Is there a need to inquire into the faith of Russians? This question is being discussed once again ahead of the All-Russian census that will be conducted from the 14th to the 25th of October. The religious leaders support including the question about religious confession in the questionnaire since they consider this information is crucial, and at the same time, they do not insist on placing the question on the list.
Last time, Russians answered a question about their faith during the census of 1937. Reports say that Josef Stalin personally included it in the questionnaire to know how successful the five-year campaign against “religious superstition” was. At the time, 53.3 percent of the population of the Soviet Union admitted that they were believers, while this figure was about 70 percent in villages. The results were considered unsatisfactory and classified as secret.
The question about religious belief has not been included in the 2010 census, although it is interesting to know how many Russians consider themselves believers. The officials of various confessions, who consider that opinion polls about the number of the faithful in Russia underestimate the real situation, are showing keen interest in this. The census should show a real picture since all citizens will be involved in it. However, the question about faith might put the Russians in a difficult situation, insist religious leaders.
People in the country were not identified on the religious basis for 70 years. Religious life has revived only since the 90s, says Deputy Chairman of the Synodical Department for Cooperation between the Church and Society of the Moscow Patriarchate Georgy Roschin.
“Perhaps, it will be expedient to educate people before raising the question about their fait,” says Georgy Roschin. “Understandably, church goers and the truly faithful of one or the other religion know how to answer the question. Although the majority of the citizens of the country consider themselves as the followers of Orthodoxy, Judaism, Moslem or Buddhism, they cannot be considered truly faithful to the full extent. This creates certain difficulties in determining to which confession a believer belongs,” Georgy Roschin said.
It’s very important to know the confession of Russians from the standpoint of ethnology and general development of the country. The census could reveal the real percentage of faithful of traditional confessions and other religious organizations in the country.
Time will show whether the question about faith will be included in the next census in ten years. It’s unclear how to formulate the question now. In fact, none of the traditional confessions in Russia has requested the Federal State Statistics Service to include the question about faith in the questionnaire.
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