MYTHOLOGIZATION OF RELIGION IN THE CONTEXT OF POST-SECULARISM

Abstract

Summary. The purpose of the study. The article proves the mythological essence of the newest transformations of religion based on the analysis of these transformations and the formation of post-secularism relations. Methodology. The way to achieve this goal is dialectics as the logic of contradictory relations of the secular and post-secular with partial mutual elimination in the process of social cognition. Scientific novelty. The article argues the idea that the culture of postmodernism is a kind of modern myth, since it erects the substitution of basic ideological meanings into an epistemological norm; dialectics as the logic of cognition actually acts as the logic of myth, not allowing the cognizing subject to fully control what is happening in his world. The religious worldview does not stand aside, being involved in the process of change on a mythological basis. As a result, religion is mythologized, converging at the level of essence with other ideological spheres – politics, law, art, science, economics, endowing them with part of its functions and assuming some of their functions. On the one hand, it makes him a part of mass culture, popularizes his main ideas; on the other hand, it is a process of profanation, simplification and distortion of the essence of the religious attitude to the world. One of the fundamental reasons for the formation of post-secularism is the culture of consumption, which turns religion into a product to meet the needs of people. As a result, the authority of religious figures is ensured not by ideological, but by legal protection, and the church itself not only participates in the implementation of secular business, but also transforms secular business into religious. Conclusions. Post-secularism, acting as one of the manifestations of globalization, hybridizes traditional religion in order to preserve it in conditions of total pragmatism, skepticism and atheism. However, this has led to the fact that religion has not regained its lost status of absolute purpose and absolute value, becoming a post-religion.