Digitalization of Religious Consciousness: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

The article examines the digitalization of religious consciousness and discusses various problems arising in its course. Digitalization of religious consciousness is a process of modernization of the religious life of humankind, characterized by the introduction of digital technologies into it and the transition of the religious sphere into a network environment. Digitalization of religious consciousness is one of the factors of globalization. The author dwells on the spread of digital technologies to the religious sphere, indicating both positive and negative sides of this phenomenon. By influencing the subjective human world and making adjustments to it, digitalization brings fundamental changes to the consciousness of humankind, which is especially noticeable in culture and religion. The article provides a short overview of literature on the topic under study by both Russian and foreign authors. The results of the data obtained over the past decades are briefly described and the relevance of the studied issues is explained. In addition, the article touches on the topic of religious security in the light of the development and interpretation of religious teachings in the virtual space, where the differences between the profane and the sacred are weakened. Three levels of the problem of the processes of digitalization of religious consciousness are deduced: competitive, substituting and transformational. The competitive level represents the clash between traditional and non-traditional religious teachings in a network environment. The substituting level shows how a lot of practices of traditional religions change their form and, sometimes, content, when moving into the digital space. The transformational level exposes radical changes in key religious postulates, which forms a fundamentally new type of religiosity in cyber religion. Further, it is demonstrated how, with the introduction of digital technologies based on a heterarchical model of functioning, the perception of religion as a hierarchical institution is transformed. As a result of the action of the factors considered, the key problem of the topic under study is, and in the near future will remain, religious security. This issue is described in accordance with the highlighted levels of the problem of digitalization of religious consciousness. Possible measures to strengthen the security of religious consciousness in a dynamically developing digital society are proposed.