Cosmos or kingdom of heaven?
It would seem - how can religious themes be so relevant in the 21st century? After all, freedom of conscience has become an inalienable human right, including in Russia. What are the disputes and conflicts? But no, free society with this conclusion hurried.
Here is a recent example: in some cities, as their residents noticed, posters appeared with strange content and mystical-religious themes: portraits of the royal family (different variations), the text “Holy royal martyrs, pray God for us and for the revival of Holy Russia” and the message that at that time "... the Tsarist Family was ritually murdered."
Poster "Ritual murder of the royal family." What kind of ignoramus wrote it, is the question?
The church and the authorities stated that they have no relation to this advertising campaign. Which is completely understandable. We will not even say that in accordance with the version of the majority of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, this was a political assassination. A completely different point of view belongs not to the clergy. An example is the opinion of only the church writer and cleric of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin), who is of the opinion that the execution in Yekaterinburg was precisely a ritual murder. Theories about the world Jewish backstage and the conspiracy of Kabbalist Jews are even more marginal. In addition, ritual murder is said in the book of M.K. Diterikhs "Murder of the Tsar's Family and members of the House of Romanov in the Urals", in the records of the monarchist, investigator N.A. Sokolov and facts from the book of the British journalist Robert Wilton's The Last Days of the Romanovs. Needless to say, all these works have nothing to do with science and facts, but are directly related to a sick fantasy, a penchant for mysticism, and for those reading, to being affected by sensation with a low level of scientific erudition.
But to ask where did this come from in a country that 70 has set and implemented for years the task of forming a fundamental system worldview? Why suddenly around 20% of the population believe that the sun revolves around the earth, and not vice versa?
It is possible that the idea of religious education and morality, understood exclusively in the religious context, replacing knowledge and fact with faith and miracle turned out to be for our society not a path to the light, but to mysticism and superstition.
Yes, this topic in society is not very popular now. But it is worth bearing in mind the fact that the Russian Federation is a secular state in which millions of non-believers live, who are guaranteed by the Constitution the right to remain so. As believers have the right ...
Two social institutions express the worldview of those and others: the church and science. State institutions and civil society, their relationship to these institutions can shape the vector of development, determining the future of the people.
What about the choice of Russia?
In order to have influence in society, a social institution always needs an economic and legal basis. Such a base for the church was created already in 1990-ies: from December 31 1991 No. 135-рп “On the return of buildings and religious literature to the Russian Orthodox Church”; from 31 December 1991, No. 135-rp "On the return of buildings and religious literature to the Russian Orthodox Church"; from 31 December 1991, No. 135-rp "On the return of buildings and religious literature to the Russian Orthodox Church." The question remains about ownership and the exercise of this right.
In 2000, the jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, in which he noted that the process of the return of church property in Russia "was not only not completed, but had not really begun," and called for the transfer of churches, icons, shrines, premises for Sunday schools, theological schools, shelters, regional church institutions, as well as land for the monastic household economy.
The modern church is a full-fledged social institution, it is given including powerful means of propaganda. According to the Department of Justice in the Penza region, 2002 religious organizations operated on 297 for the year, including 191 Orthodox (64%), 59 Muslim (20%), 30 Protestant (10%) and 2 Jewish (0,6%). By 2016, their number increased to 468, including 64% Orthodox, 20% Muslim, 10% Protestant and 0,6% Jewish. All local TV channels, most newspapers and information portals are printed daily. news life of the Orthodox Church. With the support of local TV channels, such as Express and 11 channel, Orthodox television programs are being shot, which are subsequently broadcast on the Soyuz TV channel, which is available in all cable networks of the city.
Calls for national reconciliation through the condemnation of Stalin’s crime and attempts to erect monuments to martyrs and new martyrs who suffered from repression and revolution have also become a trend of recent years. But the question is: can this serve as the basis of national reconciliation? Does this not lead to a split of society due to the polarization of opinions?
And why we don’t recall, for example, the victims of numerous articles for derogation from Orthodoxy and the thought-crime in the Criminal Code of the Russian Empire 1846 (“Code of Punishments”): penal servitude, deprivation of all rights, confiscation of property, imprisonment or a strait-house, 50 -60 strikes with rods, link to the soldiers. Most of the convicts died within a year after the exile, many on the way, and their families, left without a breadwinner, were doomed to begging or also died, especially children. Damage to people by striking with a stick or with a rod, to the extent specified in the Punishment Code, is incompatible with life. The damage to health that was inflicted during the punishment with sticks or rods would not allow the “commoners” to continue to engage in physical labor, the results of which they and their families lived. These are hundreds of thousands of people per century. Not? Is this not the basis of reconciliation?
It is wonderful that we have a law protecting the "feelings of believers." And it’s great that they can express them in different ways, for example, smash art exhibitions (Moscow), attack human rights activists (St. Petersburg), insult people who do not adhere to religious beliefs (Kotlas) and other examples. It is bad that other part of the society does not have such rights. The prosecutor's office does not initiate cases on the relevant facts.
An important aspect of the interaction of the church, state and society continues to be the issue of transferring property to the church. Alas, human rights activists, pickets and all those who disagree with the transfer of objects of state and municipal property to religious organizations can stand with posters of any length, but the result will not be.
Art. 3 FZ of November 30 2010 FN N 327-FZ “On the transfer to religious organizations of religious property in state or municipal property” establishes the rate of gratuitous transfer of state or municipal property to religious organizations to religious organizations. In accordance with Art. 5 of the same law may even be transferred to religious organizations of cultural heritage. The land plot on which religious property is located is transferred to a religious organization as a property free of charge. True, the law states that objects can be transferred into ownership or for free use. And one more important point worth mentioning is that the transfer of religious property from state or municipal property to religious organizations is consistent with the international obligations of the Russian Federation in accordance with the Conclusion of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe No. 193 (1996) at the request of Russia to join the Council of Europe: : “10. The Parliamentary Assembly takes note that ... Russia intends: ... XII) to return the property of religious organizations as soon as possible. "
What are the pickets, but at least a demonstration ...
To initiate the transfer of a religious object to the property of a religious organization, it is necessary to submit an application to the state or municipal authorities to which the object belongs. And agree. Moreover, the list of grounds for refusal is not impressive: 1) this property is not a property of a religious purpose; 2) the purpose of using this property declared by a religious organization does not correspond to the objectives of the activity stipulated by the charter of a religious organization or federal law; 3) an application for the transfer of this property is submitted by a foreign religious organization or its representative office; 4) a court decision that has entered into legal force provides for a different procedure for disposing of this property; 5) this property is in the free use of another religious organization.
Ownership of property, of course, strengthens the position of the social institution, makes it a force with which society and the state should be considered.
And this is very noticeable in the example of the regulation of relations between the state and science. Especially the weakening of science as a social institution became noticeable from the 2013 year, when “without declaring war” the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences was begun, which was not decided to be touched under any authority, and which enjoyed wide autonomy. It does not have such powerful propaganda tools as the ROC has, the number of scientific journals is decreasing, the number of scientific workers is decreasing. The number of scientific societies and organizations, centers of scientific and technical creativity is not even close to the figures we cited earlier for the number of religious organizations in the Penza region. Not to mention television, radio broadcasts, the transfer of municipal and state buildings.
But the deprivation of science as a social institution of property and, as a result, of weight and perspectives in society, is quite obvious. Ownership is the basis of the independence of a social institution. One of the key demands of the reform of the Academy of Sciences was the alienation of the right to property management in favor of a specially created federal agency of scientific organizations (FANO). The RAS resisted, a moratorium was imposed on the alienation of property, President Putin personally supported these demands of the RAS and made promises.
And here is the result of the five-year struggle of the Russian Academy of Sciences for its property: according to the order of the Russian government, "the FANO of Russia is charged with fulfilling the functions and powers of the owner of federal property assigned to these organizations, as well as the powers of the founder of these organizations." FANO is now the owner. Of course, this can be understood: we must somehow compensate for the losses from the transfer of objects and lands to religious organizations.
But there is no change for the better in Russian science. The reaction of the scientific community is overwhelmingly negative, the entire expert and scientific community opposed the reform, pointing out the risks. But civil society and its opinion were not taken into account. But if for the church we are a flock and everything is clear, then the officials are the servants of the people. But no, and here the same backstage policy of making decisions on socially important issues that are strategic for state and national development.
Result: according to the results of research, the RAS reform failed. It remains a chronic underfunding, lack of funds for the purchase of instruments and new modern equipment, the possibility of conducting experimental and expeditionary works, the transfer of objects belonging to the Russian Academy of Sciences from federal to municipal property has plummeted. But after all, the federal budget does not pull science, let alone the municipal one.
There was a scandal even with the land experimental areas in the Timiryazev Academy. You can also pay attention to the problem of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which the land plots that were previously in their gratuitous use cannot fix. At the same time there is construction in progress, since these sites are transferred to the construction organization for the construction of a residential complex. Near bacteriological laboratories and morgue. In addition, the regulatory definition of the boundaries of the construction zone in Akademgorodok does not allow the institutes of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences to improve and develop sanitary zones and the system of protective measures of their institutions.
The ideology of self-financing science is flawed. All over the world, science has government support. And for the humanities, the state is almost the only major investor. But today in Russia there is no department responsible for the development of basic research and defense science. In the basic parameters of the budget for 2016, there is no “science” line at all. Funding for science in the 2016 year reached a historic minimum: 306 billion rubles, which is 20% less than in the 2015 year, and more than three times less than in the 2012 year. FANO Russia in the 2015 year in the allocation of funds for these purposes has implemented the principle of residual funding. With the sequestration of the budget in 2015, the FANO reduced the amount of subsidies for fulfilling the state task for 5% (3 billion rubles), and the amount of financial support for the programs of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences - by 50% (2,7 billion rubles). As a result, the amount of funding for projects of the Presidium Programs of the Russian Academy of Sciences, carried out in such strategic priority areas as research in the interests of the development of the Arctic region, defense and security, mathematical modeling, and medical subjects, was reduced. But the achievement - in 2017, a new scientific specialty - theology appeared.
Of course, it is obvious that such a situation requires fundamental changes. We refer to the opinion of the famous scientist L.S. Klein, who summarized his position on this issue: “introduce radical measures to encourage businesses to invest in science and education. The business needs to be supported by universities, not churches. And most importantly, if the state wants to really get up from its knees and take the lead in the world, it should be at least three times - four times the share of allocations for science and education. And that means redirecting cash flows. ”
Dear society, are we turning that social institution into a club of interests, knocking out its economic foundation from under its feet?
If you do not respond to the current situation, then in the coming years, Russian science will face further degradation and marginalization. Optimism is no place yet.
But for the church, this scenario is not optimistic yet, according to population polls. Some of the largest sociological institutes in the country about once a year include questions on religious identification in their basic questionnaire (the so-called omnibus). These polls gave a steadily growing dynamics for two and a half decades. In 2008, the figures were equal to those desired by the church - about 63 — 75% of Russians considered themselves to be believers. And the church, through the mouth of Patriarch Cyril, recognized that only 10% of the population are “church members”. In 2010, the number of people who considered themselves Orthodox Christians, according to most polls, reached a peak and began to fall. After that, the majority of sociological foundations drastically reduced their research in this area or, in any case, refused to publicly analyze and present them. Russian monitoring of the economic situation and public health of HSE shows 70,9% for 2016 a year. The “core” of regular visitors to church services, at least in large cities and typical regions of Russia, is about 0,5% of the population (here, of course, more than 40 churches in one city are required for them). They have mastered the main church practices (participation in the liturgy, confession and the sacrament) and regularly perform them. The rest are “walkers”, the most common part. Together with parishioners, they make up about 2-4% of the population of the Russian Federation, who attend the church at least once a month and sometimes take communion. Let us use the words of the deacon Vladimir Shalmanov from the Georgievsky Deanery of the Stavropol Territory: “Most of the residents of the settlements of St. George’s Decency seem to consider themselves Orthodox, or at least sympathize with Orthodoxy. However, active Orthodox Christians (who regularly attend divine services and participate in the Sacraments) constitute no more than 0,4-1% (in the villages their share is smaller, in the cities - more) of the total number of baptized people in Orthodoxy. ” These figures can be explained in different ways, but the most probable interpretation is: “Orthodoxy” is a way of ethnic, rather than religious identification. Religious denomination, with which people associate themselves, does not always allow to refer them to believers: for example, in the survey of the “Levada Center” 40% “Orthodox” confessed that they do not believe in God. And it is abundantly clear that these figures have no relation to real believers.
As we see, both social institutions - both science and the church - have quite a lot of problems. Here are just one of them, these problems are actively helping to solve, while the other consistently deprive the possibilities of preservation and protection.
The choice, apparently, for society, civil and expert community. In most regions, platforms have been created that allow discussing such issues and finding a mutually acceptable solution. This is the direction in which to move towards the achievement of social harmony.
Here is a recent example: in some cities, as their residents noticed, posters appeared with strange content and mystical-religious themes: portraits of the royal family (different variations), the text “Holy royal martyrs, pray God for us and for the revival of Holy Russia” and the message that at that time "... the Tsarist Family was ritually murdered."
Poster "Ritual murder of the royal family." What kind of ignoramus wrote it, is the question?
The church and the authorities stated that they have no relation to this advertising campaign. Which is completely understandable. We will not even say that in accordance with the version of the majority of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, this was a political assassination. A completely different point of view belongs not to the clergy. An example is the opinion of only the church writer and cleric of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin), who is of the opinion that the execution in Yekaterinburg was precisely a ritual murder. Theories about the world Jewish backstage and the conspiracy of Kabbalist Jews are even more marginal. In addition, ritual murder is said in the book of M.K. Diterikhs "Murder of the Tsar's Family and members of the House of Romanov in the Urals", in the records of the monarchist, investigator N.A. Sokolov and facts from the book of the British journalist Robert Wilton's The Last Days of the Romanovs. Needless to say, all these works have nothing to do with science and facts, but are directly related to a sick fantasy, a penchant for mysticism, and for those reading, to being affected by sensation with a low level of scientific erudition.
But to ask where did this come from in a country that 70 has set and implemented for years the task of forming a fundamental system worldview? Why suddenly around 20% of the population believe that the sun revolves around the earth, and not vice versa?
It is possible that the idea of religious education and morality, understood exclusively in the religious context, replacing knowledge and fact with faith and miracle turned out to be for our society not a path to the light, but to mysticism and superstition.
Yes, this topic in society is not very popular now. But it is worth bearing in mind the fact that the Russian Federation is a secular state in which millions of non-believers live, who are guaranteed by the Constitution the right to remain so. As believers have the right ...
Two social institutions express the worldview of those and others: the church and science. State institutions and civil society, their relationship to these institutions can shape the vector of development, determining the future of the people.
What about the choice of Russia?
In order to have influence in society, a social institution always needs an economic and legal basis. Such a base for the church was created already in 1990-ies: from December 31 1991 No. 135-рп “On the return of buildings and religious literature to the Russian Orthodox Church”; from 31 December 1991, No. 135-rp "On the return of buildings and religious literature to the Russian Orthodox Church"; from 31 December 1991, No. 135-rp "On the return of buildings and religious literature to the Russian Orthodox Church." The question remains about ownership and the exercise of this right.
In 2000, the jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church sent a letter to the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin, in which he noted that the process of the return of church property in Russia "was not only not completed, but had not really begun," and called for the transfer of churches, icons, shrines, premises for Sunday schools, theological schools, shelters, regional church institutions, as well as land for the monastic household economy.
The modern church is a full-fledged social institution, it is given including powerful means of propaganda. According to the Department of Justice in the Penza region, 2002 religious organizations operated on 297 for the year, including 191 Orthodox (64%), 59 Muslim (20%), 30 Protestant (10%) and 2 Jewish (0,6%). By 2016, their number increased to 468, including 64% Orthodox, 20% Muslim, 10% Protestant and 0,6% Jewish. All local TV channels, most newspapers and information portals are printed daily. news life of the Orthodox Church. With the support of local TV channels, such as Express and 11 channel, Orthodox television programs are being shot, which are subsequently broadcast on the Soyuz TV channel, which is available in all cable networks of the city.
Calls for national reconciliation through the condemnation of Stalin’s crime and attempts to erect monuments to martyrs and new martyrs who suffered from repression and revolution have also become a trend of recent years. But the question is: can this serve as the basis of national reconciliation? Does this not lead to a split of society due to the polarization of opinions?
And why we don’t recall, for example, the victims of numerous articles for derogation from Orthodoxy and the thought-crime in the Criminal Code of the Russian Empire 1846 (“Code of Punishments”): penal servitude, deprivation of all rights, confiscation of property, imprisonment or a strait-house, 50 -60 strikes with rods, link to the soldiers. Most of the convicts died within a year after the exile, many on the way, and their families, left without a breadwinner, were doomed to begging or also died, especially children. Damage to people by striking with a stick or with a rod, to the extent specified in the Punishment Code, is incompatible with life. The damage to health that was inflicted during the punishment with sticks or rods would not allow the “commoners” to continue to engage in physical labor, the results of which they and their families lived. These are hundreds of thousands of people per century. Not? Is this not the basis of reconciliation?
It is wonderful that we have a law protecting the "feelings of believers." And it’s great that they can express them in different ways, for example, smash art exhibitions (Moscow), attack human rights activists (St. Petersburg), insult people who do not adhere to religious beliefs (Kotlas) and other examples. It is bad that other part of the society does not have such rights. The prosecutor's office does not initiate cases on the relevant facts.
An important aspect of the interaction of the church, state and society continues to be the issue of transferring property to the church. Alas, human rights activists, pickets and all those who disagree with the transfer of objects of state and municipal property to religious organizations can stand with posters of any length, but the result will not be.
Art. 3 FZ of November 30 2010 FN N 327-FZ “On the transfer to religious organizations of religious property in state or municipal property” establishes the rate of gratuitous transfer of state or municipal property to religious organizations to religious organizations. In accordance with Art. 5 of the same law may even be transferred to religious organizations of cultural heritage. The land plot on which religious property is located is transferred to a religious organization as a property free of charge. True, the law states that objects can be transferred into ownership or for free use. And one more important point worth mentioning is that the transfer of religious property from state or municipal property to religious organizations is consistent with the international obligations of the Russian Federation in accordance with the Conclusion of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe No. 193 (1996) at the request of Russia to join the Council of Europe: : “10. The Parliamentary Assembly takes note that ... Russia intends: ... XII) to return the property of religious organizations as soon as possible. "
What are the pickets, but at least a demonstration ...
To initiate the transfer of a religious object to the property of a religious organization, it is necessary to submit an application to the state or municipal authorities to which the object belongs. And agree. Moreover, the list of grounds for refusal is not impressive: 1) this property is not a property of a religious purpose; 2) the purpose of using this property declared by a religious organization does not correspond to the objectives of the activity stipulated by the charter of a religious organization or federal law; 3) an application for the transfer of this property is submitted by a foreign religious organization or its representative office; 4) a court decision that has entered into legal force provides for a different procedure for disposing of this property; 5) this property is in the free use of another religious organization.
Ownership of property, of course, strengthens the position of the social institution, makes it a force with which society and the state should be considered.
And this is very noticeable in the example of the regulation of relations between the state and science. Especially the weakening of science as a social institution became noticeable from the 2013 year, when “without declaring war” the reform of the Russian Academy of Sciences was begun, which was not decided to be touched under any authority, and which enjoyed wide autonomy. It does not have such powerful propaganda tools as the ROC has, the number of scientific journals is decreasing, the number of scientific workers is decreasing. The number of scientific societies and organizations, centers of scientific and technical creativity is not even close to the figures we cited earlier for the number of religious organizations in the Penza region. Not to mention television, radio broadcasts, the transfer of municipal and state buildings.
But the deprivation of science as a social institution of property and, as a result, of weight and perspectives in society, is quite obvious. Ownership is the basis of the independence of a social institution. One of the key demands of the reform of the Academy of Sciences was the alienation of the right to property management in favor of a specially created federal agency of scientific organizations (FANO). The RAS resisted, a moratorium was imposed on the alienation of property, President Putin personally supported these demands of the RAS and made promises.
And here is the result of the five-year struggle of the Russian Academy of Sciences for its property: according to the order of the Russian government, "the FANO of Russia is charged with fulfilling the functions and powers of the owner of federal property assigned to these organizations, as well as the powers of the founder of these organizations." FANO is now the owner. Of course, this can be understood: we must somehow compensate for the losses from the transfer of objects and lands to religious organizations.
But there is no change for the better in Russian science. The reaction of the scientific community is overwhelmingly negative, the entire expert and scientific community opposed the reform, pointing out the risks. But civil society and its opinion were not taken into account. But if for the church we are a flock and everything is clear, then the officials are the servants of the people. But no, and here the same backstage policy of making decisions on socially important issues that are strategic for state and national development.
Result: according to the results of research, the RAS reform failed. It remains a chronic underfunding, lack of funds for the purchase of instruments and new modern equipment, the possibility of conducting experimental and expeditionary works, the transfer of objects belonging to the Russian Academy of Sciences from federal to municipal property has plummeted. But after all, the federal budget does not pull science, let alone the municipal one.
There was a scandal even with the land experimental areas in the Timiryazev Academy. You can also pay attention to the problem of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which the land plots that were previously in their gratuitous use cannot fix. At the same time there is construction in progress, since these sites are transferred to the construction organization for the construction of a residential complex. Near bacteriological laboratories and morgue. In addition, the regulatory definition of the boundaries of the construction zone in Akademgorodok does not allow the institutes of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences to improve and develop sanitary zones and the system of protective measures of their institutions.
The ideology of self-financing science is flawed. All over the world, science has government support. And for the humanities, the state is almost the only major investor. But today in Russia there is no department responsible for the development of basic research and defense science. In the basic parameters of the budget for 2016, there is no “science” line at all. Funding for science in the 2016 year reached a historic minimum: 306 billion rubles, which is 20% less than in the 2015 year, and more than three times less than in the 2012 year. FANO Russia in the 2015 year in the allocation of funds for these purposes has implemented the principle of residual funding. With the sequestration of the budget in 2015, the FANO reduced the amount of subsidies for fulfilling the state task for 5% (3 billion rubles), and the amount of financial support for the programs of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences - by 50% (2,7 billion rubles). As a result, the amount of funding for projects of the Presidium Programs of the Russian Academy of Sciences, carried out in such strategic priority areas as research in the interests of the development of the Arctic region, defense and security, mathematical modeling, and medical subjects, was reduced. But the achievement - in 2017, a new scientific specialty - theology appeared.
Of course, it is obvious that such a situation requires fundamental changes. We refer to the opinion of the famous scientist L.S. Klein, who summarized his position on this issue: “introduce radical measures to encourage businesses to invest in science and education. The business needs to be supported by universities, not churches. And most importantly, if the state wants to really get up from its knees and take the lead in the world, it should be at least three times - four times the share of allocations for science and education. And that means redirecting cash flows. ”
Dear society, are we turning that social institution into a club of interests, knocking out its economic foundation from under its feet?
If you do not respond to the current situation, then in the coming years, Russian science will face further degradation and marginalization. Optimism is no place yet.
But for the church, this scenario is not optimistic yet, according to population polls. Some of the largest sociological institutes in the country about once a year include questions on religious identification in their basic questionnaire (the so-called omnibus). These polls gave a steadily growing dynamics for two and a half decades. In 2008, the figures were equal to those desired by the church - about 63 — 75% of Russians considered themselves to be believers. And the church, through the mouth of Patriarch Cyril, recognized that only 10% of the population are “church members”. In 2010, the number of people who considered themselves Orthodox Christians, according to most polls, reached a peak and began to fall. After that, the majority of sociological foundations drastically reduced their research in this area or, in any case, refused to publicly analyze and present them. Russian monitoring of the economic situation and public health of HSE shows 70,9% for 2016 a year. The “core” of regular visitors to church services, at least in large cities and typical regions of Russia, is about 0,5% of the population (here, of course, more than 40 churches in one city are required for them). They have mastered the main church practices (participation in the liturgy, confession and the sacrament) and regularly perform them. The rest are “walkers”, the most common part. Together with parishioners, they make up about 2-4% of the population of the Russian Federation, who attend the church at least once a month and sometimes take communion. Let us use the words of the deacon Vladimir Shalmanov from the Georgievsky Deanery of the Stavropol Territory: “Most of the residents of the settlements of St. George’s Decency seem to consider themselves Orthodox, or at least sympathize with Orthodoxy. However, active Orthodox Christians (who regularly attend divine services and participate in the Sacraments) constitute no more than 0,4-1% (in the villages their share is smaller, in the cities - more) of the total number of baptized people in Orthodoxy. ” These figures can be explained in different ways, but the most probable interpretation is: “Orthodoxy” is a way of ethnic, rather than religious identification. Religious denomination, with which people associate themselves, does not always allow to refer them to believers: for example, in the survey of the “Levada Center” 40% “Orthodox” confessed that they do not believe in God. And it is abundantly clear that these figures have no relation to real believers.
As we see, both social institutions - both science and the church - have quite a lot of problems. Here are just one of them, these problems are actively helping to solve, while the other consistently deprive the possibilities of preservation and protection.
The choice, apparently, for society, civil and expert community. In most regions, platforms have been created that allow discussing such issues and finding a mutually acceptable solution. This is the direction in which to move towards the achievement of social harmony.
Information