Russian Jews and the Church: A sociological view

Abstract

In all the discussion on the situation of Russian Jews today one basic fact has not been mentioned: a fact that means that this situation is qualitatively different from that in pre-revolutionary Russia or in the countries of the West. The fact is that the majority of modem Russian Jews do not consider themselves to be even nominal Jewish believers. More of them are in fact Christians. Throughout the centuries, anti­ semitism has been either rooted in religion or at least indirectly or genetically con­ nected with it. Therefore, both the problem of antisemitism and the problem of the Russian Jews' national selfconsciousness have to be formulated anew. How do Russian Jews view their religious affiliation? In order to answer this and other questions we are using the data we gathered for the Analytical Centre at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1992 as part of the international sociological research project 'The World view of the Russian Population: Religion, Politics, Morals and Culture'. I Only 8 per cent of Jews were practising, 18 per cent were 'just Christians' (52 per cent of Russians), 5 per cent were Orthodox (19 per cent of Russians), 18 per cent were Catholics (1 per cent of Russians), I per cent were Protestant (l per cent of Russians), 1 per cent were Buddhists and followers of other eastern religions (l per cent of Russians), 23 per cent were atheists (7 per cent of Russians) and 53 per cent had difficulty defining their confessional affiliation (21 per cent of Russians). Of Jews, 25 per cent consider themselves Christians, then, and only 8 per cent practise Judaism. There are two peculiar features in the perceived confessional affiliation of Jews. Firstly, many Jews are atheists. This evidently results from the fact that in their eyes unbelief and secularisation are linked with the overcoming of interreligious conflict and the 'progressive development of humanity'. Secondly, a particularly large proportion of Jews cannot find themselves a place on the 'confessional map'. These are people who have tom themselves away from their ethnic religious traditions and find it difficult to associate themselves with any other. In this situation, the predominant tendency among Russians is to consider themselves 'just Christian' (this means essentially Orthodox but with an eroded, non-dogmatic, eclectic worldview) - a comfortable way of being part of the international Russian religious culture which at present predominates in our social consciousness (but not within the Russian Orthodox Church). The question naturally arises as to the confessional future of these Jewish atheists and Jews who find it difficult to define their confessional affiliation. Atheism is in general on the decline and Russians are identifying themselves more and more with a