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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?

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.

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.

This article reviews the ideas and motives of modern terrorism, discloses the concept of destructive human behavior, the analysis of the socio-cultural situation at the beginning of the XXI century and revealed disturbing factors intensify nationalist and religious terrorism as the most dangerous form of terrorism.

Pierre Manent is viewed as a French thinker that develops in modern times the liberal tradition of political thinking. One of the most important issues of Manent's thinking that was not enough underlined it is the relationship between religion an politics and how this evolved from the beginning of Christianity until the main consequences of modernity. Manent view on religion and politics is the core of this paper analysis. The main contributions of Manent, such as Naissances de la politique moderne. Machiavel, Hobbes, Rousseau (1977), Histoire intellectuelle du lib.ralisme (1987) La cit. de l'homme (1994), Cours familier de philosophie politique (2001), La raison des nations. R.flections sur la d.mocratie en Europe (2006) are analyzed from this perspective. Our conclusion is that in the way Manent deals with the relationship between politics and religion there are some constants that may be found in all his work. These are: the relationship between the Church and the different forms of political organization in Europe (Civitas, Imperium, monarchy); the fact that Christianity is one of the few current relevant concepts for political, due to the failure of totalitarian ideologies; the idea that secularization in Europe is not irreversible; we live in "an age of separations", and Church-State is one of these separations; we witness the religion transformation process and the .tat la.que cannot survive to .tat-nation; the role of Islam in modern societies and his perpetual finding of a political form; the relationship between Judaism, state and nation; the issue of the Christian identity of Europe.

On the basis of the work of S. Kierkegaard «Exercises in Christianity» and V.S. Solovyov's «Readings on God-manhood» the article presents a comparative analysis of the positions of the authors as religious thinkers, formed in line with the problem of limiting the claims of the mind, which in earlier philosophy had become the only and comprehensive explanatory principle. The article outlines the common ground of their positions, which is a criticism of the official religion and the formalism of state churches. It notes that the innovative and original religious philosophies of Kierkegaard and Solovyov have a common mission – the revival of Christianity degenerated into a public religion, but at the same time they differ in character and structure. It concludes that Kierkegaard and Solovyov, critically reinterpreting the Christian religion that is contemporary to them, offer their religious philosophy as a way out of the crises of their time.

The article reveals the essence of the problem of the origin of man from the point of view of science and religion. We consider a variety of theories to explain the religious idea of the creation of man by God, the philosophical concepts that attempt to rationally, without the help of God, the absolute mind or alien, to explain the origin of man.

This paper aims at reflecting on Vl. Solovyev's Three Conversations as a philosophical and religious fable. The stress is put on studying each of the protagonists: the Lady, the General, the Politician, Mr. Z, the Prince, as well as the Antichrist and the heads of the three main Christian denominations: the pope, the starets John and prof. Pauli. Each of them is presented both as a real type with his own idiosyncrasies (which is very important) and as an illustration of the truths and deficiencies of his time and milieu, keeping in mind the idea (so dear to Solovyev) that the people who actually promote and contribute to the good can only be those who have maintained a sense of humour and are the bearers of an honest, simple and authentic cultural and spiritual tradition, even if it is incomplete. The Antichrist seduces people by encouraging muddle-headedness, libido dominandi, intellectual pride and the taste for the sublime. Through those means he conquers, before being ultimately defeated by his own nothingness.

This article intends to analyze the role of religion in the public sphere in Habermas's theory. Despite the fact that the concept has been launched in a book published in 1961, only in 2005 the well-known German thinker has dealt explicitly with this issue. Even the critics of his public sphere model do not mention the lack of religion from the whole paradigm. Some of Habermas writings related to religion prior to 2005 are discussed. The role of religion in the public sphere is, according to Habermas, related with the issue of religious freedom and the State- Church separation, a model opposed to French laicïté. For Habermas, the state must not only be neutral to the religious discourse, but it must also encourage the participation of political organizations to public life. Another issue that is discussed by Habermas is the relationship between religious majorities and minorities. Habermas does assume a middle position between laicïté and the refuse of the modernity-imposed borders between religion and politics. The article takes an insight into the way Charles Taylor deals with the role of religion in the public sphere, a helpful argument for showing that the debate on this issue is only at the beginning.