Religion in contemporary society

Dr.hist., leading researcher Inese Runce Inese.Runce@lu.lv

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4731-1984

Religion shapes culture, ethics, and identity, but it no longer holds the same centralized authority it once did. The modern world sees secularization, where traditional religious institutions lose influence, while at the same time there is a rise in spiritual pluralism, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, but religion also plays a role in public debates on morality, politics, and social justice. At the same time the Western society faces revival of traditionalism and conservatism. Besides the war in Ukraine has made a strong impact on the Russian Orthodox Church in Latvia questioning the issues of the securitization. Contemporary society is marked by both declining institutional religion and growing personal forms of spirituality and revival of conservative values, making this field of studies a very complicated, complex and diverse. The focus on this research is linked with the case of current Latvian religious tendencies.