Religion in Russia in the Era of Digitalization (on the Example of Orthodoxy and Islam)

Dmitrieva E.L.

Abstract

The article analyzes the impact of digital technologies on religious institutions in Russia. Digitalization currently covers all spheres of human life and activity and its penetration into the religious sphere is a natural and necessary process. The introduction of religion to the digital environment has both positive and negative sides. On the one hand, religious figures begin to enter in dialogue with believers through information technology, as a result of which the religious audience increases, new followers are attracted, and on the other hand, online communication can lead to the fact that believers will stop visiting temples, mosques and minimize their participation in the life of the religious community, a separation of believers will occur. To assess the new religious digital reality, it is necessary to analyze the ongoing processes from the theological and moral points of view, as well as to determine the permissible limits of the introduction of digital technologies into the religious sphere of human life. The article also examines the attitude of Orthodoxy and Islam to IT technologies.

Keywords

religion; adaptation to digitalization; IT technologies; Internet spac; religious practices; pandemic; digital religion; Russia; Orthodoxy; Islam.

DOI: 10.31249/rimm/2023.02.10

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