STUDYING RELIGIOSITY

OF THE POPULATION

OF BELARUS:

IN SEARCH OF NEW APPROACHES

THE ALL-NATIONAL SURVEY

ORGANISED AS A SCIENTIFIC INITIATIVE

Svetlana KARASSYOVA

BELARUSIAN STATE UNIVERSITY MINSK

BELARUS on the map of EUROPE AREA: 207.6 thousand km2

POPULATION: 9.5 million people (2009)

MINERAL RESOURCES: potassium salt

NO ACCESS to the SEA

TRANSIT LOCATION

THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY

BELARUS HAS BEEN A PART

OF MAJOR STATE FORMATIONS:

[6th–9th c.] [the Eastern Slavic tribes of the Krivichi, the Dregovichi,

the Radzimichi]

9th–13th c. Kievan Rus’

13th–16th c. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania

16th–18th c. Rzeczpospolita (the Commonwealth of Poland)

18th–20th c. The Russian Empire

1918–1991 the USSR

The history of the independent Belarus began in 1991

SYSTEMS OF FAITH AND RELIGION

IN THE HISTORY OF BELARUS

6 – 10th c.

10th c. and later

13th, 16th, 17th c. and later

14th c. and later

14th c. and later

17th c. and further

1922 – 1988

1988 – 2013

Slavic paganism;

Christianity of the Byzantine tradition;

the divided Christian confessions:

□ Orthodoxy (inheriting the Byzantine tradition);

□ Catholicism;

□ Uniatism;

□ Protestantism;

Islam;

Judaism;

Old Believers;

state ideology of atheism;

revival of religions traditional for Belarus;

new religions and religious movements

appear as well

The religious history of the independent Belarus began in 1988

THE MAIN EVENTS IN RELIGIOUS SPHERE

SINCE 1988/1991:

rapid revival of religions traditional for Belarus

(they are even fixed by law):

• Orthodoxy

• Catholicism

• Islam

• Judaism

• Evangelical-Lutheranian protestantism

appearance

of new religions

and religious

movements

№ Confession The number of religious communities, as of:

1.01.88 1.01.96 1.01.05 1.01.06 1.01.07 1.01.2010 1.01.2012 1.01.2014

1. Orhodox Church 399 938 1315 1349 1399 1509 1567 1615

2. Old Believers 22 32 33 33 33 32 33 33

3. Roman Catholic Church 121 372 433 438 440 470 479 488

4. Catholics of Latin Church 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 1

5. Greek Catholic Church 0 11 13 13 13 14 14 15

6. Reformed Churches 0 1 2 1 1 1 1 1

7. Lutheran Church 0 5 22 25 27 27 27 27

8. Evangelical Christian Baptists 171 192 257 265 267 272 286 287

9. Ioganskaya Church 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

10. New Apostolic church 0 17 20 20 21 21 21 21

11. Presbyterianism 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1

12. Christians of Evangelical Faith 39 311 482 488 493 501 512 520

13. Full Gospel Christians 0 21 55 54 54 55 55 59

14. Christian Apostolic 0 8 10 9 9 9 10 10

15. Church of Christ 0 6 5 5 5 5 5 5

16. Messianism 0 2 2 1 2 2 2 2

17. Seventh-day Adventist Church 11 34 69 72 74 72 73 73

18. Jehovah’s Witnesses 0 11 26 26 26 26 27 27

19. Mormons 0 3 3 4 4 4 4 4

20. Judaism 1 10 27 28 29 30 36 38

21. Progressive Judaism 0 5 17 17 17 16 17 14

22. Islam 1 20 24 24 24 25 25 25

23. The Bahaii 0 3 5 5 5 5 5 5

24. Gaudiya Vaishnavism 0 6 5 5 6 6 6 6

25. Armenian Apostolic Church 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2

Total: 765 2009 2829 2886 2953 3106 3210 3280

STUDY OF RELIGIOUS SITUATION IN BELARUS SINCE 1988/1991:

INSUFFICIENCY

Year Organizer / Executor Purpose Sample

1990 EVS (European Values Study program) / NASB (the National Academy of Sciences of

Belarus)

The study of values of the population of Belarus ?

1994 (R)

NASB Chernobyl catastrophe impact on the dynamics of religiosity

908

1996 EVS (European Values Study program) / Sociological laboratory NOVAK

The study of values of the population of Belarus

1998* (R)

BRFFR (Belarusian Republican Foundation

for Fundamental Research) / CSPR of BSU (The Center for Sociological and Political Research)

Trends and peculiarities of interreligious affairs in Belarus

1032

2000 EVS / CSPR of BSU The study of values of the population of Belarus 1000

2006* (R)

BRFFR / CSPR of BSU Confessional identification of the population of Belarus

1500

2008* EVS / CSPR of BSU 1500

2012 NASB Regular (?) monitoring of social opinion ?

(R) Researches are only aimed at studying the religious situation

* Data are represented in several publications

The rest of all researches are practically not published out

that also makes their scientific evaluation difficult

The data of the surveys mentioned above could be summarized as follows

The percentage of religious people

in total population of Belarus

(as of 2012) – 60%

Among them:

- Orthodox – 86%

- Catholics – 12% - followers of other confessions – 2%

In recent years

these figures seem to be

a sufficient explanation of religious situation

for the public, i .e. they:

• seem sufficient for the government,

• are widely used by media,

• satisfy public opinion

For the public they are

the figures ‘explaining everything’

There also exists

A LIST WHICH EXPLAINS, THOUGH IN OTHER ANGLE, THE

RELIGIOUS SITUATION

THE DATA ON THE DYNAMICS OF NUMBER OF

REGISTERED RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS

(confessional proportions of this list

contradict with those of sociological data

on the number of followers)

№ Confession The number of religious communities, as of:

1.01.88 1.01.96 1.01.05 1.01.06 1.01.07 1.01.2010 1.01.2012 1.01.2014

1. Orhodox Church 399 938 1315 1349 1399 1509 1567 1615

2. Old Believers 22 32 33 33 33 32 33 33

3. Roman Catholic Church 121 372 433 438 440 470 479 488

4. Catholics of Latin Church 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 1

5. Greek Catholic Church 0 11 13 13 13 14 14 15

6. Reformed Churches 0 1 2 1 1 1 1 1

7. Lutheran Church 0 5 22 25 27 27 27 27

8. Evangelical Christian Baptists 171 192 257 265 267 272 286 287

9. Ioganskaya Church 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

10. New Apostolic church 0 17 20 20 21 21 21 21

11. Presbyterianism 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1

12. Christians of Evangelical Faith 39 311 482 488 493 501 512 520

13. Full Gospel Christians 0 21 55 54 54 55 55 59

14. Christian Apostolic 0 8 10 9 9 9 10 10

15. Church of Christ 0 6 5 5 5 5 5 5

16. Messianism 0 2 2 1 2 2 2 2

17. Seventh-day Adventist Church 11 34 69 72 74 72 73 73

18. Jehovah’s Witnesses 0 11 26 26 26 26 27 27

19. Mormons 0 3 3 4 4 4 4 4

20. Judaism 1 10 27 28 29 30 36 38

21. Progressive Judaism 0 5 17 17 17 16 17 14

22. Islam 1 20 24 24 24 25 25 25

23. The Bahaii 0 3 5 5 5 5 5 5

24. Gaudiya Vaishnavism 0 6 5 5 6 6 6 6

25. Armenian Apostolic Church 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2

Total: 765 2009 2829 2886 2953 3106 3210 3280

The table displayed above (see pic 6)

PROBLEM

THE GIVEN DATA CORRELATION

(60% = 86% + 12% + 2%)

HAS FORMED IN THE 1990s

SINCE THEN, THE NUMBERS HAVE BEEN CHANGING

CONSTANTLY AND BALANCED –

THEIR PROPORTION NEVER CHANGED

THIS BALANCE MEANS:

BEHIND THE SETTLED QUANTITATIVE PROPORTION

THE QUALITATIVE CHANGES OF RELIGIOSITY TAKE PLACE

WHICH MAY BE REVEALED

ONLY WITH THE HELP OF SPECIALISED RESEARCH

CONSIDERING

THE LACK OF REGULAR NATION-WIDE RESEARCHES

OF RELIGIOUS SITUATION AND RELIGIOSITY

IN BELARUS

THE CREATION OF COMPLEX CONTINUOUS PROGRAMME

HAS BECOME NECESSARY

TO STUDY THE QUESTION

WHAT IS THE REAL ROLE OF RELIGION

IN MODERN BELARUS?

– IN SOCIAL (macro-) LEVEL

– IN INDIVIDUAL (micro-) LEVEL

In 2012,

at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of BSU,

the CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES

was founded

It initiated a research project ‘TYPOLOGY OF RELIGIOSITY OF THE POPULATION OF BELARUS’

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

VOLUNTEERS OF THE CENTER:

Svetlana

Karassyova

Alena

Shkurova

Siarhei

Shatrauski

Anastasiya

Damanskaya

PROJECT

THE AIM OF THE RESEARCH – TO FIND OUT:

MICROASPECT:

1) What does religion mean for the modern Belarusians?

2) What is their religious self-determination motivated by?

What determines their confessional preferences?

3) To what extent are they ready to perform their religious position?

4) How does religion change:

a) the life of its followers?

b) the life of Belarusian society as a whole?

MACROASPECT:

HOW (due to which social and individual preconditions)

IS RELIGION POSSIBLE IN THE SITUATION

- OF DOMINATING HUMANISM + ATHEISM IMPLICATIONS

- OF DOMINATING UTILITY VALUES

- OF INFORMATION (+ WORLDVIEW, RELIGIOUS) OPENNESS OF THE SOCIETY

- etc.

The long-term goal of the research is

TO CREATE AN UPDATING COMPLEX MAP OF RELIGIOUS SITUATION

IN BELARUS

through constructing

THE TYPOLOGY OF RELIGIOSITY

of the population of the country

The research tools are:

• mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology;

• wide, cross-confessional, concept of religion

(Taylor; Marett; Söderblom; Otto; van der Leuw; Mensching; Hirz);

• multi-dimensional concept of religion

(Glock–Stark & others);

• flexible scale for defining individual religious position in each

dimension of religion

(Lenski, Allport, etc.; Chesnokova).

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The concept is fully grounded in the publication: Karassyova S., Shkurova A. Multi-dimansional cross-confessional approach to the study of religiosity in Belarus: urgency and conceptualisation. – Sociology. – № 3. – 2012. – P. 123–133.

CONCEPT

KEY DEFINITIONS

RELIGIOSITY=

INVOLVEMENT OF A PERSON INTO RELIGION (C.Glock–R.Stark, et al.)

In inner / individual aspect is experienced as

ADHERENCE TO RELIGION

To clarify this term the definition of

RELIGION

is necessary

RELIGION

A SPHERE OF LIFE OF THE SOCIETY / AN INDIVIDUAL

REPRESENTING THE INSTITUTIONALLY FORMED

SYMBOLIC SYSTEM OF BELIEFS AND ACTIVITIES,

FOCUSED ON THE SENSES

OF ULTIMATE (TRANSCENDENT) CONTENT

(E. Durkheim, J. Wach, C. Glock – R. Stark, W. Swatos, et al.)

that is THE SYSTEM OF BELIEFS – ACTIVITIES – INSTITUTIONS

What is not expressed in the definition but is implicit in the term

‘the senses of the transcendent meaning’,

is religious experience –

a condition in which a person finds him/herself being in a living and direct unity

with the transcendent (James; Proudfoot; Zabiyako)

THE EXPERIENCE IS FORMED INTO A SYSTEM

Thus, RELIGION

is understood here as a double-aspect phenomenon:

in its inner aspect it exists as religious experience

(the experience of the transcendent) (W. James, R. Otto, W. Proudfoot)

in its outer aspect

it exists as a system

of beliefs, activities, institutions (E. Durkheim, J. Wach, etc.)

Onwards, within the empirical sociological research

RELIGION is uderstood

as a system –

that is as a unity

of the necessary and non-reducible to each other dimensions: (Lenski, Glock-Stark, Folkner – DeJong, et al.)

• religious beliefs:

express the transcendent idea of religion;

• religious activity:

performs the principles and methods of embodying the idea;

• religious institutions:

organize the followers of an idea into societies.

This complex unity functions as a system

for keeping and reconstructing religious meaning

which source is religious experience –

the basis for religion as a system

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

THE CONTENTS OF

RELIGIOUS

EXPERIENCE IS

ARTICULATED AND

FORMED INTO THE

RELIGIOUS SYSTEM

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS

RELIGIOUS

INSTITUTIONS

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY

RELIGIOUS SYSTEM

THESE DIMENSIONS

MAY HAVE DIFFERENT DEGREE OF EXPAND

IN VARIOUS RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS,

which makes RELIGIONS

either a TRADITION or a MOVEMENT

BASED ON THE GIVEN MODEL OF RELIGION

THE PHENOMENON OF RELIGIOSITY (INVOLVEMENT INTO RELIGION / ADHERENCE TO RELIGION)

IS DETERMINED

RELIGIOSITY

IS INTERPRETED AS

THE INVOLVEMENT INTO A RELIGIOUS SYSTEM

RELIGIOSITY –

INVOLVEMENT INTO RELIGIOUS SYSTEM

i.e. IN EACH ITS DIMENSION G.Lenski, C.Glock-R.Stark, …Folkner – …DeJong, et al.)

RELIGIOSITY = A COMPLEX VALUE =

A COMPLEX COMBINATION OF DEGREES

OF INVOLVEMENT INTO EACH DIMENSION OF RELIGION:

• THE SYSTEM OF BELIEFS, expressing the religious idea

• THE SYSTEM OF ACTIVITY, realizing the religious idea

• RELIGIOUS SOCIETY, serving the religious idea

INVOLVEMENT INTO EACH DIMENSION OF RELIGION

is marked

BY THE CORRESPONDING

EMPIRICAL MANIFESTATIONS (FEATURES):

ADHERENCE TO THE SYSTEM OF BELIEFS IS DETERMINED THROUGH:

a person’s declaration of his/her religious position

checking whether a person knows its contents

a person’s self-estimation of religion’s significance in his/her life

the person’s declaration of being ready to sacrifice him/herself

to a certain extent for religion

COMBINATION OF INDICATORS

CERTAINTY (UNCERTAINTY)

OF RELIGIOUS POSITION (BELIEF)

ADHERENCE TO THE SYSTEM OF ACTIVITY IS IDENTIFIED THROUGH:

• the regularity of doing individual ritual practices by a

person (prayer, meditation)

• the regularity of participating in collective religious rites

(prayers, meditations, mysteries, sacraments)

• religious (self)education

• compliance with the norms of secular piety

•the regularity of participating in religious holidays

• participating in social and cultural activity of the community

COMBINATION OF INDICATORS

DEGREE OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY

ADHERENCE TO THE SOCIETY IS IDENTIFIED THROUGH:

• the person’s declaration of his/her adherence to it

• the person’s indication of his/her status and function in

society

• reporting on participation in volunteer projects of the

society

COMBINATION OF INDICATORS

THE LEVEL OF INTEGRATION WITH SOCIETY

• CERTAINTY OF RELIGIOUS POSITION +

• DEGREE OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY +

• LEVEL OF INTEGRATION WITH SOCIETY

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGIOSITY

ADDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGIOSITY:

• THE REASON FOR RELIGIOUS SELF-DETERMINATION

• RESULTS OF RELIGIOUS SELF-DETERMINATION

(how religiosity influences one’s lifestyle)

A COMBINATION OF INTENSITY

OF ALL THE NAMED MANIFESTATIONS

GIVES THE INTEGRAL CHARACTERISTIC

OF EACH RESPONDENT’S RELIGIOSITY

COMPARING THE INTEGRAL CHARACTERISTIC

OF THE RESPONDENTS’ RELIGIOSITY

WILL HELP DISTRIBUTE THEM IN RELIGIOUS GROUPS

IT IS SUGGESTED THAT

THE DEGREES OF RESPONDENTS’ RELIGIOSITY FORM THE RANGE

FROM DECLARATIVE = only declaring one’s adherence to religion

THROUGH WEAK = using religion in secular way

AND MODERATE = orientation to religious values in secular life

TO DEEP INVOLVEMENT = selfless serving the religious ideal

THE WORDING OF THE QUESTIONS ON THE NAMED

CHARACTERISTICS

HAD TO BE ABSTRACT AND COMPARABLE

WITH THE MEANINGS

OF DIFFERENT RELIGIONS AND CONFESSIONS

THE ABSTRACT FORM OF EACH QUESTION

REQUIRED AN EXPERT ESTIMATION

BY THE COMPETENT REPRESENTATIVES

OF VARIOUS RELIGIONS AND CONFESSIONS

SUCH EXPERTISE HAS BEEN HELD

IN A FORM OF WORKING SEMINAR – DISCUSSION

OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE PREPARED FOR THE SURVEY

Institute of theology of BSU, 20 September 2012

Organisation of the process

Considering the lack of demand for the research of religious situation

in Belarus and, therefore, the lack of state support for such researches

and the lack of prepared networks of interviewers –

it was decided to do the questioning

through religious organisations and communities.

Religious societies constitute the network of centres and interviewers

for this particular project.

Calculated (multistage quota) sample – 1.200 respondents in proportion to

the number of different religions and confessions

Real sample is defined by unprecedented way of organizing the research –

through religious communities – and depends on the readiness of

communities to provide us with questionnaires of extra-estimated number

The final target sample, adjusted in accordance with initial proportion – is

approximately 3.000 completed questionnaires

Oshmyany, Grodno region, 14 June 2013

WHAT WE CAN SAY FOR SURE TODAY IS THAT THE RELIGIOUS ENVIRONMENT OF BELARUS –

CLOSED AND DEFENSIVE HITHERTO – IS FOR THE FIRST TIME OPENING WITH TRUST TO SCIENCE DURING THE RESEARCH

Oshmyany, Grodno region, 14 June 2013

Brest, 23 June 2013

Ula, Vitebsk region 11 July 2013

Baranovichi, Pinsk region, 19 August 2013

Jehova’s Witnesses, Orsha,

November 2013

01 May 2014

3.007

collected

questionnaires

As for today,

the encoding

of the completed

questionnaires

and

the input of data

is on

THANK YOU!