Contemporary Dynamics of Religious Fears and Defenses: From Mass Hysteria to Subjective Welfare

The project focused on religious fears and defense mechanisms - hitherto relatively unexplored modes of communication, ideas and practices that significantly influence the thinking and behavior of individuals and groups, even in a seemingly secularized and rationalized Western society. The aim was to analyze in which contexts supernatural and other non-scientific beliefs can lead people to use extremist and harmful methods, and in which cases they contribute to subjective well-being. Several societal processes in 2020 (eg the BLM and its hostile alien controversy, the Covid-19 pandemic and related media representations of alternative therapies) offered a unique opportunity for an immediate religious response (eg re-use of traditional religious models, perception of a cultural second in an emergency, use of mental hazard maps) to monitor, document and analyze. The results of the project will help to raise awareness, raise awareness and improve strategic communication in alarm areas and, ultimately, to support peace and understanding in society. Despite the unpredictability caused by the coronavirus, the planned project activities were carried out with small adjustments and there were even more specific project outputs than originally planned: 7 research articles were completed; 3 conference presentations; numerous thematic media coverage in the form of radio broadcasts, interviews and media articles; lecture materials providing critical analysis on the topic; there was a guest edition of a special issue of the magazine related to the two project topics, together with the writing of introductions, and a doctoral school event "