Religion and politics in Russia

1
Religion and politics in Russia

• IAPC-Barcelona, 39th World Conference
• A Struggle for identity

2
CONTENTS

• Introduction.3
• METHODOLOGY ... 4
• How religious are contemporary Russian
  citizens?.....................................
  5
• Religious values in the Russian mass
  consciousness .10
• Religious organizations and their participation
  in the political process ..14
• Moral aspects of politics .
  ...19
• Religion as the way of promoting
  politics..22
• Conclusions24

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Introduction

• In the core of political behavior, as well as of
  any other public activity, lay the basic society
  values. These values are formed by the world
  outlook of the citizens and such is based either
  on religious or philosophical postulates.
• Thus, we can define two aspects in which religion
  affects political sphere of society life

• Direct by influencing political processes of
  religious organizations (Church) and
  religion-based communities.
• Indirect through attitudes which form the
  system of values.

The goal of our research is to analyze religious
influence on the political sphere of contemporary
Russian society, as well as to evaluate further
development of this aspect.
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METHODOLOGY
The outlines given in the presentation were
gathered as a result of All-Russia
representative surveys by Bashkirova and
partners in 2004 2006.

• TARGETED GROUP Russian citizens
• METHOD face-to-face interviews by random route
• SAMPLE N1500
• REGIONS 7 federal districts

International projects World Values Survey and
European Values Survey were used as a
reference.
5
How religious are contemporary Russian citizens?
6
How religious are contemporary Russian citizens?
Do you belong to a religious confession?
n1500
7
How religious are contemporary Russian citizens?
Apart from weddings, funerals and christenings,
how often do you attend religious services these
days?
Decreased by 2 times for the past 6 years
n1500
8
How religious are the modern Russian citizens?
Apart from weddings, funerals and christenings,
about how often do you attend religious services
these days?(Among the respondents who consider
themselves to be Orthodox)
14,7 Orthodox routinely attend religious
services
n1500
9
Attitude of Russians towards religion
To which statement on the role of religion in
your life will you agree? To You the religion
means (Because respondents could give several
answers the sum of meanings is mot equal to 100).
n1500
10
Religion values in Russian mass consciousness
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Values of Russians

• The results of the World Values Survey conducted
  in 1999 allowed to build the following hierarchy
  of values for Russians

n1500
12
Christian values
To what extent do you agree or disagree with the
following statement Christian values are at the
heart of modern Russian values?
44
44
n1500
13
Christian values
Which values in your opinion are Christian and
which arent?
n1500
14
Religious organizations and their participation
in the political process
15
Trust to public institutions
To what extent do you trust state and public
institutions?

• ????? ?????????????? ?????? ??????????
  ???????????? ????? ???????????? ? ?????????????
  ?????????? ????.

n1500
16
Influence of religious leaders on politics
How much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement Religious leaders should
not influence government?
Presently the respondents tend to give univocal
answers more frequently
n1500
17
Influence of religious leaders on politics
How much do you agree or disagree with the
following statement Religious leaders should
not influence how people vote in elections
Presently the respondents tend to give univocal
answers more frequently
n1500
18
The role of church in society
To your opinion, which important issues of
society life can be discussed and solved with
participation of religious organizations
(Church)? (Because respondents could give several
answers the sum of meanings is not equal to 100).
n1500
19
Moral aspects of politics
20
Moral aspects of politics
How much do you agree or disagree to the
following statement Politicians disbelieving in
God are misfit for public office
Presently the respondents tend to give univocal
answers more frequently
n1500
21
Moral aspects of politics
To what extent do you agree or disagree to the
statement It would be better for Russia to have
more truly religious people in power.
Presently the respondents tend to give univocal
answers more frequently
n1500
22
Religion as the way of promoting politics
23
Religion as the way of promoting politics
Religion as the way of promoting politics
The use of religious factor for increasing the
support level of state power
Islamic factor
The use of religious factors for influencing the
electoral behavior of pollers
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Conclusions

• The majority of Russians consider themselves to
  be religious. The most widespread confession of
  Russia is the Orthodox Christianity. The number
  of church members (those regularly attending
  services, fasting, etc.) totals 15.
• The rating of trust of the Russian Orthodox
  Church is one of the highest among major state
  and public institutions - 70,3.
• The most significant traditional values in the
  Russian society are family and work - in the
  minds of people they are true values of Christian
  character.
• Russian citizens oppose the direct interference
  of religious organizations with the politics.
  Democracy along with other elements of the state
  structure is perceived as clearly secular sphere
  of social life.
• The Russians see the main public mission of
  Church as cultural development of society and
  education of the younger generation.
• Russian citizens would like to see religiously
  convinced politicians in goverment for they
  perceive it as a guarantee of their honesty and
  morality.
• Thus, the religion is perceived as an intimate
  aspect of Russian life however its basic role in
  the political life of Russia is to strengthen the
  morals, honesty and decency.

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THANK YOU!