Religious Security as a Component of National Security in the Sphere of Social and Economic Communication

Authors

Yevhen Kharkovshchenko, Taras Shevchenko National University in KyivFollow
Vitalii Nitsenko, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical Oil and Gas University, Ivano-FrankivskFollow
Yevhen Piletskyi, Taras Shevchenko National University in KyivFollow
Mariia Nesterova, Taras Shevchenko National University in KyivFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

Yevhen Kharkovshchenko, ORCID: 0000-0002-8241-1625

Vitalii Nitsenko, ORCID: 0000-0002-2185-0341

Yevhen Piletskyi, ORCID: 0000-0002-8820-757X

Mariia Nesterova, ORCID: 0000-0001-5784-4704

Abstract

National security is proposed to be viewed as a coordinated open system that, in addition to the religious, also includes military, economic, social, and other components. Considering religion as part of such an open system makes it possible to distinguish two mutually directed vectors of communication within religious communities: from church leaders to the faithful and vice versa. This presupposes feedback communication links that allow a denomination to balance interactions among the actors of church–society relations. The concept of “communication” in the context of religious and national security is thus expanded from a narrow understanding of information exchange to an instrument for the restoration of meanings—of life itself, of the value orientations of individuals and religious groups, and of economic existence. Within the communication of religious communities and society, two opposing tendencies are identified: sacralization and secularization. Sacralization reinforces authoritarian tendencies within religious organizations, whereas secularization promotes the democratization of religious communities and limits the possibility of verifying the activities of the faithful, including their communicative activity in non-religious spheres of social life. Therefore, religious communication with society is proposed to be equated with an open information space—a characteristic feature of civil society—and, in the social and economic spheres, with an “information space of trust,” serving as an instrument for restoring economic and social ties disrupted by war.

Recommended Citation

Kharkovshchenko, Yevhen; Nitsenko, Vitalii; Piletskyi, Yevhen; and Nesterova, Mariia (2025) "Religious Security as a Component of National Security in the Sphere of Social and Economic Communication," Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe: Vol. 45 : Iss. 9 , Article 3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55221/2693-2229.2679
Available at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/ree/vol45/iss9/3