Transformation of religion in the European Union countries as a subject of academic research

Abstract

The transformations of religious landscape are taking place in the modern European society. The authors highlight three main factors of these changes. The first one is secularization, which has led to a sharp decline in the influence of religious organizations (mainly churches of different Christian confessions) on the political, social and personal life of Europeans. The culture of a secular society is widespread. Christian values are giving way to secular values of political correctness and multiculturalism, and human rights have become a new sacredness. The second factor of transformation is the change in the ethnic composition of the most European countries as a result of large-scale migration. Associations of Islam followers provide significant influence in a number of European countries. This process leads to a kind of parallelism – new European Muslims create their models of legal, social, family and domestic relations, distancing themselves from the style of life of indigenous population. The third important factor is the worldview pluralism, which generates new religion- and belief communities, usually being a minority, according to the right of each person’s choice of world-view in democratic societies. All these factors are closely linked to religious educational strategies of EU countries. The analysis of these factors and their consequences constitutes the actual content of modern European theoretical and empirical researches of religious Studies. The article deals with the most important areas, topics and problems of such research presented in the academic field of the new scientific community – the European Academy of religion.