{"id":11921,"date":"2019-09-10T07:13:46","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T07:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=11921"},"modified":"2019-09-11T23:49:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T23:49:00","slug":"autocomplete-question-do-russians-believe-in-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/autocomplete-question-do-russians-believe-in-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Autocomplete Question: “Do Russians Believe in God?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, to make sure my blog posts stay topical, I draw inspiration from popular search queries. Some of you might have seen the autocomplete interview<\/a> series, where celebrities answer the most-searched questions about themselves. This time, I typed “Do Russians,” and “believe in God” was one of the suggestions. I will attempt to answer this question using recent surveys of attitudes to religion.<\/p>\n

\"Orthodox

Image by Peter H<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Faith as Part of Identity<\/h2>\n

My main source is a Pew Research Center survey<\/a> of Europeans’ opinions on religion and national identity. In this post, I will use the word “Russians” to talk about all people who live in Russia (\u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438\u044f\u0301\u043d\u0435<\/strong>, as opposed to ethnic Russians, \u0440\u0443\u0301\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0435<\/strong>) regardless of their ethnic background. According to the survey (\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0301\u0441<\/strong>), 75 percent of Russians said they believed in God (\u0432\u0435\u0301\u0440\u044f\u0442 \u0432 \u0411\u043e\u0301\u0433\u0430<\/strong>), while 15 percent did not. The majority of respondents (71 percent) identified as Orthodox Christian (\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043e\u0441\u043b\u0430\u0301\u0432\u043d\u044b\u0435<\/strong> \u0445\u0440\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0438\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0435<\/strong>). Interestingly, this number has gone up considerably since 1991<\/a>, when only 37 percent identified as Orthodox.<\/p>\n

Nine in ten Orthodox Russians have been baptized (adjective: \u043a\u0440\u0435\u0449\u0451\u043d\u044b\u0435<\/strong>), along with 44 percent of religiously unaffiliated Russians.<\/p>\n

The majority of Russians (57 percent) said that being Christian was important to be truly Russian, but 40 percent said it was not. The publisher also mentioned that Russia has a sizeable Muslim (plural noun: \u043c\u0443\u0441\u0443\u043b\u044c\u043c\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0435<\/strong>) minority.<\/p>\n

\"Quran

Photo by Utsman Media<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Practice What You Preach?<\/h2>\n

Just how important is religion to Russians? The numbers were not as high as you might expect based on the share of self-identified believers. 15 percent said it was very important, and 17 percent reported praying daily (verb: \u043c\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0301\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/strong>, to pray). Among Orthodox Christians, only 6 percent attended church<\/a> (\u0446\u0435\u0301\u0440\u043a\u043e\u0432\u044c<\/strong>) weekly, 30 percent monthly or yearly, and 61 percent never.<\/p>\n

In terms of observing Christian rites, only 30 percent took communion (verb: \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0447\u0430\u0449\u0430\u0301\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/strong>) and only 27 percent fasted (verb: \u043f\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438\u0301\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/strong>) during Lent (\u043f\u043e\u0441\u0442<\/strong>). Only 14 percent read scripture (\u0421\u0432\u044f\u0449\u0435\u0301\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u041f\u0438\u0441\u0430\u0301\u043d\u0438\u0435<\/strong>) outside of church.<\/p>\n

Compared with the Christian populations in Russia, Kazakhstan and Bulgaria, Muslims are generally more religiously observant; higher shares among Muslims than Christians in these countries say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives, report daily prayer and say they attend religious services at least weekly.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Pew report also pointed out that Russians have retained some pre-Christian beliefs. For example, 60 percent said they believe in fate (\u0441\u0443\u0434\u044c\u0431\u0430\u0301<\/strong>), and 56 percent believed in evil eye<\/a> (\u0441\u0433\u043b\u0430\u0437<\/strong>). That can also be surmised from the superstitions<\/a> that survive to this day in Russia. Perhaps the icons<\/a> (\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0301\u043d\u044b<\/strong>) that 87 percent of respondents said they had in their house are another sign of this religious syncretism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As is often the case when we talk about social trends, the answer to “Do Russians believe in God?” is complex. Yes, it appears that most Russians think of themselves as religious, yet not many actually practice their faith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Orthodox

Sometimes, to make sure my blog posts stay topical, I draw inspiration from popular search queries. Some of you might have seen the autocomplete interview series, where celebrities answer the most-searched questions about themselves. This time, I typed “Do Russians,” and “believe in God” was one of the suggestions. I will attempt to answer this…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":11930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1030,385605,117562],"class_list":["post-11921","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-christianity","tag-religion-in-russia","tag-russian-orthodox-church"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t