Latvia is shaking the religious revolution. If you believe the clergy of traditional religious denominations, there is a significant reduction in the number of parishioners. This seems even stranger when you consider that in Soviet times, when the church suffered persecution and oppression by the authorities, the parishes of the Catholic and Orthodox churches were filled with believers.
It is not only a matter of migration outside the country. Competition, as a sure sign of capitalism, has reached religion. In Latvia, the emergence of new religions has become widespread. They attract the suffering in their ranks, who are looking for a place where they will be understood and delivered from loneliness.
From the side of psychology this fact is quite explainable. Man is a religious being, we need to realize the existence of a higher power, in faith in someone powerful. Today, the very concept of religion takes on a completely different meaning. It is understood as the inculturation of religious experience, therefore, the religious motives and feelings of the representative of another faith may be well understood by the representative of one denomination. The differences of religions are only that under the influence of different cultures, people express their religious experience in different ways, using different symbols, robes, and verbal expression. Each person seeks his own religious experience. Traditional churches now often only fulfill the assigned roles in ceremonies - weddings, baptisms, funeral services. Priests do not delve into the problems of parishioners, devote little time to personal communication, due to constant employment and rush they have no time to talk with a person about his inner torment. There is no spirituality and sublimity that was inherent in the church of the first centuries of Christianity. Once the monasteries were the center of culture. The monks were the personification of great spirituality and were able to convey it to the parishioners. Today, people perform church rites, not having the slightest idea of their true meaning.
Performing their religious search, people read books that mention Christ, but have nothing to do with Christianity. As you know, demand creates supply. Thus, religion in Latvia fell under the onslaught of the free market. At a crucial moment, offers of all kinds of goods with a spiritual theme are activated. This is a phenomenon that is inevitable in the era of globalization. Religious deformation in Latvia has many examples. The Mihari group originated in Japan. How did she get to Latvia? The answer is simple: a Latvian emigrant brought her from Australia. That is, today there are no territorial barriers to the spread of religious teachings, they can penetrate the most remote corners of the planet.
Attitude to new religious movements can be diametrically opposite. Some approve of new trends, considering them a manifestation of free will and spirit, others argue that these are the machinations of Satan. But nevertheless, it is necessary to show healthy skepticism and form your own point of view independently, to study the history and methods of each denomination. The homeland of most denominations is the USA, India, China, Japan. If the communist system in China ever collapses, people begin to migrate more, which means that in Latvia there will be an even greater spread of religions.
It is difficult to answer unequivocally which religion is fundamental in Latvia. This issue needs to be approached systematically, as there are 5 main religious families in which the roots of different religious groups grow.
Krishnaites
The first family is the Hare Krishnas. They have their own restaurant, charity cuisine and a shop. In the same family can be attributed the group that chose Sri Chinmoy as a teacher, whose activity is in art. In Latvia, youth and the creative stratum of the population joined him. Another group considers the teacher guru Osho. He died in 1992, preached liberation from his own “ego”, from conscience, called for stopping time, living here and now. In Riga, the Center for New Psychologists has a religious group working, including professional psychologists. Thus, religious ideas fall into the scientific community.
Esoteric-Gnostic movements
They offer their secret knowledge to the elite. People in the Roerich group, anthroposophists, profess the evolutionary model of the world. They want to achieve a particularly high level of spiritual development.
Post-Christian Family
This family uses Christian terminology. Jehovah's Witnesses were active in the 1990s. Today they were overtaken by Mormons. Their trick is that they offer free English classes, but they provide religious knowledge in the learning process.
Some groups from this family preach the near end of the world, which, in their opinion, is evidenced by geopolitical crises and earthquakes.
Neopaganism
The basis of this family is the phenomenon of neopagan groups. These include the Druidic order and such directions as non-Ancient Roman, non-Ancient Greek, ancient Egyptian. The founder of this religion in Latvia is Ernest Brastins. He considered Christianity alien to Latvians and preached a truly Latvian form of paganism.
Post-Islamist groups
This group is not numerous. The Bahai movement originated in Iran, it has its own prophet, despite the fact that in Islam the prophet Muhammad is considered the last.
Thus, it is difficult to unequivocally state which religion dominates the population of Latvia, especially since there is no state religion. But if we consider religion in Latvia as a percentage, we see the following picture: Lutheran Protestants - 25%, Catholics - 21%, Christians - 10%, Baptists - 8%, Old Believers - 6%, Muslim - 1.2%, Jehovah's Witnesses - 1.1%, Methodist - 1%, Jewish - 1%, Seventh-day Adventists - 0.4%, Buddhist - 0.3%, Mormon - 0.3%.
New religious movements cannot be treated unequivocally. One should not blindly trust the newly arrived gurus, but at the same time one should not turn away from a family member if he begins to attend classes in a religious organization. Perhaps you need to devote more time and attention to family relations and involve a family psychologist who will help to understand this situation.