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- Convenors:
-
Liudmyla Fylypovych
(Philosophy Institute of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine)
Maksym Balaklytskyi (Karazin University)
Vita Tytarenko (H.S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, NAS of Ukraine)
Andriy Tyshchenko (Ukrainian Association of Researchers of Religion)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Zeta room
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 6 September, -
Time zone: Europe/Vilnius
Short Abstract:
After decades of totalitarian bans on religion in society and its presence in the information space, a new age has come for its active development. Ukrainian informational religious space is in the process of formation being somewhat chaotic and extremely politicized but saturated.
Long Abstract:
During the Soviet time, religion was considered a phenomenon that needed to be overcome. Its presence in the information space had an exclusively negative character. The religious institutions and their believers were criticized, humiliated, exposed.
In 1991 religion in Ukraine returned to public life. Its actual and formal rehabilitation took place, a religious network developed, and a new model of state-church relations was formed. There is a need for an adequate presentation of religion in the information space. Religious media exclusively covered the internal informational needs of religious communities. The secular information space showed little interest in religious topics. But thanks to the war Ukrainians began to interest in the religious topics: the emergence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the granting by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Tomos on autocephaly to it . The reactions of various religious organizations to the Russian aggression, the collaboration of some priests of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the propaganda of "Russian world" through the Russian Orthodox Church among Ukrainian believers, the special Ostpolitics of the Vatican, and its consequences for Ukraine, and so on are among topics for public discussion.
The panel participants will explain how fully and objectively religion is presented today in secular and religious information resources, which religions are the most successful in the informational age, how religion uses the opportunities of modern society in the informational domain, and what technologies are in demand by religious organizations and Ukrainian society.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 6 September, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
The Russian-Ukrainian war made significant adjustments in the media sphere. Religious topics, which were not very popular in peacetime, have now gained general social relevance, which requires the cooperation of secular and religious media.
Paper long abstract:
Religious mass media play a prominent role alongside secular mass media in the modern system of mass communications. Consumers of such information products are not only certain groups of believers, but a much wider audience. The new realities that have developed require new approaches. That is why we observe the collaboration of religious and secular topics in the broadcasts of confessional mass media.
On the other hand, the demand for information on the topics of religious life has significantly increased in the conditions of the aggressive war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. Since religion is an ideological component of the war launched by Russia, religious issues are at the top of the secular media.
The author is an expert religious scholar who regularly comments on the religious situation in Ukraine and the world on television. This continues during the period of russia's large-scale aggression against Ukraine as well.
At the same time, cooperation with religious mass media (in particular, the "New Christian Channel") has resulted in more than 10 author's programs "Religious Kaleidoscope" of scientific and educational and interfaith nature (secular). The last special editions of the "Religious Kaleidoscope" program were released in July 2022, when the author was already in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Based on a wide empirical base, the author states that the "corporate communication" of religious and secular audiences through religious and secular mass media has a steady trend, with an emphasis on certain aspects during the war.
Paper long abstract:
In the context of the war, a number of Russian Christian communities, through their subordinate media, have exalted and justified Putin, who has launched the bloodiest and most ruthless war in the last 80 years. Their pseudo-arguments focus on the fact that the West seems to be threatening to destroy morality; that the depraved Western world wants to draw Ukraine into its orbit; that the dominance of LGBT people is a harbinger of Armageddon, and that Putin is fighting the Antichrist in the person of the collective West to preserve traditional values, which can only be carried by Russia. In the context of such an information war, where religion is part of the ideology of war, Christians of Ukraine have undertaken the mission of "separating the wheat from the chaff" and destroying the myths created by the Kremlin propaganda and disseminated by Russian religious media. In particular, the "New Christian Channel", which has a wide audience in different countries, seeks to expose to both Ukrainian and foreign audiences the destructive nature of the "Russian world" and to involve progressive humanity in the struggle for democratic values that are important both for Ukraine and for the entire civilized world.
Paper short abstract:
"All-Ukrainian HOPE Marathon" became the largest live project of Hope Channel UA during its conventional decade of existence. Its contents include reading of biblical Psalms, prayer, a news feed about the Invasion with an emphasis on the humanitarian aspect, live video connections.
Paper long abstract:
Hope Channel UA (Nadiia TV in Ukrainian) claims to be "the first Christian TV channel in Ukraine." During the Russian invasion of 2022, its main innovation was the "All-Ukrainian HOPE Marathon" program. It is a live program that is being aired from February 28 to June 22 in morning and evening blocks of one and a half hours. For the first months, the Marathon was broadcasted daily without a day off. Since September, it has been aired twice a week under the title "Spiritual Front."
"All-Ukrainian HOPE Marathon" became the largest live project of Hope Channel UA during its conventional decade of existence (since 2009, 24/7 broadcasting since 2013 - satellite, cable TV, Internet). Its contents include reading of biblical Psalms, prayer, a news feed about the Invasion with an emphasis on the humanitarian aspect (first read by the presenters, later video stories), live video connections with people from hot spots (front lines, occupied territories), as well as with experts - religion scholars, historians, lawyers, volunteers, public figures, church ministers. During 2022, Hope Channel UA almost completely switched to the Ukrainian language, which caused a noticeable transformation of the audience. Its YouTube channel grew from 218K to 250K subscribers, but many Russian-speaking viewers, mainly from abroad, unsubscribed. Before the Invasion, Ukrainians and Russians comprised even halves of the audience, whereas now there are one and a half times more Ukrainians.
Paper short abstract:
The development of the information space of Ukraine for a long time took place spontaneously, in the conditions of wild competition. Distancing from the totalitarian past, implementing the world standards for mas-media move to form an information strategy for subjects of socio-religious relations.
Paper long abstract:
Ukrainian society faces many challenges in forming a new Ukrainian information space, which for a long time was under the influence of Soviet (meaning Russian) narratives. Everything Ukrainian (language, culture, history, religion) was declared secondary to the great Russian culture, derivative and insignificant compared to the tremendous imperial history, and often false. Allowing the minimal presence of religion in the information space of Ukraine, the Soviet authorities clearly indicated which religion was desirable for presentation. Only Russian Orthodoxy (Russian Orthodox Church) was allowed to play such a role. The level, quality, scope, and content of such presence were determined in the Communist party offices in Moscow. According to its tradition, after 1991, the Soviet approach was transferred to the FSB, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Ministry of Education of Russia. Despite the information gateways opening in 1991, the internal censorship developed in the Soviet times still operates and puts pressure on the Ukrainian information space. Most of the Ukrainian media are still dependent on different financial and political groups. The situation in the religious domain is similar. Independent media keep rising in Ukraine. Therefore, religion needs to be sufficiently thoroughly and objectively presented in secular and religious information resources. Its confessional commitment or traditional godless criticism is felt when the necessity of religion is denied, and vulgar anti-clericalism is cultivated. The most successful in the age of information development are those religious organizations in Ukraine that quickly respond to technological revolutions and widely use the achievements of the information age (Internet, social networks, etc.).