Problems of virtual religious identity

In the modern world, religious identity continues to be one of the most important markers of a person's place in society. However, it is no longer just a mandatory prescribed identity, but actively transgresses under the influence of numerous problems of the modern world. By transgression of religious identity, the authors of the article understand its transformation, both in the direction of changing the level of religiosity as the confessional affiliation. This transgression is associated with a number of social factors – globalization, constant migration processes, value changes, and active spiritual search. With the advent of virtual space and virtual identity, there is another vector of transgression – towards the virtualization of religiosity. The main purpose of this article is to identify and systematize the main problems, related to the influence of virtual religious space on the transgression of religious identity in the real world and the formation of a new type – virtual religious identity. The main method is complex analysis. The article shows that problems with virtual religious identity begin at the categorical level, since they reflect the diversity of vectors of transgressive processes. In modern society, the transgression of religious identity is becoming a frequent phenomenon and variable, since a modern person can change both their religious affiliation and the nature of their religiosity several times during their life. But only virtual space offers unlimited possibilities-from the creation of new religious virtual associations to the appearance of many new fantasy religious identities. The main problem of further development of virtual identity will be the transformation of the level of sacredness, which will either lead to further secularization of the virtual religious space – or to the search for new forms of virtual sacredness.