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The Church-State relationships in EU Member States are in a process of a radical transformation. This is the result of a rapid political integration and also of the major transformations of the modernity. Religion is still part of the European public space even if, according to modernity premises, it should be only a private matter. According to Max Weber and other authors, secularization diminishes the role of the religion in society. However, these theories are being contested in recent years, due to the interpretation of statistical data and to the emergence of fundamentalist religious movements spreading around the world. Consequently, secularization is a tendency and not an "iron law". As regards the current role of the religion, Silvio Ferrari developed the theory according to which there is a common European model. This model does not exist yet, but certainly we live in an era defined by the continuous searching of such a model. There is no European identity without common values. Some of these values, like toleration, do have a profound religious foundation. European integration is based on the action of different actors, including interest groups located in Brussels. The Churches and the religious organizations are also part of this category of actors and they try to be part of a process by which a common space for consultation will emerge.

At the present stage of development of the Russian Federation, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ideological bonds of the people disappeared. In these conditions, the "well-wishers" of various stripes are persistently trying to fi ll the resulting vacuum. The people themselves and their leadership are also in search of a national idea that can unite all Russians into a single nation. One of the options for a possible new national idea, according to some scientists, is the so-called "civil religion". Is it suitable for the Russian society?

Актуальность исследования связана со сложностью и неоднозначностью протекания процесса глобализации в религиозной сфере, а также потребностью в поиске новых методов исследования глобализации, которые не ограничиваются констатацией её объективности и амбивалентности, перечислением положительных и отрицательных сторон. Цель работы: обосновать применение системного подхода и теории социальных полей П. Бурьде для анализа глобализации в религиозном дискурсе. Методы исследования: системный и структурно-функциональный анализ социальных полей, с помощью которых выявлены области дискурса, различающиеся по целям акторов, социальным функциям и содержанию религиозного дискурса о глобализации. Результаты. Выявлены социальные поля, оказывающие наиболее существенное влияние на взаимоотношения религии и глобализации: поле религии, поле политики и массово-коммуникационное поле. Наиболее жесткое противостояние процессам глобализации на основе религиозного вероучения наблюдается в поле религии. В поле политики наблюдается тенденция к идеологизации религии. В этом поле отмечается высокий накал политической борьбы за символическую власть религиозных, политических и иных взглядов. В массово-коммуникационном поле заметны тенденция к упрощению и взаимозаменяемости религий, формирование «усредненной» экуменической религии или новых религиознопсихологических движений. ; The relevance of the research is related to the complexity and ambiguity of globalization in the religioussphere, as well as the need to search for new methods of globalization research, which are not limited to ascertaining its objectivity and ambivalence, transferring positive and negative sides. The aim of the work is tojustify the application of the system approach and P. Bourdieu theory of social fields for analysis of globalization in religious discourse. Methods. The system and structural-functional analysis of social fields used in thework allowed us to identify areas of discourse that differ in the aims of actors, social functions and the content of religious discourse about globalization. Results. The author has revealed the social fields that havethe most significant impact on the relationship between religion and globalization: the field of religion, thefield of politics and the mass communication field. The most severe opposition to globalization on the basis ofreligious dogma is observed in the field of religion. In the field of politics there is a tendency to ideologize religion. In this field there is a high intensity of political struggle for the symbolic power of religious, politicaland other views. In the mass-communication field there is a noticeable tendency towards simplification andinterchangeability of religions, the formation of an «average» ecumenical religion or new religiouspsychological movements.

New forms of manifestations of religious intentions in socio-political space have constituted themselves as markers of transformation in the contemporary socio-political coordinates. Revision of the dominant traditional linear approaches placed the focus of ideological and political discussions about the correspondence of stable and variable, traditional and modern in a religious prism. Emerging new configurations in the public and private spheres mark transformation of the traditional relations between religion, society and the state corresponding to the logic of the project of modernity and the paradigm of secularization and require new interpretation optics. The contours of the new designs are evident in the contexts of new challenges and threats related to global political risks of religious terrorism, loss of monopoly on the description of reality, including moral connotations in the understanding of progress of the principle of secularism, with the increased importance of religious and confessional identity, civilizational, local and personal-individual levels, forming the hierarchy of values that determines horizons of public and personal goal setting. The penetration of religious meanings in the political and social reality of various areas, their incorporation into ideological discourses of identity build a wide variety of interpretations in the extreme poles of which is religious outline of internal and external threats to social stability and understanding of religion as a resource of optimization of the political system. Institutional, axiological and ontological projection refracts the religious factor in Russian society in polyvalent and nonlinear ways, reflecting the multidirectional vectors of ongoing transformation. On the basis of sociological data of The Institute of Sociology, RAS, the given article analyzes a number of subjects, reflecting qualitatively new social relationships. The emphasis is on multi-scale conflicts, correlation between the secular and the religious in the coordinates of importance of the democracy attributes and social significance of religion, institutional and value aspects as well as the dominant ideas in the Russian society about the role of Church, religion and religious faith in human life and society. Growing importance of religious factors and religious identities in contemporary conditions, the incorporation of religious meanings in different spheres of society intersect with ' the needs of ensuring the unity of values and stabilization of the social system, as well as close attention to Russian civilization experience. Despite increased sensitivity of contemporary debates on the tragectory of political practices in Russia, the religious factor could be a factor of social cohesion, determining the search of new forms of relations between the state and religious organizations based on the challenges and needs of society and identifying the need for improving mechanisms and practices of state-confessional relations.

The paper is devoted to the interaction between science and religion in the theory of famous british philosopher of science Michael Polanyi. There is an analysis of relations between scientific and religious beliefs. According to Polanyi the religious cult provides a man with euristic vision of reality. Polanyi had a great impact into "untraditional" conception of truth.

The author aims to show that the forecasts of some theorists, philosophers and sociologists about the secularization and inevitable disappearance and marginalization of religion in the process of modernization of society, did not come true. Religion as a social institution has survived and has indicated its return to society and its importance not only for the individual but also for the collective consciousness and action. Deterministic frameworks of the processes of religious changes toward desecularization of society are the result of important changes in society itself: on the one hand the religious traditions acquire political significance and importance in the society, while on the other side they deprivatize faith and behavior of individuals, which can be considered as representing the crucial elements of the process of desecularization of society. These examples compelled the authors like David Martin and Peter Berger to review their theories about secularization of society during 1960s and 1970s, by presenting new ideas about desecularization of society or by limiting the theory of secularization to Western Europe countries only.

This article focuses on the role of Islam in the life of arabic countries. The consequences of revolutionary explosion of early 2011 for the fates of Egyptians, and specially for Copts who which confess Christianity in Egypt are shown. ; В статье на примере Египта освещается роль ислама в жизни арабских стран. Показаны последствия революционного взрыва в начале 2011 г. в Египте для судеб египтян и, в частности, коптов, исповедующих христианство.

Констатируется, что экстремизм связан с политическими амбициями обретения властных полномочий с помощью насилия. Такие амбиции могут присутствовать и в религии, особенно если она выдвигает универсалистские претензии. Утверждается, что религиозно-мотивированный экстремизм присутствует в движениях, для которых характерно представление о невозможности толерантного отношения к иным религиозным формам и воззрениям. Религиозный экстремизм, показательным примером которого сегодня является исламизм, ориентирован на установление теократии, а не политической диктатуры. Показано, что постоянно готовый к насилию религиозный экстремизм дрейфует в сторону религиозного терроризма, который представляет собой агрессивные насильственные действия против несогласных с экстремистами людей. Насилие служит достижению религиозных, политических или идеологических целей, а терроризм является средством оказания давления. ; Extremism is associated with the political ambitions of gaining power through violence. Such ambitions can also be present in religion, especially if it imposes universalist claims. There is religiously motivated extremism in the movements for which the conception of the impossibility of tolerant attitude to other religious forms and views is typical. Religious extremism, exemplified by Islamism today, is directed toward establishing a theocracy, not a political dictatorship. Constantly ready for violence, religious extremism is drifting towards religious terrorism, which is an aggressive violent act against people who disagree with extremists. Violence serves religious, political or ideological purposes, and terrorism is a mean of putting pressure.

Any reflection on the relationship between religion and politics in the Catholic thought cannot do without reminding the Augustinian distinction between the civitas Dei and civitas terrena. The goal and foundation of any just political community should be the orientation to wards the common good. In the contemporary catholic thought, Johann Baptist Metz proposes a political theology revolving around the concepts of the value of the human person, the necessary refusal, on the part of the Church, of any mundane ideology and the necessary use of the socially critical potential of theological thought. Hans Küng criticizes any politicization of theology. He insists on the development of an internal pluralism within the Church and advocates a self-limitation of the magisterial intervention in the world in the name of a necessary "eschato logical reserve". Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict the XVIth , invested with the magisterial authority, relies heavily on official documents of the Catholic social doctrine. He emphasizes the necessity of founding the state on the central value of justice and its acting according to the principle of subsidiarity. In this context, the Christian faith and the Church in particular may have a pedagogical role, as it may guide reason to follow the right priorities. All three thinkers agree on the public significance of the Christian vision of society and on the fact that it may help society both by its critical and by its constructive dimension.