Religious socialization in the virtual space
Authors: Dobrodum Olga 
Published: April 2019

The article narratives about the necessity of religious education of a person with the help of the socializing environment of cyberspace, about religious education in the context of cybersocialization as a multidimensional process of development of spirituality that regulates human behavior in cyberspace in accordance with the moral-ethical bases of life that it has internalized, and the religious principles of a certain denomination. The role of religious resources of the World Wide Web in religious activities is substantiated. It is necessary to accept the cyberspace of Internet environment as a relatively independent virtual reality that dynamically develops in modern reality, in which it organizes its own cyber-life and cyber-socialization.

Modern electronic technologies greatly transform the process of religious socialization, resulting in traditional agents leaving into the background, because Internet has now become a full-fledged institution of religious socialization of man. Now many tasks of religious development of man are carried out not only in traditional methods, but also in the context of the virtual space by attracting people to innovative technologies. Cyberspace contributes to the transformation of forms of expression of human religiosity. Today many tasks of religious development of a person are carried out not only by traditional methods, but also in the context of virtual space by bringing people into innovative technologies. The development of technology also affects world and new religions:  in the XXI century WWW became a new means of spreading of the religious culture for them among its users. One of the trends of modern mass culture is the orientation of society into digital entertainment and communication in various social networks - this fact allows contemporary researchers to view the Global Web as a new social institution.

It can be argued that the development of an innovative branch of psycho-pedagogical thought - cyber-pedagogy, which scientifically substantiates the purposeful and systematic activity of cyber-education of a modern person in the process of its cyber-socialization by means of computer and information-communication technologies that allows modern homo sapiens, who became homo cyberus, to learn to use socializing and educational opportunities of computer and Internet resources. The questions of necessity, multitasking and opportunities of religious education of a person in the context of cybersocialization are revealed. Religious education in the context of cybersocialization has a cyber-onthological character and is closely linked with the assimilated and positioned ideas by the personality in cyberspace about the value of human life, honor and dignity, spiritual wisdom, and the search for meaning in life.

As rather serious, researchers evaluate the risks of network bullying - regular, prolonged and group harassment of the victim - for example, when against a pupil create a site or group in a social network, arrange offensive voting, steal information from his personal page and lay it in an obscene manner, ridicule publicly. The biggest problem in the fight against cybersquatting is the lack of legal skills for cyberbullying and the lack of clarity of legal consequences for an aggressor. It is advisable to develop an international mechanism for combating cybersquatting, including Interpol intervention, for creating a rehabilitation system for victims of cybersquatting based on advisory centers in the different regions of the country, and for developing legislative mechanisms that would clearly categorize and quickly remove aggressive content.