Beaumont, Justin and Baker, Christopher (eds) (2011) Postsecular Cities: Space, Theory and Practice. London: Continuum. - 276 p.

Recently, the growing role of religion in Western societies has been increasingly discussed. This is primarily due to the changes that are taking place in these societies themselves. There are three main factors that can be identified here. First, there is increased social mobility and mainly migration to Western countries of carriers of other cultures and faiths, which leads to cultural and religious pluralization. Secondly, the intensification of social activities of religious organizations, which is stimulated by institutional changes in the administrative management of some European countries1. These changes include the transfer of authority "locally", i.e. to lower-level administrations, as well as the transfer of functions for providing social services to non-governmental organizations, among which religious organizations also occupy a niche. And often the role of the latter is very significant: for example, as from-

1. In particular, the reviewed work deals with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

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According to some authors of the peer-reviewed book, an organization such as the Salvation Army is one of the largest philanthropists in the UK, as well as a major figure in providing shelter for the majority of vulnerable groups in Amsterdam.2 Finally, the third factor is the growth of religious terrorism, which is associated with fundamentalist groups.

As the editors of the book note, this has led to the fact that " the XXI century is developing according to a scenario, an alternative scenario to the XX century, which, being the century of human rationality and technological progress... he called into question the social and cultural significance of religion. In the current century, on the contrary, religious communities and spiritual values have returned to the center of public life, and this is especially true for public policy, governance and social identity."

The above-mentioned social changes have led to the emergence of the term "post-secular", which is used to refer to social changes taking into account the religious factor. This term is actively used by Jurgen Habermas. Thus, he speaks about the need for a post-secular self-understanding of society, since " one must take into account the active continuation of the existence of religion in an environment that is becoming more and more secular."3. According to Habermas, the state should remain secular, but secularity should not extend to the public sphere, in which religious actors play a significant role. At the same time, the latter may use their own religious language and even have the right to expect that other participants in the public discussion will assist them in translating their religious beliefs into a publicly available secular language.4 Thus, we are talking about a dialogue between "religious" and "secular" social actors.

This is the concept of "postsecondary" used by the editors of the peer-reviewed book, Justin Beaumont and Chris Baker. D. Beaumont's research interests (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) are in the field of GO-

2. Depending on the context, children, women, disabled people, pensioners, veterans, migrants and other groups of the population can be considered vulnerable groups.

3. Habermas, J. (2005) "Equal Treatment of Cultures and the Limits of Postmodern Liberalism", The Journal of Political Philosophy 13 (1): 26.

4. Habermas, J. (2006) "Religion in the Public Sphere", European Journal of Philosophy 14: 9 - 10.

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In particular, he is interested in issues of social justice and the role of religious organizations in cities. K. Baker (University of Chester, UK) works on the religious dimension of urban space, politics and civil society. This book is a collection of articles, most of which are written by authors from the UK. The collection examines the role of religion in public and urban spaces from different perspectives and based on different materials, but at the same time-in the general perspective defined by the concept of "post-secular". The most interesting texts will be briefly presented below.

Rachel Chapman and Leila Hamalainen argue in their article that religion is an important factor in civic engagement and volunteerism in the UK. At the same time, we should not overestimate the role of religion, since, firstly, civic activity and volunteerism are influenced not by nominal belonging to a particular religion, but by religious practice; secondly, the religious factor in this case is not the only one, since the level of education has no less influence or possession of property.

The authors identify four main motives for participating in social activities "through" religious organizations5. First, it is the desire to help others: many religions call for caring for one's neighbor, and through participation in religious organizations, people try to implement this call. There are also cases when a certain community 6 provides assistance to a person (for example, helps to overcome life's difficulties), and that person has a desire to do something similar in response. Some people start participating in the activities of religious organizations at a certain stage of their life (for example, after retirement) or when they just have free time (for example, in the process of finding a job 7). Finally, some people participate in co-educational activities.-

5. The English text distinguishes between faith organizations and religious organizations. In this article, these concepts are used synonymously and translated as "religious organizations".

6. It is not always clear from the English text when the word community refers to a religious community, when a secular association, and when "community" in a broader sense (village or city). In this case, we mean the community.

7. In European countries, it is considered useful to add experience in volunteering to your resume, as such experience increases the chances of an applicant to get the desired position.

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social activities of religious organizations for the purpose of personal growth or based on the desire to change something in society. As the authors show, it is impossible to make a clear distinction between the participants ' "religious" and "secular" motives: they are always intricately intertwined, and even when the "religious" motive is dominant, it is not the only one. Similarly, the division of organizations into "secular" and "religious" is very conditional.

The article also provides an illustration of the" burden " that religious citizens face due to the need to translate their religious arguments into a secular language.8 Some of the religious organizations surveyed said that in a "secular" context (such as business meetings), they have to be careful about using religious terms or even avoid them for fear of "sounding strange".9
Nienke de Witte reflects on the phenomenon of the post-secular, considering the policy of the Amsterdam authorities regarding the financing of religious organizations. The author uses the approach of I. Dalfert, according to which it is advisable to consider not so much society as a whole as the state and its political system as a post-secular one (this is the "locus" of post-secularity). Dal Firth gives a rather interesting typology of states based on their attitude to religion. Thus, the secular state takes a neutral position on religious and non-religious issues. It treats citizens equally, regardless of their beliefs, that is, it does not support any religion or "non-religion" and does not oppose them, legally prohibiting itself from interfering in the religious life of citizens. This neutrality is a declared position of the State. A post-secular state also does not position itself as religious or non-religious, but it does not proclaim neutrality in relation to religion, being indifferent to it. According to Dalfert,

8. Yu often talks about such a "load". Habermas. Например: Habermas, J. "Religion in the Public Sphere", pp. 13 - 16.

9. An example of participation in a public discussion can be meetings of representatives of religious organizations with representatives of government bodies or non-profit organizations, contacts with the media, etc., that is, situations where it is necessary to express the position of a religious organization in the public space.

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there may be many religions or "non-religions" in a society, but in a post-secular state there is no need to take a definite position (even a neutral one) in relation to them.

De Witte goes on to illustrate the neutrality of the Amsterdam administration in the issue of funding religious organizations. The administration can provide targeted funding to certain religious groups due to their current or past vulnerability (for example, support for Muslim organizations), or take an instrumental approach, financing religious groups for the sake of performing a social function necessary for the city (for example, integration of migrants). On the one hand, the position of the Amsterdam authorities does not "fit" into the concept of the post-secular state of Dalfert, since the city authorities still declare a certain attitude to religion; on the other hand, this position is not the only one that is more consonant with the idea of a post-secular state.

The author comes to the conclusion that the post-secular state determines its position regarding the support of religious organizations not on the basis of a general attitude to religion, but on the basis of specific political interests. As these interests change over time, so does the nature of government interaction with religious organizations, including their State support. Thus, according to the author, it makes no sense to talk about models of relations between the state and religion in a post-secular state. Robbie B. H. Goh examines the relationship between religion and business in his article and offers a very vivid illustration of it. He begins with M. Weber's "Protestant ethics and the spirit of capitalism", that is, with the desire to earn money, the idealization of asceticism and the formation of a market ideology within the church. The author further argues that some modern churches have so "absorbed" this "capitalist spirit" and the principles of the market that they have relegated M. Weber's" asceticism " to the background. Such churches function as business corporations; they have multiple sources of income, and church leaders run multi-million dollar businesses and prefer to call themselves CEOs as well as pastors. The author cites the example of the mega-church Hillsong Church in Australia, which owns a music department.-

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It has a large brand and a huge trading industry, is engaged in online trading, has large businessmen among the board of directors, and so on. Another example is Singapore's mega - church, which is similar in many ways to Hillsong.

The commercialization of churches and their leaders is sometimes accompanied by lack of transparency in their financial activities and leads to lawsuits. Thus, "merging with the market" does not always take place without a trace for the moral authority of the church, but it is a social fact and an example of the inclusion of religion in the life of a modern city.

In his article, Angus Padisson warns against proclaiming the era of post-secularism and rejoicing in the active interaction of the state with religious organizations. In his opinion, this interaction is still determined by the logic of secularism: religion is a private matter, and the public sphere is under the jurisdiction of politics and civil society. Therefore, religious discourse, in order to be heard in the public space, must be "translated" into a secular language. Religion is allowed into the public sphere only in certain forms, otherwise it inevitably runs into regulatory barriers. The Church has to adapt to the universal concepts and values of civil society and the state - instead of determining their meaning itself. This is a danger for the church itself, because if it fits into the logic of secularism, it inevitably leads to its transformation. According to the "secular" logic, religion is a set of private beliefs and has only an instrumental value. On the contrary, for a Christian, values become meaningful only in the light of the Gospel and church life, and social activity is inextricably linked to religious practices, including prayer, worship, and the reading of St. John the Baptist. The Scriptures. The author believes that religion is not only a private matter, since it is also interested in public issues that are also related to religious faith. He claims that religious acts are prayer, the Eucharist, and so on. - they are political acts and that the main task of the church is to "be faithful", and only then - to be effective.

Other articles in the collection also present interesting views on the religious presence in the modern city. Thus, John Eade argues that the phenomenon of the post-secular should be studied in a long historical retrospective (not only in the context of the post-secular world).-

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co. in the period after the Second World War) and describes the religious situation and religious pluralism in England in the XIX-XX centuries. Some authors note that, despite the process of secularization, religion was still present in the public life of Western societies, although it was excluded from the "official agenda". Many authors dwell on the problems that arise when the state interacts with religious organizations, when the latter, in addition to social activities, try to engage in proselytism.

In general, the collection under consideration does not pretend to present a unified view of the presence of religion in modern societies and urban spaces, nor does it offer an answer to the question of whether the term "post-secular"should be used. However, the value of the book lies in the fact that the articles collected in it contribute to the formation of a research field within which further study of the issues raised by the authors is possible.

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