Religion and Social Myth in Contemporary Information-Based Society

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between mythological and religious consciousness in the modern world. Modern social myths are emotional, sacred, and ritual-based explanations of the world and human social life that appear in politics, art, and everyday life. Social myths often use religion to form certain types of worldviews or create and broadcast stereotypes about religious communities. Simultaneously, religion itself is rooted in mythological consciousness and introduces elements of myth into daily life. Modern technology, such as cinema and virtual reality, enables religious groups and modern social myth authors to spread their ideas and integrate new people into their communities. Digital technologies are used both by traditional religions with a long history and new religious formations, so-called cyber-religions, which perceive virtuality as a new type of reality. The secular media, which spread social myths, also determine how religion is seen in the public sphere by forming both positive and negative perceptions. Mythologization of the human world and religious worldviews is conducted by emphasizing consumers’ feelings, emotions, and desires. The active use of emotion in the construction of social myth leads to its further proliferation and, with it – to the proliferation of mythologies and stereotypes.