Attitude to Secular Culture in the Context of Social Teachings of Christian Churches (Church and Law Dimension)

Abstract

Introduction. Questions of Christian churches attitude to various forms of secular culture are reflected in church legal sources, which are specific for each faith. The peculiarities of the interaction of churches and secular culture at the present stage of the development of society are considered, as a rule, in the structure of social doctrines. The social teachings of the churches are recorded in various types of documents that have a normative nature. The aim of the study is to identify the similarities and differences in attitudes towards various phenomena of secular culture in Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism, expressed in the social teachings of the main Christian denominations. Materials and Methods. The combination of systemic and comparative approaches made it possible to compare the specifics of the attitude of various Christian churches to modern secular culture, interpreted as a social phenomenon. As research materials, the normative acts of Christian churches are used, which set out the main provisions of their social teachings and doctrines. Results. Both similarities and differences are found in the positions of the Christian churches regarding secular culture. On the one hand, the importance of this phenomenon and the need for a dialogue with the world of secular culture are emphasized. But, on the other hand, there are differences in such issues as understanding the nature of secular culture, attitude to secular culture, forms of collaboration between the Church and the state in the area of secular culture, as well as believers’ tasks and opportunities in the area of secular culture. Discussion and Conclusion. The highlighted features of the attitude of Christian churches to modern secular culture, recorded in the normative documents, make it possible to form an idea of the prospects for the dialogue of churches with the world of culture. The main conclusions and provisions of the study can be used in the construction of civilized mechanisms of such a dialogue, which make it possible to minimize the negative consequences of conflicts caused by the clash in the public space of different ideological and value positions demonstrated in relation to certain cultural forms and artifacts.