Role of the religious factor in the genesis and development of civilizations of the world

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Role of the religious factor in the genesis and development of civilizations of the world

Y. Paleshko,

N. Nebaba,

H. Bohorodytska

Analyzing the socio-religious spheres of the world countries and the trends of social development that currently dominate the world, the strategic vision and connection of civilizations and religious movements are considered. The role of the religious factor in the development of world civilizations, the peculiarities of the influence of religious currents on relations in different parts of the world are analyzed. The influence of globalization on the development of religious movements and the peculiarities of their influence in the modern world are determined. Religion is seen as a foundation of morality and as a developmental factor of the culture of civilizations.

At present, humanity is at the stage of constant development in social, political and economic aspects. In the civilizational aspect, the problem of the modern world is the need to unite and cooperate the population to solve global problems, taking into account the historical development of civilizations. Any civilization is imbued with certain beliefs and therefore one of the fundamental components of any civilization is religion. Analyzing the global development trends and realizing the impact of religion on the development of civilization, it is necessary to study in detail the new religions and their possible impact on society.

Any civilization is imbued with certain beliefs, therefore one of the fundamental components of any civilization is religion. Religion arose in the society as a result of social interaction, cognitive process of the world and with an emotional connotation of perception of reality. The main common feature that unites all religions of existing civilizations is the belief in the impossible.

The peculiarity of each civilization is reflected in religion - it is an element of the internal structure of the person, enshrined by the life experience of the individual, the whole set of his experiences and it distinguishes significant, essential for this person from the insignificant, transient.

It should be noted that in the modern world so-called "non-traditional religions" appear, which have a significant impact on people's worldview.

More attention should be paid to the study of the influence of religious movements on each individual, ast is religious teachings that can both unite and divide the population, as well as influence not only the moral state of an individual, but also their actions.

Key words: science, religion, civilization, globalization, world religions, evolution, psychology, morality.

РОЛЬ РЕЛІГІЙНОГО ЧИННИКА У ГЕНЕЗІ ТА РОЗВИТКУ ЦИВІЛІЗАЦІЙ СВІТУ

Я.С. Палешко,

Н.О. Небаба,

Г.Є. Богородицька

Аналізуючи суспільно-релігійні сфери держав світу і тенденції суспільного розвитку, які наразі домінують у світі, розглядається стратегічне бачення та зв'язок цивілізацій і релігійних течій. Проаналізовано роль релігійного фактора у розвитку цивілізацій світу, особливості впливу релігійних течій на взаємовідносини у різних частинах світу. Визначено вплив глобалізації щодо розвитку релігійних течій та особливості їх впливу у сучасному світі. Релігія розглядається як фундамент моралі та як чинник розвитку культури цивілізацій.

Наразі, людство перебуває на етапі постійного розвитку в соціальному, політичному та економічному аспектах. У цивілізаційному аспекті, проблематика сучасного світу - полягає в необхідність об'єднання та кооперації населення для вирішення глобальних проблем з урахуванням історичного розвитку цивілізацій. Будь яка цивілізація пронизана певними віруванням, а отже одна із фундаментальних складових будь якої цивілізації - це релігія. Аналізуючи загальносвітові тенденції розвитку та усвідомлюючи вплив релігії на розвиток цивілізації, необхідно детально піддавати вивченню нові релігії та їх можливий вплив на суспільство.

Будь яка цивілізація пронизана певними віруванням, а отже одна із фундаментальних складових будь якої цивілізації - це релігія. Релігія виникла у суспільстві внаслідок суспільної взаємодії, пізнавального процесу світу, та з емоційним відтінком сприйняття дійсності. Основна загальна ознака яка об'єднує всі релігії існуючих цивілізацій - це віра у неможливе.

Особливість кожної цивілізації відображається в релігії - це елемент внутрішньої структури особи, закріплений життєвим досвідом індивіда, всією сукупністю його переживань і відмежовують значиме, істотне для даної людини від неістотного, минущого.

В сучасному світі, необхідно зазначити, з 'являються так звані «нетрадиційні релігії», які мають свій істотний вплив на світогляд людей.

Вивченню впливу релігійних течій на кожного індивіда слід приділяти більшої уваги. Адже саме релігійні вчення можуть як об 'єднати так і розділити населення, а також впливати не лише на моральних стан індивіда, але й на його вчинки.

Ключові слова: наука, релігія, цивілізація, глобалізація, світові релігії, еволюція, психологія, мораль.

Problem statement

At present, humanity is at a stage of constant development in social, political and economic aspects. In the civilizational aspect, the problem of the modern world lies in the need to unite and cooperate the population in order to solve global problems, taking into account the historical development of civilizations. Any civilization is permeated by certain beliefs, and therefore one of the fundamental components of any civilization is religion. Analyzing global development trends and realizing the impact of religion on the development of civilization, it is necessary to study in detail new religions and their possible impact on society. Despite the existence of the "new ethics" that proposes a radical change in views on some values, norms, yet religion continues to be an important element of civilizations and the basic values of civilizations have a religious basis.

Analysis of the recent sources and publications

Philosophical, political, legal, sociological and religious aspects of the researched problem were highlighted in the works of the following researchers: A. Kolodnyi, M. Babis, O. Hokusha, G. Druzenko, S. Zdioruk, V. Yelenskyi, M. Palichenko, M. Lahodych etc. V. Stepin, conducted a theoretical and philosophical analysis of the foundations of Western civilization and paid special attention to the underlying basic values. I. Sechenov believed that a person can be understood only in the unity of their flesh, spirit, nature (a part of which a human being appears to be). One of the features of the spiritual component of a human is a need to find the meaning of existence.

Purpose of the study is to analyze the role of the religious factor in the development of civilization and the relevance of the study of new religious movements.

Presentation of basic material of the research

At present, humanity is at a stage of constant development in social, political and economic aspects. In the civilizational aspect, the problem of the modern world is the need to unite and cooperate the population to solve global problems, taking into account the historical development of civilizations. It is the constant change of historical and parallel cultural types that gives full development to civilizations. After all, each country represents a certain set of cultural values.

Despite the rapid processes of globalization and integration processes in the regional aspect, civilizations have their own uniqueness. Although it should be mentioned that the constant exchange of information leads to a gradual cultural exchange, which is reflected in the civilizations of the world.

In the historical aspect, the concept of civilization is interpreted quite differently. The meaning of this concept is considered in Table 1.

religious genesis civilizations world

Table 1

The meaning of "civilization" concept

If we consider the concept of civilization from the point of view of Marxism, it is a kind of transition of society from dependence on natural forces to the process of labor and labor development. That is, the social division of labor gave rise to civilization and takes various forms in the process of civilization development itself.

Summarizing all the above mentioned, it can be concluded that the term civilization is used in two aspects:

• Civilization - as a new stage in the development of society, which dates back to the end of the era of barbarism. That is a peculiar stage of transition from the consumption of finished products, which are provided by nature, to the technologies of production, where human resources are used. It is this stage that gives impetus to the development and emergence of cities, states and legal relations. So, it is writing, the emergence of states and law that are the differences between the era of civilization and barbarism.

• Civilization is a kind of identification and affiliation of a state, group of states, individual people at a particular historical stage of development.

It can be stated that civilization, after all, appears at a certain stage of human development. That is, the concept of civilization has its foundation based on the development of a particular culture. It is this definition of the concept that makes it possible to analyze scientifically and objectively, for example, the ancient Egyptian civilization, its features in the Middle Ages, modern times or the present, or any other one. It is this definition of "civilization" that makes it possible to classify civilizations in a given or any other period of time (Андерсон, 2011).

In the study of any civilization, we can identify internal and external factors of influence, which are shown in Figure 1.

External and internal factors have a directly proportional influence on the duration, development, culture and religious affiliation of a civilization.

It can be concluded that any civilization is imbued with certain beliefs, and therefore one of the fundamental components of any civilization is religion.

Scholars combine knowledge about religions into the science of religious studies. Religious studies itself is a structured field of knowledge that considers any religion as a social phenomenon that is inherent in a society, and hence civilizations in general. (Верховський та Михайлівська, 2009).

Fig 1. External and internal factors influencing the development of civilization

It should be mentioned that any religion has a certain structure, which is represented in Figure 2:

Fig. 2. Structural components of religions

Religion is an important component of society, and therefore of civilization, a sphere of cultural development that affects social and moral aspects of humanity.

In ancient civilizations people possessed their beliefs, which were expressed in myths about Gods, spirits and more. In such teachings, older generations passed on to the next ones their knowledge and beliefs about the surrounding world, the existence and construction of moral rules, laws, customs. (Ганяк, 2012).

Therefore, we can conclude that religion arose in society as a result of social interaction, the cognitive process of the world and with the emotional tone of perception of reality. The main common feature that unites all religions of existing civilizations is the belief in the impossible. Belief in the impossible (mysterious) has its own special aspects: Real belief in the unbelievable, that is, not just the existence of such an opportunity, but a clear understanding that it exists.

Fig. 3. Special aspects of faith

The key point in the emergence of religions is the desire of a human to understand their origins and motives for development. The oldest religious movements are believed to be the following:

• Fetishism is a person's belief in the special capabilities of certain objects (it should be noted that these elements remain in the modern world, for example, icons, statues, worship of relics);

• Totemism is a mysterious type of connection between a human and a certain species of living things from the animal or plant world (it should be mentioned that this element is observed in contemporary religions as well, for example - forbidden or allowed food);

• Magic is a belief in the supernatural possibilities of words, or rather, the belief in the influence of certain sets of words (spells) on the consciousness and actions of other people or on natural phenomena, such as rain);

• Animism is a belief in disembodied beings and the possibility of their existence without the embodiment of a human object or body (in modern life it is a belief in the presence of the soul, angels and saints).

At the stage of development of countries, national religious movements are formed and develop. But as a result of the processes of globalization and integration, world religions, which are known as Christianity, Buddhism and Islam are formed.

World religions are aimed at a large-scale belief, which erases the concept of national affiliation. These religions simplify the concept of worship, there is a gradual rejection of specific national rites, that is about the fact that each person is equal before God and it does not matter to which nationality the individual belongs.

That is, religion is a complex and global, in its scale, phenomenon that we may observe in all nations of the world. In the modern world, religion is a code of morality and law. Therefore, the phenomenon that unites nations.

We draw your attention to the fact that modern religions are the result of the consistent, complex development of mankind, they combine the experience of the past and the issues of the present. As a complex global social phenomenon, modern religions have a complex structure, which is reflected in theological educational institutions, ministers, organizational associations with their leaders.

Every civilization is characterized by a certain religious movement. This is explained with the fact that every civilization has its material and spiritual values, which meet the needs of the society in a particular period of time and it is religion that appear to be a component that forms these values at the first stage.

Each civilization has its own specific values concerning religions, which act as a link between social and individual life. (Коппель та Пархомчук, 2017)

The peculiarity of each civilization is reflected in religion - it is an element of the internal structure of a person, enshrined in the life experience of the individual, the whole set of their experiences, which distinguishes significant, essential for this person from the insignificant, transient.

Religion, which is inherent in a civilization, is a moral guideline and worldview, which forms a skeleton for consciousness that provides a certain position of the person, the succession of a certain type of behavior and activity, which are expressed in the direction of needs and interests.

It should be mentioned that in the modern world so-called "non-traditional religions" appear, which have a significant impact on people's worldview. For the most part, "non- traditional religions" develop basing on science, technology, and the study of psychology. By "non-traditional religions" we mean those that have not developed in accordance with the historical basis, so they have not been passed down from generation to generation and have emerged in recent years. (Палінчак, Галда та Лешанич, 2015).

Most people who prefer new religions do not have clearly defined spiritual constants. Young people present that population stratum, which mostly chooses new religious movements with the desire for understanding and support. It is extremely difficult to classify new religious movements, because they differ greatly in the scale of organization, origin and nature of their activities. But all religious movements are similar in that each has its own leader who dictates moral rules and views on life.

All new religious movements are synthetic in nature, which means that they are based on a combination of elements of different spiritual teachings and traditions. These religious movements position themselves as the universal religions of modern times, which form traditions that are comfortable for the majority.

Рис. 4. Types of "non-traditional" religious movements

In our current, so changing world, religion is the heart of society and one of the main components of civilization. We are increasingly noticing the convergence of religion and research and science in general. That is, religious teachers rely on the achievements of science to substantiate the truth of the foundations of their teachings. Science, in its turn, is increasingly beginning to recognize the spiritual world and the mystical way of knowing. That is, trends tend to converge science and religion in general. (Ситник, 2012).

It should be highlighted that the processes of integration, which are manifested in the convergence and study of religious teachings, as a consequence, can lead to the emergence of a single world religion. Various theories, movements, associations appear that declare and implement integration processes both within individual religions and in the religious sphere as a whole. More attention should be paid to the study of the influence of religious movements on each individual. After all, it is religious teachings that can both unite and divide the population, as well as influence not only the moral state of the individual, but also their actions.

Conclusions

In order to understand the connection between civilizations and religion, these concepts are to be explained. Whatever approach we choose to define civilizations, we can state that civilization is a state of society in a certain period of time or evolutionary stage of a human, which is characterized by a certain set of means of subsistence, due to which the main goals, determined by the certain universal cultural principles and beliefs, can be achieved.

Looking at civilizations, we always notice not only a certain level of economic and technical development, but also a set of connections between individuals and certain rules of behavior. Rules of behavior are certain moral principles that are embedded in the system of existence of a civilization. It is these rules of behavior that religion dictates to us are the driving force for the development of society. Obviously, if we consider civilization as a whole structured system of community, in the future of this civilization basic principles of existence will remain.

That is, we would like to mention that the structural factor for the existence of civilization is religion. It is religion that is the element of culture that shapes modern civilization and, accordingly, gives direction to its development.

In view of this, it is necessary to study in detail the issues of new religious movements and their possible impact on the formation of human consciousness in the future. It is the process of globalization that reduces barriers in the economic and information space leads to the reduction of barriers regarding religious preferences and, consequently, to the emergence of a global world religious movement of the future.

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