The banal religiosity and religious belief in the ethnonational identity of the present-day Buryats

Abstract

The paper discusses some functional changes in the religious sphere caused by the process of desecularizing the social consciousness in post-Soviet Russia. Being a characteristic feature of the social climate, the religious revival has become an ideological factor. Taking this into consideration, the author examines the function of a religion in the social identification and the correlation of this function with those which form a world view. In this context Buryats’ religious beliefs are analyzed. The author argues that religious values being considered as the main components of a national culture mark the national space and form the sense of community. At the same time, the modern religiousness often turns out to be a banal religiosity which cannot favour the growth of the number of truly religious people.