RELIGIOUS IDENTITY, RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AND SPIRITUALITY OF THE POPULATION OF RUSSIA’S ASIAN BORDERLANDS

Abstract

The religious identity of Russian citizens in modern conditions is transformed under the influence of socio-cultural processes of a global nature, often taking individualized forms and combined with practices of reviving interest in religion and its protective, compensatory functions in conditions of uncertainty. In 2022-2023, with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, a sociological study was conducted to examine religious identity, religious practices and spiritual security in the border regions (Altai Territory, Altai Republic, Tyva Republic and Novosibirsk Region, 1868 people). The population of the border regions gravitates towards Orthodoxy (36%), however, significant differentiations in the regional refraction of the religious mosaic. Orthodoxy prevails in the Altai Territory and the Novosibirsk Region, shamanism prevails in Tyva (52%), Burkhanism is represented in the Altai Republic (16%). Moreover, an index of religiosity based on the Huber methodology was calculated in the study. The index is built on the integration of the five structural components of religiosity: intellectual, ideological, public and personal religious practices, and religious experience. The average index of religiosity was 2.41 points, the most religious is the population of the Tuva Republic (2.75), followed by the Altai Republic (2.52), index values below the test norm (2.45) were recorded in the Altai Territory (2.36) and the Novosibirsk Region (2.16). Ideas about religiosity and spirituality are changing and acquiring new meanings in the light of changing social relations between believers and non-believers, emerging new practices and religious organizations.