Kelman M., Syvulia T. Theoretical complexity and practical significance of the manifestations of the interaction of religion and law

DOI: 10.33098/2078-6670.2022.13.25.61-68

Purpose. To prove the impossibility of the disappearance of the phenomenon of religiosity in society and the obvious facts of the influence of religion on the processes of formation and development of law.  Method. The methodology includes a comprehensive analysis of many historical sources and the conclusion that religion is in fact the spiritual cradle of law. The methodological basis of the study is a system of conceptual approaches, general scientific and special legal methods, as well as methods of scientific knowledge: anthropological, idealistic, demanding research, systemic, communicative approaches, and methods such as historical-legal, comparative-legal and more. Results. In the course of the research it was substantiated that three things are necessary for initiating legal communication: knowledge of law (intellectual element), activity (volitional element), and – without a doubt – consciousness (spiritual element). After all, only the spiritual identifies the first two. Only the spiritual component fills with “legal light”, content, purpose, spirit of law, legal connection, guarantees them from transformation at best into a formal scheme, at worst – into criminal chaos, and law itself is not law.  Scientific novelty. It is established that the relationship between religion and law without taking into account the deep spiritual foundations of society, which are “on the other side” of ideas, no freedom of the individual, human rights, responsibility and personal guilt (and hence the legal tradition as a whole) . However, science continues to have a negative attitude towards religion as a means of regulating social relations, which ultimately prompted us to try to consider this problem.  Practical significance. Consideration of these problems is of purely practical interest, because in the context of methodological pluralism of modern jurisprudence, overcoming ideological monism and drawing on the experience of foreign jurists, the task is to reconsider the main issues of law in the system of social regulation. It should also be noted that despite a certain “renaissance” of religious themes, which is observed in modern legal literature, in scientific works there are almost no attempts to theoretically develop the relationship between religion and law.

Key words: God, faith, religion, law, society, reason, justice, law, politics.

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