Religious values of Russian youth

P. 585–592.

Boryshneva N., Ротанова М. Б., Фёдорова М. В.

The article is focused on the analysis of views of Russian youth on religion,religious values, and The Russian Orthodox Church. The survey of value orientations of the youth in one of the largest regions of Russia (Nizhny Novgorod Region) became the source of the empirical material of the research. This region is considered to be a federal indicator of many socio-economic indexes including religious and confessional ones. The data and information about religious views of the younger generation were collected within several years by means of questionnaire survey and depth interview method. The specific goal of the article is to define peculiar features of religious identity of youth in Russia, and to show the change in the attitude of youth towards the basic religious ideas and values, that demonstrates transformation of value paradigms of modern youth. According to the authors of the article, "ethnization" of religious identity, syncretism of religious consciousness, and aiming at vital values become features of religiousness of the younger generation in Russia. It all leads to distorted perception of some Christian ideas and concepts. As a result the authors draw a conclusion that religious representations of Russian youth are defined in terms of universal factors (indnvidualization and privatization of religion, influence of media and mass culture on religious consciousness and religious behavior), as well as national specificity (significance of the Russian Orthodox Church in national culture, initial tendency to syncretism of thiking, etc.). The authors also try to predict changes of religious behavior of youth due to the process of growing up.

Keywords: religious identity, syncretism, Russian youth, религия в России, religious values, religious activity

In book

4 International multidisciplinary scientific conference of social sciences and arts

Vol. 2. Book 2. , Sofia: Albena Co., 2017.