Religion in Russia

Religion In Russia

Religion in Russia (2012)

Russian Orthodox (41%) Muslim (6.5%) Unaffiliated Christian (4.1%) Other Orthodox (1.4%) Neopagan and Tengrist (1.1%) Other religions (2.4%) Spiritual but not religious (25.1%) Atheist and non-religious (12.9%) Undecided (5.5%)

Many different religions have adherents in Russia. The preamble to the 1997 law regulating religious organizations names Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism as important in Russian history. Orthodox Christianity (Russian: Православие Pravoslavije) is Russia's traditional and largest religion, deemed a part of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997. Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in Russia. About 95% of the registered Orthodox parishes belong to the Russian Orthodox Church while there are a number of smaller Orthodox Churches. However, the vast majority of Orthodox believers do not attend church on a regular basis.

In August 2012 the first-ever sociological survey and mapping of religious adherents in Russia based on self-identification was published, with data on 79 out of 83 of the federal subjects of Russia. Out of a population of 143.200.000 the survey found that 58.800.000 or 41% are Russian Orthodox, 9.400.000 or 6.5% are Muslims (including Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, and a majority of unaffiliated Muslims), 5.900.000 or 4.1% are unaffiliated Christians, 2.100.000 or 1.4% adhere to other Orthodox Churches (including Ukrainian, Georgian, Armenian and other churches), 1.700.000 or 1.1% are Tengrists (Turco-Mongol shamanic religions and new religions) or Pagans (including Rodnovery, Caucasian Neopaganism and Uralic Neopaganism), 700.000 or 0.4% are Buddhists (mostly Vajrayana), 400.000 or 0.2% are Orthodox Old Believers, 300.000 or 0.2% are Protestants, 140.000 are Hindus and Krishnaites, 140.000 are Catholics, 140.000 are Jews. The Bahá'í Faith in Russia (Вера Бахаи), according to Association of Religion Data Archives was estimated at about 18.990 in 2005. The remaining population is made up of 36.000.000 or 25.1% "spiritual but not religious" people, 18.600.000 or 12.9% atheist and non-religious people and 7.900.000 people or 5.5% of the total population who have deemed themselves "undecided". The Russian non-religious population, however,is said to be largely under-counted, as many sources estimate said population to represent as much as 60% of Russians.