Religion is everyone's personal business. Anyone has the right to freedom of religion. This is what the legislation says.
However, one often encounters a peculiar attitude towards religion. Believers are looked upon as people of a different sort. They do not understand, laugh at beliefs, and even openly dislike. Therefore, it is necessary to raise some burning issues.
Decline in society
As for Christianity, everything here is very interesting. When temples began to open in the early 90s of the 20th century, people massively went there. They were baptized, married, performed a funeral service in absentia. Entire families came to temples.
Now the churches are open, services are performed every day. The state is not against faith - go and pray. But few people go to the temple. For a modern person, going to church on Sunday is on a par with going to the gym. The hall is needed for health, and we go to church for spiritual healing. Both there and here it is necessary to make efforts. Only in the case of the gym it is clear what and how to do. And when a person begins to pray, he is faced with a certain attitude towards religion and faith.
Other friends just make fun of him. Posts are perplexing. Restrictions on recreational activities are ridiculed.
And someone begins to attack the believer. Like, where is your God, since there is so much lawlessness in the world? And on this basis, communication comes to naught.
In Russia, 90% of the population are baptized people. And 3% of them go to the temple on the strength. We are Christians de jure, but in fact we know very little about God, and we do not live at all as it should be for baptized people.
Social relations
There is no understanding of what religion is. Religion in social relations is a problem that has a lot of work to do. And in fact, there is no one to lead it.
The godless seventy years were not in vain. In the Soviet Union there were only three theological seminaries. These are Moscow, Leningrad and Odessa. Among the clergy there was a decree that was not advertised: to take there only those students who were “especially” distinguished by their merits. And it's about the bad differences. Graduates and hooligans - then students of theological seminaries.
And what kind of positive social relation can we talk about? Although, oddly enough, the Orthodox Church kept afloat. Despite the authorities' vivid desire to destroy her and "show on TV the last priest."
Other religions
If you evaluate the current situation, you can see how the number of Muslims in our country has increased. Relation to other religions is somewhat different than to Christianity. Probably because the same Muslims will not allow themselves to laugh at themselves and their faith. Most of them came from other countries. But they managed to put themselves in such a way that the owners are scared to approach the guests and indicate their place in case of improper behavior.
Muslims are allowed a lot. The fact that they celebrate their main holiday in Moscow testifies to this.
As for other religions, their representatives are not so many in Russia. They are tolerant.
Church and Religions
What does the church have to do with religions? The Orthodox Church considers them a delusion.
- Catholics are schismatics who fell away from true doctrine in the 11th century. Replacing just one word in the prayer "Symbol of Faith."
- Islam appeared 600 years after Christianity arose. And contrary to his teachings.
- Judaism is a separate issue. In Russia, his followers are few. They mainly live in Israel.
The Orthodox Church forbids its flock any participation in the life of other faiths. This does not mean a ban on communication with Catholics or Muslims, as with people. But visiting their temples and taking part in the sacraments is unacceptable.
Do you know that ...
A believer can not always get the desired job. And it is true. For example, you wanted to go to work in the police. In addition to a medical examination by a special commission of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there is still a psychological one. The candidate is asked almost 400 questions. And among them there is a clause on attitudes to matters of faith.
What to write about the attitude to religion, reaching this question? If you believe, then write the truth. An excellent explanation on this fact was given by one priest: "to deny God for work ... As Judas is for thirty pieces of silver."
Will the candidate fail? A moot point. It depends on which psychologist will conduct the test. Others say that a policeman should only believe in the law. And others are quite loyal to his faith in God.
Are there any “civilian” positions in which sincere faith is not acceptable, where they are asked to communicate their attitude to religion in the questionnaire? Perhaps in some very large companies when interviewing for a managerial position something similar will occur. But in general, the leader is interested in the skills of a potential candidate for a vacancy. And not his religious beliefs.
Relations between religions
Relations between faiths cannot be called good and good. Christianity tolerates one or another religion. He does not call his flock to destroy the "enemy by faith."
Muslims have a different attitude. For them, Gentiles are enemies. Fortunately, most representatives of Islam hold back their impulses. And they do not destroy Christians, Buddhists and other representatives of other faiths. But there are among them those who are happy to cut the throat of a non-Christian.
Buddhist monks are indifferent to other religions. For them, the limit of perfection is the achievement of nirvana. That is a complete detachment from the world.
Religion and Law
If we consider the relationship of law and religion in the context of the church, then there is canon law. This is the basis of church law.
It is no secret that the church and the state in Russia are friends. Friendship is expressed in the fact that the state does not interfere in its issues. But protects and supports if necessary. At the political level, all faiths legitimized in our country play a role in some government issues.
Yes, the church has an influence on the state. Denying it or closing your eyes is pointless. Although it is considered separated from it.
As for the state, everything is cleverly arranged here. We have freedom of religion. Anyone has the right to openly express their religious views. Here is the background. It seems that everyone has equal rights, including people with an atheistic worldview, but it's not so simple.
In fact, because of freedom of speech, conflicts often flare up. People collide their foreheads, in simple terms.
Religion and Philosophy
Another very significant question. What is the relationship of philosophy and religion?
There is an opinion that philosophy can understand religion. And the latter will never understand her. Why so? Yes, because philosophy is based on intellectual considerations. Religion is based on a cult.
This opinion was expressed by Hegel. He believed that philosophy and religion are similar to each other. They have common ideas about the world. But there is a significant difference. According to Hegel, philosophy is based on concepts and ideas. Representation refers specifically to sensual images. And religion is based only on them. That is why philosophy can understand religion. And the latter, in turn, is able to understand only that which has the same point of view with it.
Is there a philosophical faith? Oddly enough, yes. Relation to religion from this point of view is different. A man wants to know what he believes in. Here religion and knowledge go side by side. A person strives for understanding, which means that in addition to emphasizing cult, faith and revelation, emphasis is also placed on thought. A philosophical approach to religion is a reflection of what you believe in. Trying to understand what is possible.
Religion as a knowledge of the world
The emphasis here is Christianity. Agree, it is very difficult to believe what is written in the Bible. In ancient times, pagans lived. They worshiped their gods, when suddenly, they began to preach the Revelation of God. A certain Moses came and said that he was speaking with the real God. What He told the prophet is written in the Bible.
Can you imagine this in our time? A certain person will come and declare that he is a prophet. How to relate to this? Others twist a finger at the temple, drive away. And someone will believe and go after him.
But we were distracted. Do you know that the Bible is one of the proofs that Christian teaching is true? And now let's talk about this topic.
world creation
The attitude to the Orthodox religion can be different: someone believes, someone does not. To each his own.
Let's talk about creating the world. The Bible says that God spent seven days on this. Only they mean not our day, in which 24 hours. The Lord has a different time.
Take the first day. The universe did not exist before. There was only chaos. Then God created heaven and earth, and light separated from darkness. Some scholars identify this period with the dogological era of the Earth.
Reptiles
When it comes to the creation of the world by God, people like to remember dinosaurs. Like, they lived a whole era, and the Bible speaks of the days.
But believers will object that God has a thousand years, like one day. And a day, like a thousand years. The era of dinosaurs is consistent with this statement. And by the fifth day we mean not a daily cycle, but an entire era.
After all, by and large, mythical dragons are the same dinosaurs. They are preserved in our time. They just look not so intimidating. For example, a crocodile is a reptile, but it has a distant relation to fossil ancestors, because dinosaurs inhabited not only land. They flew through the air, and lived in the water. And all the reptiles, in general, went from them. Only changed over time.
Plants
As we know, before the creation of animals, plants were created. This is the fourth day.
There is considerable evidence that the first plants were huge. The earth gave birth to everything in large volumes. So mosses and algae grew so huge that they were many times higher than the height of the current trees.
As in the case of dinosaurs, plants changed their appearance over a certain period. This was facilitated by climate change in the environment.
God prepared the planet for the appearance of man. And by His order, everything that He considered necessary changed. These are the ideas about the creation of the world, according to Christian beliefs.
Person
The evidence of a negative attitude towards the Christian religion is the debate about the appearance of man. Darwin's theory, which we remember from the school curriculum, states: we are the descendants of monkeys.
There is such an Orthodox lecturer - Anna Yuryevna Khrenova. Her lectures tell about the possible origin of man.
It is possible that the Lord took the highest animal (in our case, the monkey), and in its outward appearance made a man. Hence the general similarity between us and primates. So, the orangutan, gorilla and chimpanzee are our closest "relatives."
Conclusion
We talked about the attitude towards religion in society. Although in a civilized society, people are free in religion, but still sincere faith is not encouraged. And on the question of what to write about the attitude towards religion in the questionnaire, one can answer that sometimes it is more appropriate to keep silent about one's true views.
Perhaps these are echoes of godless years. The Orthodox are considered at least strange. There is no persecution, as such, but there is no special affection for believers.
And it turns out a paradox: on the one hand, temples are being built, the state does not interfere in the affairs of religion. On the other hand, the veiled discontent has not disappeared, it just looks different.