What do Russians believe?

The portal "Religion and Media" publishes, with a link to the website of the Yuri Levada Analytical Center, the results of a sociological survey of Russians conducted by the center on their attitude to faith in God, in the existence of heaven and hell, in miracles, etc. (December 20-23, 2003, sample size - 1600 people; see also the results of a similar study conducted in the USA).

The questions were divided into two groups. The answers were distributed as follows.

1. Do you believe in the existence...

God: I believe - 73%; I do not believe - 19%; find it difficult to answer - 8%.

Paradise: I believe - 46%; I do not believe - 35%; find it difficult to answer - 19%.

Angels: I believe - 53%; I do not believe - 32%; I find it difficult to answer - 15%.

Ada: I believe - 44%; I do not believe - 38%; find it difficult to answer - 18%.

Devil: I believe - 44%; I do not believe - 40%; find it difficult to answer - 16%.

Witches: I believe - 38%; I do not believe - 45%; find it difficult to answer - 17%.

1. Do you believe in...

Religious miracles: I believe - 44%; I do not believe - 44%; find it difficult to answer - 12%.

Ghosts: I believe - 25%; I do not believe - 61%; find it difficult to answer - 14%.

Astrology: I believe - 42%; I do not believe - 43%; I find it difficult to answer - 15%.

Reincarnation (transmigration of souls): I believe - 26%; I do not believe - 57%; find it difficult to answer - 17%.

UFO: believe - 34%; I do not believe - 48%; find it difficult to answer - 18%.

Comparison of these results with the answers of Russians to the question about their religion gives the following picture.

The first group: “Every eighteenth person who called himself Orthodox does not believe in God. Among Muslims, there are five times less of them. Approximately every fourth Orthodox and every third Muslim surveyed do not believe in the existence of heaven. About a quarter of Orthodox and almost half of Muslims do not believe in the existence of hell. Almost half of the Orthodox and about a third of the Muslims believe in witches."

The second group: “Religion determines the choice of answers to the second group of questions to a lesser extent. But still, slightly more than half of the Orthodox and about a third of the Muslims believe in religious miracles. The Orthodox believe in ghosts twice as often as the respondents who called themselves atheists. Orthodox Christians believe in astrology somewhat more than Muslims, but one and a half times more often than atheists. Orthodox believe in the transmigration of souls one and a half times more often than both Muslims and atheists. Muslims and Atheists.

"Religion and Media" also published the results of a study by Zogby International, dedicated to the views of believers from different countries to a possible punishment for non-compliance with religious canons.

Sources

• What do Americans and Russians believe in? // Religion and Mass Media. 2004. April 20.
• Most believers believe that God will not punish them // Religion and Mass Media. 2004. April 23.