Multicultural Development of Religious Worldview in Contemporary Kazakhstani Society

Abstract

The main objective is to study the trends in the transformation of the religious worldview in the contemporary Kazakhstani society and to explain them using the theoretical Dual-circuit Model of Religious World Formation. The application of interdisciplinary approaches enabled a quantitative analysis of the trends in the formation of the religious worldview, while a qualitative analysis revealed how those trends influenced various spheres of public life, including social relations, politics and cultural practices. Data were gathered from a survey of 1,500 respondents as part of the Central Asia Barometer Data waves 1–7 spanning the years 2017–2020, and an analysis of national statistics. Logit regression was utilised for data analysis. The findings of the study demonstrate that in the modern society, the influence of religious and secular aspects of worldview manifests in different ways, shaping civilisational trajectories and determining the future course of development. For numerous years, the Kazakhstani society has remained multicultural and interfaith. Islam is the predominant religion, followed by 69.3% of the population, followed by Christianity at 17.2%. Other religious affiliations are represented by less than 0.1% of the populace, while approximately 2.3% identify as non-believers. Employing a cultural-sociological approach, a bi-contour model of religious worldview formation in the contemporary Kazakhstani society has been developed. The findings of this study hold applicability not only to Kazakhstan but to numerous countries, given their universal nature. The essence lies in the application of universally recognised principles in balancing interests between religion and secularism: a secular form of governance, constitutionally enshrined rights to religious tolerance and freedom of belief, religious institutions and spiritual values.