Religion in Russia Posted by Jenya on May 27, 2015 in Culture, History, News, Russian life, Soviet Union, when in Russia
Many of us might align ourselves with a particular religion. Reasons for belonging to a particular religion would include geography, family history, governmental policy, simple interest and more. According to Findthebest.com, the world’s largest religion is Christianity with nearly 2.04 billion followers. Islam comes in second with about 1.2 billion followers. History students might remember that in the Soviet Union, religion was suppressed and even eliminated in certain areas. Gosateizm, or state atheism, combined with science, was meant to replace what German Economist Karl Marx deemed to be the “opium of the masses.” What about today? Which religions are popular in Russia today?
Researchers from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) conducted surveys over a number of years and with several thousand Russians in order to identify which religions were popular in Russia. The findings are made all the more interesting when you compare them with earlier polls. The particular study I looked at compared numbers from three different years: 1991, 1998, 2008. Sure the data is nearly seven years old but it creates a vivid picture of the trend. The general survey results can be viewed here.
History has proven time and again that the more you try to stamp out or suppress a religion, the stronger it is likely to become. This has proven to be true in Russia. Orthodox Christianity flourished before Lenin’s policies were adopted. With just over 72 percent of the country subscribing to its tenets, Orthodox Christianity is far and away the largest religion in Russia. Since 1991, it has increased by over 40 percent. Though it was forced underground for many years, it was not altogether eliminated and even now, flourishes fervently.
Those who do not affiliate with any particular faith, not necessarily atheism, make up about 18 percent of the population – down from 61 percent in 1991. If you figure from about 1917-1991 or so, the government propagated atheism, it is not difficult to see why in 1991, 61 percent considered themselves not affiliated with any faith. Why is this listed, you may ask? Well, it takes faith to subscribe to a religion and it also takes faith to believe that there is no God, or that everything created happened by chance. Faith is the common denominator here.
Like in many other countries, Islam is growing in Russia. Though still a small group compared to Orthodox Christianity, Islam is subscribed to by just over six percent of the survey participants. In 1991, less than one percent identified with Islam.
Protestant, Roman Catholic, Buddhism, and “Other Religion” make up less than one percent each.
Another interesting takeaway for me was that nearly 70 percent of those aged 70 years and up believed in God while just over half of those aged 16-29 didn’t. You might say that people often want what they cannot have and for most of their lives, the older generation could not easily or legally have subscribed to a particular faith – making it more difficult to believe in God. They also lived through a war that saw the country lose millions of lives, while at the same time being led by a less-than-kind man that would have you imprisoned or worse for no reason at all. Today’s younger generation, which I consider myself a part of, have had a very easy life compared with their parents and grandparents; of course, there are exceptions to this. It just seems that the harder one’s life may be, the more they might turn to God.
In my opinion, the important takeaway is this: freedom of religion is practiced in Russia and to a much greater degree than before. We ought to be able to worship whatever we want without fear of persecution from the government, other churches, or other people. Thankfully today, in modern Russia, people are relatively free to do so.
Всего хорошего!
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About the Author: Jenya
Born in Russia, I spent the first twenty years of my life in Orenburg, Russia and Mogilev, Belarus. For the last eleven years, I've lived in New Hampshire and Michigan, US. While I continue to absorb and adapt to American culture, I am always thrilled to share my Russian heritage with those who find it interesting. Travel, photography and art play a special part in my life. Twitter: @iamnx2u
Comments:
Bobbi:
Excellent post!
Jenya:
Bobbi, thanks for reading!
David Roberts:
Very good! Interesting that the UK has gradually become one of the least religious countries around – apparently in contrast to the USA. Most Brits jsut can’t be bothered. When you say “Catholicism has almost as many followers as Islam and some may say it belongs under Christianity but we won’t get into it here.”, does that mean that Catholics aren’t included in the “Christianity…nearly 2.04 billion followers” figure? If so, since there’s no doubt that Catholicism is a major branch of Christianity, the Christian figure should be about 3 billion.
Jenya:
David, you brought up an interesting point. Based on what I have found, the number 2.4 billion does include Catholics. However, I am not 100 per cent sure. I think I am going to revise that sentence :-).
Scott Graydon:
An interesting article, thank you for publishing it.
Richard:
Jenya,
You wrote: “…it also takes faith to believe that there is no God,…”. This is wrong. Not believing in gods or goddesses is a matter of logic, of reason, not faith. Religious belief is irrational and therefore must fall back on faith. Religious faith obviates the need for free thought; in many cases throughout history religion has suppressed free thought. “Faith” is the common denominator in all religions, but not in free thought. Free thinkers think; we rely on observation of the world around us and draw conclusions based on those observations using logic.
What might be interesting to see in Russia today is a study of the link between religious belief (i.e., Russian Orthodoxy) and Russian nationalism. What role does the Russian Orthodox Church play in establishing and reinforcing Russian nationalism?
С лучшими пожеланиями,
Ричард
Jenya:
@Richard Richard, thank you very much for your feedback. I respect your point of view but I have to politely disagree :-). I use atheism in contrast with Intelligent Design, not religion. Take me for example: I am not a religious person but I believe in Intelligent Design. I believe that there is collective consciousness, the source, the matrix – in other words, something beyond our carnal life that is at the heart of all creation. I do not believe that there is nothing beyond this life. As far as human logic goes, I think it is far from being reliable. Human logic can be flawed, it is based on what we can see, feel, and measure, but what happens when our logical assumptions are wrong, when the measurements are off? Human science is also far from perfection, it has many gaping holes, unproven and disproved theories, so in my opinion many scientific theories take just as much faith as religion. Why do many physical laws fall apart at quantum level? There is so much we do not know… I think humanity is still in the early stages of self-discovery :-). As exciting and interesting as this topic is to me, I think it is too broad for the comment section.
As for Russian nationalism and Russian Orthodox Church, I really do not have any data to give a cohesive answer. It would be an interesting research topic!
С наилучшими пожеланиями,
Женя
Richard:
Jenya,
I agree that human reasoning is far from perfect – the existence of religion is proof of that. Humanity is just beginning to discover who we are and where we fit in in the Universe. That’s the joy of science: we make mistakes and we learn as we go. There is no guide book. The great Russian engineer and physicist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky would, I think, love to be alive in this time of space exploration and discovery.
Anyway, I think we may have certain disagreements regarding the nature of the Universe but we can agree to disagree. It is a fairly big topic! 😉
I really enjoy your posts, Jenya! Could I request a post on the Soviet/Russian space program? Russians have achieved a lot in both manned and unmanned space exploration, it would be a fascinating post!
Cheers,
Richard
Jenya:
Richard, thanks again! I will definitely add space exploration to my list of future topics 🙂 .
David Roberts:
Richard, there is a difference between “believing that there is no god” and “not believing that there is a god”. Since it can’t be absolutely proved either way the former is based on faith and the latter is the more scientific sceptical position.
Richard:
David, since Christians/Jews/Muslims invented their god it’s up to them to prove that he/she/it exists. The burden of proof is on the religious believers and religious faith is a cop out. As for me, my faith is in Humanity, not an invisible man in the sky.
Jenya:
Richard, don’t you think that believing in an invisible man in the sky is a great oversimplification? I like the idea of everpresent global consciousness 🙂 .
Richard:
Jenya, religion itself is an oversimplification of life so why not “an invisible man in the sky”?
Hm, an “everpresent global consciousness”…do you mean the NSA? 😉
Jenya:
Richard, good comback!
David Roberts:
Richard, if you’ll pardon the expression, I think you and I are largely singling from the same hymn sheet. To me the atheist belief seems more probable than the theist beliefs, but I don’t think there is any need to invoke a “burden of proof”. As a scientist I believe that mathematical theorems like “the difference between the squares of any two odd numbers is exactly divisible by 8” can be proved, but otherwise nothing is absolutely proved, although some things, like evolution, have a lot of evidence supporting them.
Jenya:
David, я с Вами абсолютно согласна 🙂 .
Richard:
Спасибо, Женя! 🙂
Richard:
David, I understand what you’re saying. My attitude towards religious people used to be “live and let live”. As Thomas Jefferson said: “But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no God”.
However over the past ten or twenty years I’ve noticed that religious people have become more and more aggressive in their efforts to proselytize the heathens (now there’s a word with many meanings!). We’re living in a very religious world and that’s not good for free thinkers. Don’t believe me? Just ask Avijit Roy – oh, too late, the religious folks hacked him to death. Yes, I know, that’s an extreme case. You’re English, I take it. I’m Canadian and in both of our countries overt religious belief is frowned upon. That can change in a heartbeat. Religion is like a fever that spreads if left unchallenged. If someone tells me that “God” exists then they better be able to provide proof.
I can’t prove that “God” doesn’t exist any more than someone else can prove that “God” does exist. But if someone knocks on my door or stops me in the street to try to convert me or if they drag their Bronze Age belief system into the political arena, then, yes, I demand burden of proof from them!
David Roberts:
You’re right Richard, ya anglichanin. i agree that militant religion has caused and continues to cause a lot of misery in the world. But militant atheism doesn’t have very good track record either. For me, the “religion”/Weltansschauung expressed in John Lennon’s “hymn”, Imagine, takes some beating.
Richard:
David,
Human beings can be violent. Maybe it all boils down to who you’d rather be hacked to death by. Personally, I’d rather be hacked to death by an otherwise rational person who’s just having a bad day instead of a crazed religious lunatic, it would somehow seems less insulting to my intelligence.
A lot of political ideologies (Fascism, Naziism, Bolshevism, Maoism, the list goes on ad nauseam) are religions in themselves. I take a broader definition of the word “religion”.
Во всяком случае, здесь изучаем русский язык, несмотря на нашу интересную беседу!
Jenya, I apologise for highjacking your post.
I’m still looking forward to a post on Soviet/Russian space achievements!
Мир/Peace,
Richard
Jenya:
Ребята, ничего страшного, я даже рада! Говорите на здоровье!!!
Transparent Language:
Comment via email:
Thanks.
This is of particular interest to me as a Protestant Christian with a deep love for Russia.
Good job
Lewis Clementson
Virginia, USA
Lewis:
Thanks.
This is of particular interest to me as a Protestant Christian with a deep love for Russia.
Good job
Lewis Clementson
Virginia, USA
Jenya:
Lewis, you are welcome. We post new articles every week, feel free to check it out 🙂 .
Andra:
I have been looking through your blog posts and came upon this one from a few years ago. I have been considering taking Russian language primarily because I am Eastern Orthodox Christian and there are a lot of Russian Orthodox Christians who attend my church. I realize this might be quite an atypical pathway into learning a second language but I have learned a lot about Russia in terms of culture through these individuals and the priest is now also including Russian language into the liturgy. I do not know if I am setting myself up to fail due to being unrealistic about this?
Thank you for any comments on this.