THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOSITY ON THE INTEGRATION/ DESINTEGRATION PROCESSES AND THE RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE IN THE OHRID-STRUGA REGION

Abstract

We are in a period which is characterized by huge social changes, economical, political and
social, and they are followed by enormous changes to the value orientations, respectively to
the whole system of values. The people can hardly adapt to these changes because they are
very dynamic and intensive. Losing the self-confidence on the power to solve important
tasks, people seek help in religion. The religion as a historical category extends its lifetime
in the modern society. Through its teachings, religion establishes a mutual relationship with
man, offering solutions to the many issues that human beings face in their everyday life.
Also, there must be emphasized the activities of the confessional communities that use their
organizational forms and insist on attracting attention, at the same time filling the blank spaces
left by the other social institutions and organizations.
The Ohrid-Struga region as an environment, ethnically and religiously heterogeneous, is a
special ground of constant integrative or disintegrative influences, which of course plays an
important role in these integrative or disintegrating processes. Disintegration processes are
often accompanied by certain forms of religious intolerance that have occurred at certain
times.
In this research paper, the subject of religious interest in its integrative i.e. disintegrative
processes and the religious tolerance of the population is in the region of Ohrid and Struga,
a region which as we have mentioned is an ethnic and religious heterogeneous environment.
The two most important religious organizations are the Macedonian Orthodox Church - Ohrid
Archbishopric and the Islamic Religious Community. The target group in the study consisted
of all persons over the age of eighteen. The results of the research show that religiosity
influences the integrative or disintegrative processes and the religious tolerance of the
population in the Ohrid-Struga region.