The dissertation carried out a philosophical and religious analysis of the phenomenon of religious Internet communication of Christian churches in Ukraine as an effective means of realizing their missionary activity. The role of religious Internet communication as an important factor in the formation and development of social relations, which ensures socialization, transfer of religious experience, exchange, assimilation of religious information, strengthening of ties within the framework of a religious community, is analyzed.
The essence of religious Internet communication is substantiated in the context of three main aspects: ontological, epistemological, and axiological. The functions of Christian Internet communication at mass, group and individual levels, namely, information, communication, ideological, ideological, missionary-propagandistic, illusory-compensatory, educational, educational, value-orientational, socialization, integration, and regulatory are defined. The socio-psychological impact of the phenomenon of the virtual as a means of constructing social reality in religious Internet communication is described. It is noted that religious internet communication is revealed in the social interaction of the church as a social institution with the communities of believers through the use of their information and communication structures, which contributes to the transfer of religious experience, the strengthening of ties between individual believers, religious communities, religious organizations of different religions.
It is noted that modern Internet technologies broaden the scope of religious communication, provide a new quality and a new level of religious relations, which complements and deepens the communicative potential of the Church. Characteristic features of religious Internet communications are barrier-free, speed of coverage of the mass audience, the possibility of influencing the virtual world on the subconscious, the ability to actively use advocacy. Among the main areas of the missionary Internet activities of Christian denominations in Ukraine are the formation of digital libraries, missionary pilgrimage activities and dominant is religious education and education. The modern stage of society’s formation can be characterized as a multimedia communication culture, one of the indicators of which is the active development of electronic libraries, in particular, the creation of nationally directed Internet resources of religious literature, because their content is not only the formation of a corresponding religious outlook, but also imposition of the corresponding cultural tradition (language, ideology, style of thinking and world perception).
It is substantiated that the conflictual nature of the religious phenomenon is due to the relatively clear religious and confessional identification of social subjects and the rigid demarcation separation between the bearers of different identities, which defines religious information wars as one of the most effective means of approving religious ideology. It is proved that religious Internet propaganda can have both destructive and constructive essence: on a destructive level, religious propaganda promotes the adoption of a particular religious ideology, acting as a means of manipulation and social confrontation; on a constructive level, religious propaganda can serve to assert the traditional Christian values and morals of society.
