This is a response to an article by Olga Kvirkvelia on sociological criteria for confessional affiliation. Yu. Ryzhov, agreeing with O. Kvirkvelia that the number of "truly Orthodox" is very small and that there is an expansion of Orthodox ideology among politicians, objects to "the statement of the author of the article that self-identification of the respondents is just their "subjective perception" , not related to the "real situation". Yu.

Authorities in the city of Pavlov Posad (Moscow region) are trying to disrupt a seminar organized by the Moscow Buddhist community Dzogchen community "Rinchen-ling". It was going to be held on June 9 at the camp "Pine Forest" under the guidance of Professor Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. As soon as it became known about the seminar (held here, by the way, not for the first time), inspections of various government services began on the territory of the camp.

On May 21, the newspaper "NG-Religions" published an interview with Oleg Mironov, whose tenure as Commissioner for Human Rights is coming to an end. In particular, he expressed his attitude to the current law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" (1997). According to O.Mironov, some of the provisions of the law do not comply with European standards in the field of human rights.

The author, head of the religious studies editorial office of the Great Russian Encyclopedia, associate professor of the Department of Religious Studies of the RAGS, an employee of the Orthodox Encyclopedia Church Research Center, tries to show the justification for using the term "ethnic religiosity" in sociological, historical and political science contexts. A.

In the Verkhotursky district of the Sverdlovsk region, construction began on a temple in honor of All Saints in the Siberian Land who shone. The initiator of the construction was the Commander-in-Chief of the Internal Troops of Russia, General of the Army Vyacheslav Tikhomirov. According to Pravoslavnaya Gazeta, the construction of the new church is carried out exclusively by the soldiers of the internal troops. There are currently 12 people working at the construction site.

In May, the trial of a group of teenagers who attacked the temple of the local church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians (SDA) in Cheboksary and killed an elderly watchman ended. The Adventist community insisted on the version of the murder for religious reasons.

Alexei Malashenko, Deputy Chairman of the Academic Council of the Carnegie Moscow Center, Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Head of the Department of Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, speaking at the round table "What Islam means for Russia" at the Russian Cultural Foundation on May 22, spoke in favor of the main criterion for determining the number of Muslims in Russia consider the self-identification of

The Public Opinion Foundation conducted another poll before Easter on April 19-20 in 44 regions of the Russian Federation. It turned out that 83% of Russians were going to celebrate Easter (in 1998 this figure was 80%, and in 2002 - 85%), while only 59% identified themselves as Orthodox, and more than 30% do not consider themselves believers. Here are some of the results of this study. Are you going to celebrate Easter? I'm going - 83%; Not going - 13%; Difficult to answer - 4%.

The author, head of the "Faith and Thought" center, candidate of historical sciences, argues with the provisions of the article by sociologist Yulia Sinelina, according to which, the main criterion for confessional affiliation in sociological research should be the self-identification of respondents. O. Kvirkvelia believes that such an approach is far from impartial and does not allow obtaining an objective picture. The main thesis of Y.

The data of the next poll of citizens of the country about their attitude to religion, conducted by the Agency for Regional Political Studies (ARPI) has been published. 1,600 people were interviewed by personal interviews in 84 settlements in 28 regions of the Russian Federation. Below are the main results of the study. What religion do you profess? Orthodoxy - 70%; Islam - 4%; Other religions - 2%; None - 23%; Refused to answer - 1%. Men are more likely to be atheists.

Anatoly Vilkov, head of the Department for the Preservation of Cultural Property under the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station that the Russian Ministry of Culture supports the idea of ​​returning to Russia and transferring the iconostasis of the 16th century, which previously belonged to the Solovetsky Monastery, to the Russian Orthodox Church.

On May 27, the site "Religion and Media" published Sergei Gradirovsky's speech at the round table "What Islam means for Russia", which was held by the Russian Cultural Foundation on May 22, 2003 (A more detailed article on the same topic was published in the online magazine " State and Anthropoflow" in July 2003) In it, he again explained the main provisions of the concept of "Russian Islam" he defended.