A Methodological Approach to the Role of the Church in the State

The article is devoted to the study and brief analysis of the methods used in the interaction of the church with the state, as well as the importance and advantage of the methodological approach to determining the role of the church in society, taking the Russian Federation as a case study. The purpose of the study is to identify the methods used in modern Russia in the interaction of the state apparatus with religious associations, to identify their validity and the model of such interaction used in the Russian Federation. The article points out that the relations between the state and religious associations in various forms of their manifestation arose from the very beginning of the formation of statehood, which is indisputably confirmed by historical examples and facts of ancient civilizations. The article discusses four different possible models of building relations between the state and religious associations, depending on the position of religious structures in the state, from the dominance of such associations over state power and to the complete subordination of the church to the state. The author shows how the model of such interaction between the state and religious associations is reflected in the methods chosen by the state. The author gives a brief historical overview of the relationship between the state and the church throughout the history of the statehood of Russia from Kievan Rus to modern Russia of the present time. Based on the analysis of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations”, the author presents arguments on the basis of which the modern Russian Federation can be attributed to countries with a certain model of interaction with religious associations from the possible presented, which has developed over a long period of churchstate relations.

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