Vatican: Russia is the Most Religious Country in Europe

marco tosatti
ROMe

A huge majority of Russians believe in God: 82% according to a report published by the Public Opinion foundation and Wednesday, a sociological institute associated with the synod of the orthodox Russian church for youth. The report has a database of responses gathered during the last few months from 1,500 people from the age of 18 years and older and residing in 44 regions in Russia.

The outcome is very surprising. In a country where atheism has been taught for several generations, which has established university faculties and at least one museum dedicated to the topic, and which has tried to spread it in many parts of the world, only 13 interviewees stated that they were definitely atheist, while 5% said they were not sure. Most of the atheists are men (68%), while only 32% are women. Atheism seems to be more popular in the lower social classes, namely workers or poor people who do not even have enough to eat. 27% of those who said that they believe in the existence of God do not belong to any organized religion. This was the response of 34% of young people between 18 and 24 years of age and 38% of students. 4% stated that they are Muslim; there were very few Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, or Jews. 50% of the believers are Orthodox Christians and most belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Link to source, here...

H/t: AQ

Moscow Patriarchate Grateful to Government for Stopping Homo-Parade

Moscow, May 30, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church is grateful to the Moscow city authorities and law enforcers for preventing a gay parade attempted in the city last Saturday.

Responding to questions from Interfax-Religion on Monday, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said the authorities "quite politely prevented an instance of propaganda of homosexuality which could have been witnessed by children and teenagers who crowded the two venues of the action."

He expressed hope that in the future the authorities of Russia and Moscow in similar cases "will listen to the voice of their own people, the majority of whom do not accept the propaganda of homosexuality, instead of foreign pressure that was exerted before the action and continues now."

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=dujour&div=49

Russian bishop: America has problems with democracy

Editor: If you read between the lines, you can see that he thinks the USA has too much Democracy and needs more Socialism.

Saratov, May 11, Interfax - Head of Patriarchal Dioceses in the USA Archbishop Justinian of Narofominsk believes the USA still has to work hard on its democracy.

"Economic living standards in the US are much higher than those in Russia. Our situation is aggravated by poverty and sometimes unbearable living conditions in the country's regions. At the same time, I wouldn't regard the situation in the United States as ideal," Archbishop Justinian said in an interview published by the Pravoslaviye i Sovremennost (Orthodoxy and Modern Times) magazine of the Saratov Diocese.

According to him, several thousand strong demonstrations may be held in America where people freely express their opinions and protests but "they often receive no response from the Government: "Do you want to speak out? You are welcome, this is America, and we have democracy. But the authorities will continue to pursue their own government policy."

"It is only evident. There are problems here just as in any other state, including problems with relations of nationalities," Archbishop Justinian said.

However, he believes that a true democracy or "to put it better, a true freedom of which we sometimes dream is unfeasible on Earth," as "a true freedom may be only in Christ."

Link, here...