VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 SPRING 2015

THE HOLY AND DIRTY MONEY OF FAITH SHAPES OF RELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY Adrián Slavkovský Received October 17 2014 - Revised January 5 2015 - Accepted January 19 2015 ABSTRACT A phenomenon, which is generally referred to as religion, has been present in various shapes throughout the whole history of humankind. Only the last centuries have brought a mass expansion of atheism. When many assumed that religion would successively expire, something else happened. At the end of the second millennium a new bloom of religion happened in many forms. But this is not a simple comeback of the good old times of religion, especially not of traditional religious communities and institutions. Key words Secularization, institutionalization, freedom, responsibility, otherness 1 Globalization and secularization Politics, economics, science and entertainment have been shaping the life of society much more than religion, which remains on the margin of society. This process of the loss of impact of religion on development is described as secularization. Further, another process – globalization – is connected with secular elements of the culture – mainly with the development of science and technology, with the improvement of mass media and means of transport, and with the increasing influence of the world market. As a result of this process, various religions meet and influence each other, mix together and there emerge new forms of religion. Especially people of the Western civilization live in a multireligious environment. Many thinkers agree with facts related to the concepts of secularization and globalization. But the question is how to explain these Spirituality Studies 1 (1) Spring 2015 113 (1)

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