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)

Postmodern sentiment in Ukraine is predominantly the young generation, which is concentrated in large cities. It is urbanization that creates the preconditions for the development of cultural and ideological pluralism and individual autonomy. In the diversity of existing worldview paradigms, young people seek to find themselves, including spiritually. In this regard, religion, as a spiritual phenomenon, is inevitably a field of interest for the younger generation.

Structural changes in the spiritual life of the world and Ukraine reflect the paradigmatic directions of the development of society at the global and local, community and individual levels. In this unique dynamics of transformation processes, special attention is given to issues related to the peculiarities of modern consciousness, including religious, which in the conditions of socio-cultural changes acquires new qualitative traits in all forms of expression. After all, the world, which is undergoing large-scale globalization transformations, is in search of (...) new meanings of its existence, a new humanistic image, a new holistic multidimensional anthropological concept. The problem of youth religious consciousness, which our research is aimed at, has recently become one of the most urgent ones. Therefore, the inner world of man, his ideological maxims and moral values, determine the direction of transformation not only of a particular individual, but of all humanity. (shrink)

At the beginning of the 21st century, when mankind faced with persistent misconceptions and misunderstandings and contradictions in the field of religion and culture, issues of tolerance and non-discrimination, freedom of religion and belief, the place of religion and educational technologies in the formation of interfaith agreement became relevant. It should be noted that education has always played a leading role in the transfer from generation to generation and consolidation of historically stable cultural and religious values, in training people in (...) the successful functioning of the society and culture in question. (shrink)

The activities of religious organizations are aimed primarily at augmenting spiritual values, but are also relevant to the needs of a person's social life. For many centuries, social issues have been important, and they remain relevant today. Right now, they are receiving special attention, because the level of social life in Ukraine is not the best. In this case, the role of the Church as a social institution is ancillary to the healing of society.

Department of Philosophy of Religion The Department of Religious Studies of IF NASU during 2006-2008 carried out the specified planned theme. Below we present its sections in the summary. The full study material will be published in the monograph under the same title, which will be published by the end of 2009. The book can be used as a textbook on religious studies.