Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Russians becoming less zealous believers - poll

"Fifty-six percent of Russians consider themselves to be Orthodox believers, according to a poll of 2,000 respondents conducted by the Yury Levada Analytical Center in July. One-third of respondents said they considered themselves atheists, and the remainder said they belonged to other religions. A total of 59% of respondents said they never attended church services, up 4% since 2005, and only 2% said they attended church every week and 4% every month, a 1-2% decrease over the same period."

Interfax, August 8. 2007
There's a lot of talk about the religious backlash in Russia, but if 33 per cent are still Atheists there, then that's a percentage which is quite high. And 2 per cent weekly church attendance is not exactly a backlash.
It's quite natural that the Orthodox church regains some territory. After all, the Communists did not really promote Atheism and reason. They were just content with banning religion, something that surely don't work in the short run.

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