Civil Religion and Value Politics in Contemporary Russia

The article aims at demonstrating the official discourse on traditional spiritual-moral values in Russia which represents an attempt to construct a civil religion with a potential to unify the Russian nation and to provide religious sanction to the existing political system. The term ‘civil religion’ is not widely used; but spiritual and moral values are apparently able to give transcendental meaning to mundane political concepts and institutions. The author suggests that civil religion under construction is not directly related to the established belief systems. Instead, it is focused on the Victory in the Great Patriotic War understood as a sacred ‘out of history’ event that unites the public and the private. Special attention is paid to civic rituals that reveal the religious nature of traditional values.

Keywords: civil religion in Russia, transcendental legitimacy, traditional spiritual-moral values, Victory day, civic rituals, national idea in Russia.