Religion, the Church, and Public Opinion

• Published in: Sociological research 1998-09, Vol.37 (5), p.35-48
• Main Author: Dubin, Boris V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1061-0154; 2328-5184
• DOI: 10.2753/SOR1061-0154370535

The "Orthodox revival," the "second Christianization" of post-Soviet Russia, and other clichés in our media require empirical verification, of course. The findings of representative surveys regularly conducted by VTsIOM [the Russian Center for Public Opinion Research] since 1989 enable us to analyze the quantitative aspect of the problem (fluctuation in the number of believers over several years, frequency of church attendance, observance of basic rituals), as well as to trace the connection between Russians' stated religious beliefs, on the one hand, and their value orientations on other levels (ethnic stereotypes, ideas about the past, political attitudes), on the other. At issue is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC): the number of believers in the regular VTsIOM surveys who belong to other Christian denominations and to non-Christian faiths falls within the limits of statistical reliability, that is, statistically permissible error; Islam has the highest number of believers (about 4 percent), while the others do not reach even 1 percent. Hence other faiths will be excluded from what follows, and the terms "believers" and "Orthodox" will be used provisionally as synonyms. 1