The Debate on Religion and Secularisation in Russia Today: Comments on Kyrlezhev and Morozov, with Focus on Education

Abstract

Russian society has been undergoing tremendous changes in the last two decades. The renewed interest in Orthodox tradition is therefore much more than a quantitative growth in the number of believers. The quality of the discursive space in which Orthodoxy has become a subject of social debate is very different from that of a premodern society and from that of Soviet atheist society. In this context the popular image of religion – the popular idea of religious behaviour – has changed profoundly. In this essay I use the ideas of two Russian thinkers with a theological background to conceptualise these changes. Aleksandr Kyrlezhev applies the western notion of the postmodern to the Russian context to describe the transformation from the monolithic Soviet world-view to a state of ideological diversity. Aleksandr Morozov uses the metaphor ‘the end of transcendence’ to illustrate changes in religious behaviour. Both authors conclude that the renewed interest in the Orthodox tradition is primarily a desire for morality, for a set of norms and values to supplement both Soviet and imported western counterparts. I also look at Orthodox classes in the public education system in order to see how these ideas apply to the social context. Kyrlezhev's notion of a postmodern ideological diversity helps to explain how such classes are welcomed as a complementary ‘spiritual’ element alongside existing ‘materialist’ world-views. Morozov's ‘end of transcendence’ assists in understanding how such classes, although teaching about the Orthodox faith, may operate in a secular environment.