foreign science of religion, in the existing teaching methods. Secondly, to outline the forms of entry of Ukrainian religious studies into the international scientific and teaching community. Acquaintance with Western science, which proved to be heterogeneous, based on various methodological approaches (...) and methodological means, coincided with difficult internal transformations that underwent all humanitarian knowledge in Ukraine after world-view and political changes in society. In pursuit of its identity, domestic religious studies went, on the one hand, by contrasting itself with theology, and on the other, by actively distinguishing itself from so-called scientific atheism. As a result of these processes, domestic religious studies was eventually constituted as a coherent, structured science of religion, seeking to develop its own models of teaching religious studies. (shrink)

The democratic transformations that have taken place in our country since independence have laid the foundations for new state-church relations. The relations between the state and the Church in this situation have acquired fundamentally new qualities, which, unlike the past, are characterized by a generally stable partnership, mutual respect and cooperation. Such relations are enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations", other legislative acts and international legal agreements.

Interview with M.Y. Babiy - the first scientific secretary of the Ukrainian Association of Researchers of Religion on the constitution of a professional union of the scholars of religion in Ukraine.

Prof. Petro Yarotsky on the UARR questionnaire.

The science confidently consolidated the idea of ​​the functions of religion, which traditionally understand the nature and direction of the influence of religion on society. But when investigating individual religions in different epochs, scientists knew about functions, but did not see the influence of religion. As in Soviet times, for example: even when it was forbidden, religion functioned in cut-down forms, underground, but did not affect the vital functions of the vast majority of people. One or another element of religion (...) played a role in the entire religious complex, but it did not nearly work for the society and individual citizens. The function should characterize the activity. Here we must speak more about functionality as ability to perform certain functions and their visible and effective manifestations. (shrink)

The acquisition of Ukraine in 1991 independence has actualized the problem of national identification of its peoples. According to the Constitution, they were able to have a full-fledged ethno-cultural existence not only Ukrainian but also other ethnic groups living in Ukraine. It turned out that religion, besides language, education, consciousness, and custom of the ritual elements of national life, is important for the processes of ethno-determination.

The changes taking place in the religious life of modern Ukraine are closely linked to the global transformation processes in the world of religions. The result of the latter is the so-called religious postmodernism, a striking manifestation of which is the new religions. Their appearance can be seen as a kind of challenge to tradition, as a creation of a new type of religiosity or even a new religious culture, as a spiritual search and expression of a postmodern person.

Ukrainian religious studies has recently entered the world scientific community. Acquaintance with Western science, which has proven to be heterogeneous, often based on different methodological approaches and methodological means, has coincided with difficult internal transformations that have undergone all humanitarian knowledge in Ukraine after worldviews and political changes in society. In pursuit of its identity, domestic religious studies went, on the one hand, by contrasting itself with theology, and on the other, by distinguishing itself from scientific atheism. At first, the (...) emergence of religious studies from the bosom of ideologized social science was more relevant. In the form of a critical study of religion, Soviet-era religious studies were included in scientific atheism. Therefore, religious studies came not as knowledge of religion, but as its critique. (shrink)

Modern Ukrainian society is stratified not only economically, socially, professionally, informally, territorially, politically, historically, but ideologically and experiencedly. Is there something that unites Ukraine today? E. This - the present as a set of cultural and civilization factors and reality as a set of fateful events. The number and intensity of the fateful events for Ukraine in the last 3 years - from November 22, 2013, that is, the first protest against the non-signing of the association with the EU - (...) is abundant. It is not time to sum up, there is a permanent crisis, there is a war, we have a lot of losses, but we have already made our choice. (shrink)

The article analyzes the events that took place in Ukraine on the verge of 2013–2014. This events are called Dignity Revolution. The authors argue that this revolution was the unifying factor of Ukrainian churches and religious organizations, a kind of manifestation of Christian ecumenism and interreligious understanding that jointly opposed the criminal power, for freedom and independence of Ukraine, for the dignity of every Ukrainian.