Russia returns to religion, but not church

Russians Return to Religion, But Not Church

A new study by Pew Research shows that the number of Russians who identify themselves as “religious” has increased in the past several years. However, the data also stipulates the return to religion has not affected church attendance. Only about one-in-ten Russians appear to participate in any religious service more than once a month. Reflecting on the results, the Religion & Public Life Project writes,

“According to the ISSP, six-in-ten Russian adults (61%) surveyed in 1991 identified as religiously unaffiliated, while about a third said they were Orthodox Christians (31%). Over the next 17 years, those percentages virtually flipped. By 2008, roughly seven-in-ten Russians identified as Orthodox Christians (72%), while about one-in-five were religiously unaffiliated (18%). During the same period, there also was a modest increase in the share of the Russian public identifying with religions other than Orthodox Christianity, including Islam, Protestant Christianity and Roman Catholicism”

Orthodox Christianity has long been the dominate religion in Russia. This changed dramatically after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the advent of communist ideology. State-sponsored atheism began to overshadow Christian faith, and during the Soviet period many Christians faced unbelievable persecution under government laws. Most Orthodox Christians went underground, hiding their faith behind closed doors. Today, religious freedom is once more available to the people of Russia, but the church still struggles to repair the damage it sustained under communist rule.

Currently, it is unknown if this increase in religious belief has to do with a resurgence of long-held faith, or a new and honest passion for Christ.

http://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/russians-return-to-religion-but-not-church.html

[TBC: Concerning the Orthodox Church, Dave Hunt pointed out in the April 1997 newsletter, "Eastern Orthodoxy is the close twin of Catholicism. Richard John Neuhaus, Lutheran pastor-turned-Catholic priest and chief architect (with Charles Colson) of 'Evangelicals and Catholics Together' (ECT), declares, "The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are in essential agreement on doctrine, ministerial order and the sacraments." ⁴ Geoff Thomas, in the British paper, The Evangelical Times , agrees that the Orthodox Church's 'central beliefs are virtually identical to those of Roman Catholicism except that it rejects papal infallibility. Its priests may marry but its bishops are chosen from the ranks of the celibate.'

Orthodoxy and Catholicism trust in the same unbiblical, perpetually virgin and all-powerful Mary. For example, Traditions about the Earthly Life of the Most Holy Mother of God , published by a Russian Orthodox monastery in 1903, has a sinless Mary from age three serving for 14 years in the Holy of Holies in the temple (pp 55-56), fed by an angel (p 58) and giving birth to Jesus at age 15 (p 199). This 'Queen of Heaven' inspired the Gospels and Epistles but was too humble to take credit. The first icon of Mary appeared miraculously in a temple in Lyddia which Peter and John had built in her honor (p 173).]