Distrust in religion in post-communist Russia

Essay from the year 2001 in the subject Theology - Comparative Religion Studies, grade: 1.0 (A), University of Leeds (POLIS), 6 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The distrust of organised religion is a phenomenon of post-Soviet Russia. It is a likely result of developments that characterise the coming of the modern age as introduced to Russia in its full scale by post-communist liberalisation and pluralisation and is therefore comparable to earlier developments in the West. In Russia the specific experience of atheist totalitarianism as well as its collapse has enhanced several aspects of this 'modernity factor' in relation to religious institutions. The essay discusses these and other factors that influenced distrust of organised religion in Russia in the 1990s.