Russia is |
According to its Constitution, the Russian Federation is a secular state. Article 28 of the Constitution states the following: “Everyone shall be guaranteed the freedom of conscience, the freedom of religion, including the right to profess individually or together with other any religion or to profess no religion at all, to freely choose, possess and disseminate religious and other views and act according to them.” Federal Law On Freedom of Conscience and on Religious Associations, signed on September 26, 1997 No. 125-FZ also affirms “the right of each person… to equality before the law irrespective of religious affiliation and convictions.” Since the Soviet Council for Religious Affairs affiliated with the USSR Council of Ministers ceased to exist after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there has been no government agency in Russia responsible for monitoring the activities of religious organizations. The country’s largest religious denominations are Christianity (Russian Orthodoxy being much more popular than Catholicism and Protestantism), Islam and Buddhism. Part of the population consider themselves atheists.
Orthodoxy
Russia is a multi-religious country. However, the majority of believers belong to the Orthodox Christian denomination. In 2000, research conducted by the Russian pollster Public Opinion Foundation showed that 58 % of the population identified themselves as Orthodox. If we look at the ethnic and the religious maps of Russia, we’ll see that the predominant religion of the territory where Russians constitute the majority is Orthodoxy. However, it is the main religion not only for Russians, but also for some other peoples. Most Belarusians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Moldovans, Karelians, Izhorians, Votes, Veps, Sami, Komi, Komi-Permyak, Udmurts, Besermyan, Mordvins, Mari, Kryashens, Nağaybäk, Chuvashs, Ossetians, Abkhaz, Georgians, Gypsies, Altay, Telengits, Tubalars, Chelkans, Kumandins, Teleuts, Mansi, Khanty, Selkups, Enets, Kets, Yughs, Chulyms, Shors, Khakas, Tofalars, Yakuts, Dolgans, Evenks, Evens, Negidals, Nanais, Ulchs, Oroks, Orochs, Kamchadals, Itelmens, Koryaks, Yukaghirs, Chuvans and Aleuts are also Orthodox. Some of the peoples living in Siberia and Russian Far East, for example, Khakas, converted to the Orthodox faith, but didn’t give up the previously held pagan practices, which led to the occurrence of religious syncretism. The majority of Russian Orthodox congregations (12,615 out of 12,702, or 99.3 %; the number of the registered parishes, communities and organizations belonging to various denominations are provided as on January 1, 2008) belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. In May 2007, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia restored the canonical link with the Russian Orthodox Church, and now it is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church. The churches agreed on a five-year transition period for the full regularization of the status of former parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia on the canonical territory of the Moscow Patriarchate, through their entering into the jurisdiction of the local ruling bishops.
Islam
There are 3,815 Muslim organizations registered in Russia. Muslims constitute a large proportion of the population of Russia. This proportion is especially significant among the peoples of the North Caucasus and the Volga Region. These include Kabardins, Cherkess, Adyghe, Shapsugs, Abazas, Chechens, Ingush, Avars, Andis, Botlikhs, Godoberi, Karata, Akhvakhs, Bagvalals, Chamalals, Tindis, Tsez, Hinukh, Khwarshi, Bezhta, Hunzibs, Archi, Laks, Dargins, Kubachi, Kaitag, Tabasaran, Lezgians, Aghuls, Rutuls and Tsakhurs. Islam is also the main religion of the Turkic peoples: Tatars, Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Nogais, Kumyks, Karachays, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Azerbaijanis, Turks, Meskhetian Turks, Turkmens, Uzbeks, Uygurs, and Kyrgyz. Other peoples who practice Islam are Tajiks, Persians, Central Asian Gypsies, Tat, Talysh, Kurds, Pashtuns and Hemshins. If we consider only those citizens who identify themselves as believers, 20 to 25 % of Ossetians belong to Islam (mostly Digor), as well as 16 % of the Abkhaz people, 5 % of the Georgians (Adjarians, Ingiloys), and a small Muslim community of a few hundred native Kalmyks that lives in the Turkmen District of the Stavropol territory. Islam was also spread among the Mari, Udmurts, Chuvashs, who live close to Tatars, today, however, the Islamic part of these peoples have assimilated into the Orthodox community.
Islam dominates in the North Caucasus, north of the Main Caucasian Ridge, where there are two major Islam territories. The first one includes Chechens, Ingush, and Daghestani, and the second one – Kabardins, Balkars and Karachays. There are no such dense Muslim communities in the Volga Region and the Urals, where Muslims live alongside with Orthodox Christians. In other parts of the country Muslim communities are rather small in number.
Buddhism
Apart from Christianity and Islam, there is one more world religion represented in Russia. It is Buddhism with 200 registered organizations. The majority of Buddhists belongs to the Vajrayana Buddhism (the school of the Dalai Lama). All four major schools of Vajrayana are represented in Russia: namely Gelug, Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma, however only Gelug is widely spread in the country. Most Eastern Buryats, Kalmyks and Tuvans belong to this school. Representatives of other Vajrayana schools appeared as a result of Buddhist proselytism in Moscow (all four school are represented in the Russian capital), Kemerovo (Nyingma), Saint Petersburg, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Novosibirsk and Tomsk (Karma Kagyu within the Kagyu school). There are also not numerous representatives of Mahayana (Zen Buddhists in St. Petersburg, Tula, Ulyanovsk and Nichiren Buddhists in Moscow) and Theravada (in St. Petersburg), as well as marginal Buddhist cults (Won Buddhism in Moscow, Aum Shinrikyo in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod).
Judaism
The 286 Jew organizations, which represent different movements of Judaism (Orthodox Jews, Hasidic Jews who are similar to Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews), are mostly concentrated in the large cities, especially in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. There are also Jewish communities in Bryansk, Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Nalchik, Makhachkala, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Perm, Samara, Saratov, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk and Birobidzhan (Jewish Autonomous Area). Karaites, members of a Jewish movement that is small in number and denies the authority of Talmud, live in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and some other cities.
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