The article discusses the premises for the emergence of modern religion, its manifestation and peculiarities. The analysis of the ideas of the classics of sociology of religion such as Robert Bellah and Thomas Luckmann and contemporary sociologists Grace Davie, Cose Casanova, Steve Bruce, Zygmunt Bauman, Paul Heelas and Ronald Inglehart leads author to conclude that the premises for the emergence of modern religion are structural, value-related and ideological. The main differences between traditional and modern religion can be found in the social contexts. Modern religion is an individually constructed social phenomenon existing in the social context where public religions are important actors. Analyzing the scholars’ works on relation, the author constructs a scheme of ideal types of traditional and modern religion, compares them and draws guidelines for the study of contemporary religious phenomena.

This paper analyzes Peter Berger’s theory of secularization, its main arguments and recent developments in general described as the theory of desecularization. The first part of the text examines Berger’s theory of religion as the sacred canopy and secularization as the process in which religious symbols and institutions loose their dominance in the contemporary society. The second part focuses on the recent developments in Berger’s theory of secularization which is usually described as the theory of desecularization, its main arguments and factors. The third part presents arguments of main critique (Steve Bruce) and supporters (Grace Davie, Danièle Hervieu-Leger) of recent developments within Berger’s theory of secularization. The paper ends with the generalizing insights into Berger’s secularization and desecularization theories and their application for contemporary societies. The author concludes that desecularization theory should be tested within the societies of the new member states of the European Union; she also emphasizes that Berger’s classical distinction between objective and subjective secularization remains useful tool for the analysis of religion in contemporary society.

This paper analyzes the influence of modernization process for the individuals’ religion in Soviet and post-Soviet Lithuania. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews with respondents who experienced their religious socialization during pre-Soviet and Soviet period reveals the peculiarities of their religious life. This article consists of several parts. The first part based on the examination of the works on Soviet modernization discusses its differences from the Western modernization. The second part focuses on the analysis of respondents’ narratives; it demonstrates the influence of social control, socialization and differentiation on the individual religious life in Soviet Lithuania and reflects on the religious life in post-Soviet Lithuania. The authors argue that for the analysis of contemporary religious life it is important to examine religious socialization and religious experience influenced by the Soviet modernization. Available data suggest that certain aspects of the Soviet modernization have lasting impact on contemporary individuals’ religiosity and their critical attitude towards the Catholic church and clergy.

Straipsnyje analizuojamas šiuolaikinio hinduizmo reiškinys Lietuvoje, jo apibrėžties ir saviidentifikacijos problema, raiškos formų įvairovė ir santykis su visuomene. „Gyvųjų hinduizmų“ (angl. living hinduisms) studijos ir tyrimai Lietuvoje nėra išplėtoti. Viena iš to priežasčių yra šių grupių saviidentifikacija – atsiribojimas nuo tradiciškai suprantamo religingumo (hinduizmo) ir dvasingumo skleidimo tikslų pabrėžimas. Šio straipsnio autorė pažymi, kad šis hinduizmo bruožas sietinas su Lietuvos socialiniu kontekstu – vyraujančia katalikybe, ir aptaria šiuolaikinį hinduizmą kaip religinę alternatyvą, atsiliepiančią į tam tikrų socialinių grupių egzistencinius ir ontologinius lūkesčius. Remdamasi empirinio tyrimo, atlikto 2006 m., duomenimis, ji teigia, kad šiuolaikiniam hinduizmui atstovaujančios bendruomenės ir jų sekėjai Lietuvoje suformuoja tam tikrą dvasingumo terpę, kurią gana palankiai priima visuomenė, nes nelaiko jos grėsme vyraujančiai religijai – katalikybei. Tyrimo duomenys atskleidžia šiuolaikinio hinduizmo formų raiškos įvairovę Lietuvoje, varijuojančią nuo tradiciškesnio mokymo ir praktikų iki liberalesnių dvasingumą skleidžiančių organizacijų.

This paper analyzes the issue of the representation of religious diversity in Lithuanian online media. The first part of the article represents the media’s influence on the formation of public opinion. Also, it describes the most important issues of religious diversity representation in the media. The second part reveals the aspects of media representations of the Lithuanian Catholic Church, other traditional and non-traditional religious communities, and new religious movements. According to the empirical data, it can be stated that very popular online media in Lithuania frequently presents information that is negative, stereotypical and lacks objectivity about various issues related to religious diversity. The empirical data also showed that the analyzed online news portals are in favor of mainstream religious community representational politics that spread dominant religious values, attitudes and contribute to the existence of religious hegemony. However, representations of various new religious movements and other non-traditional religious communities are mostly negative, stereotypical and full of subjective judgments and argumentation.

The article contributes to the theoretical and empirical discussions about the social exclusion of religious minorities in contemporary Lithuania. It is based on the data of the empirical qualitative research – focus group and semi-structured interviews with members of religious minorities in Lithuania. The theoretical part of the article focuses on the relationship between religion and social exclusion and the features of its manifestation; it discusses Pierre Bourdieu and Antonio Gramsci’s theoretical insights. The analysis of empirical data conducted according to the three levels of societal life – macro, meso and micro – that were reflected in the respondents’ narratives demonstrated that social exclusion of religious minorities is manifested at every level of societal life: religious communities and their members are stigmatized and marginalized and their activities in the public sphere are restricted.