Sociology of Religion

Translation of an article by Elena Strelkova, published in Forbes Young (Russia), 31 May 2026. Original in Russian →. Translated and published here with attribution. Sunday mass instead of yoga, and clubs for keeping the fast — it seems that young people are increasingly declaring a religious affiliation. We explore why and how they are turning to faith, what questions they are seeking answers to, and how they are changing their way of life. ...

Transcript of a public lecture delivered in Moscow, 20 May 2026. Good afternoon. Thank you for spending a sunny day on my lecture. Today I will be talking about religion in the modern world through a specific theoretical lens. The plan: first a short theoretical preamble, then we will discuss the contemporary religious situation — what kind of world we live in, where we are heading. Then secularization theory and its current state — is it alive, dead, more dead than alive? Views differ. Then how contemporary sociologists look at the religious situation anew. And finally, what the title promises: what does the modern person believe? ...

Transcript of a public lecture delivered in Moscow, 21 March 2026. Good evening. Thank you for spending your Saturday evening on religious studies. Today’s lecture is about the phenomenon of parody religiosity. I should say upfront: I found almost no academic or popular coverage of this topic — neither on YouTube nor anywhere online, in Russian or in English. A few videos on adjacent themes exist, so tonight we are, in some sense, filling a gap. ...

Published in: Sociology and Society: Formation and Functioning of Social Memory. Proceedings of the VII All-Russian Sociological Congress. Moscow, November 2025. EDN QUINAN. Download PDF in Russian→ Nikita A. Obraztsov European University at Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia. Abstract. Analyzing the religious identity of Orthodox Christians in contemporary Russia, the author concludes that the concept of belonging without believing can be successfully applied to interpret sociological data. In particular, the author draws attention to a significant gap between declared religiosity and actual religious practice, and proposes possible mechanisms for interpreting empirically observable facts. ...

Based on a video lecture. Video lecture: YouTube After the World Cup in Qatar, the internet filled up with videos titled “Messi is God.” Lionel Messi scored twice in the final against France, scored his penalty in the shootout, had a genuinely brilliant tournament, led Argentina to victory, and permanently wrote his name into history as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Whether he has eclipsed Pelé and Maradona is a matter of debate, but that he has become an absolute expression of the game — that is beyond doubt. ...

Paper presented at the XXX International Educational Readings “Peter the Great at 350: A Secular World and Religiosity”, May 2022. Video recording: YouTube Tambov: Orthodox Christians Who Don’t Go to Church Let me start with a specific study. In 2014, the Centre for Religious Studies at Tambov State University named after G.R. Derzhavin surveyed more than 1,500 students to identify the main patterns of religiosity among young people in Tambov and the Tambov region. ...