 C00042352
 71
 .3MS-UPA.0401
 4 Apll IN
 . "1 Visit the_chtnjh only an a
 is anything anti.Swint in the
 took the opportunitk to ask
 grief. but very eloquent
 not miss his chance,
 finding and seizing
 human heart-into
 drawn to us more stj nhgly t
 k father superior very
 Are we always seeking.
 this system is in deco stagnitiom.
 religious orpnintions in the rayon.. " I
 IEUGION
 OCt  valosodtrthya   rdy[aio   r l led the key
 Moscow tOsr1 "secret" stamp` an 1 do
 at Ys u b !WI w Bella.. Ittwes
 INIDAfslir raUiav ImWl*zH E'S7TJ VII in Russian
 by Ye. (`)shin. under the rubric "Sociologipi
 toty": "Are We Religious?-)
 problem of the human being, his spirituality aadnrra~
 sty. paramount. In this connection a prat deal of atten-
 tion is being given to questions of the attitude toward
 rdigiotun. the level ofaceeptance of religious culture. and
 its place and role in spiritual culture and in the life of
 contemporary society.
 The Scientific Research center of the Higher Komsomol
 School oldie All.Uaion Leninist Komsomol Central Com-
 mittee conducted a sociological study on this subject. They
 questioned 420 representatives of the youth intelligentsia
 and college students in Moscow and Leningrad. ih:cluding
 doctors, teachers. engineers, and representatives of the
 creative professions. In addition. young believers in the
 non-traditional religious grouping of Harr Krishna were
 questioned by the identical methodology.
 On the bait of the data received we can say that the
 interest in rdition, above all in religious culture and the
 ethical side  religious teachings, is quite high among
 the youth intelligentsia: about 40 percent of all the young
 People surveyed were thmiliar with religious literature
 (mainly the Bible. less commonly the Koran and the
 Talmud). and the interest shows most markedly among
 the creative intelligentsia.
 Young people are attracted first of all bar the historical
 and literary value of these works. In their answers they
 often speak of the humanism and wisdom expressed in
 these monuments of religious teaching. It Is interesting
 *at some respondents Consider the Bible's ;Prophesies
 timely for the present day; they consider them a kind of
 turoiogy." This is found most commonly among
 41tesponding to a question about the reasons for the
 preservation of religious feelings, almost half of the
 wspondents agreed with the statement that in ordinary
 ideas there is a mixture of national and religious con.
 cepts and that it is often impossible to separate national
 from religious traditions. Perhaps this is why the growth
 Approved for Relean?
 Date       AII( 1991
 C00042352
 fl.
 40
 IV
 JPRS-UPA-18.021
 4 April 1N9
 in national self-awareness which has been manifested
 arose and more vigorously in recent years carries in itself
 somewhat idealized Was of the role of religion in
 natinoal culture. Thus, 23 percent of the creative youth
 fed that national Culture cannot exist without religion.
 and overall 16.4 percent of the respondents hold this
 }uiat of view.
 A fact that draws attention is that four percent think that
 religion under ooatetaporary Conditions is a Tarim of
 -?deknsc of national interests" and tsgprou the opinion that
 igiow tt of        pShotild be tought In school. eople surveyed think that About
 t
 1
 process
 society Mey  organizations!
 be i~ r ri atedI state organs, and
 with
 1< percent propose organizing broad access to the mass
 information media for religious organizations.
 It appears that such a "radial" position in part of the
 intelligentsia may be caused by a reaction of rejection of
 that "atheistic" stereotype that has been artificially
 imposed for many years. At the same time it is direct
 evidence of an inadequately mature civic position in
 sawne young people. a result of equating the concepts of
 religion and morality. religion and culture. and so in the
 ideas of these young people.
 A significant number of respondents (about 30 percent)
 expressed the opinion that one of the primary reasons for
 the preservation of religious feeling is shortcomings in
 the system of education and indoctrination. which does
 not adequately mold a scientific materialist woridviowr.
 Thus, to the question. "Did the knowledge received in
 these classes help you in realizing and formulating prin-
 ciples and goals in life and in searching for answers to the
 questions that are important to your 38 percent
 answered. "No." and 30 percent were unable to give any
 answer at all. But this is just one aspect of the general
 problem of dehumanization of the system of education
 and indoctrination.
 Along with the youth intelligentsia these same questions
 were answered by a group of young believers. followers
 of the Hare Krishna cult. The answers to questions about
 the level of teaching of history and literature are practi-
 cally the same for both groups. But 70 percent or the
 believers gave a negative assessment to the role of the
 humanitarian knowledge received in school. If we con-
 sider that the ranks of the believers are felled most often
 by emotional, suggestible types who are easily wounded
 psychologically. then the damage to their spiritual world
 that is caused by the mechanical. stereotyped approach
 to humanitarian culture could have been the initial
 impetus so withdraw into aligious mysticism. it is not
 meprisingtlat an absolute majority (93 percent) of them
 think that religion fosters an awakening of the higher
 spiritual principle in people.
 While traditional, canonical religious culture attracts the
 attcnn ofabout half of the respondents, a majority (80
 perc rat) are interested in questions linked to mysterious
 phenomena of nature and the human mind (IJR1's. S
 telepathy, telekinesis, the biofield, and the like). There is
 a notable infatuation with dream hooks, homscupes,
 fununc telling, and the like. Although 36 percent con-
 sider all of these things a kind of "game" and something
 to do -from boredom. ' 32 percent of the young people
 surveyed link fortune telling with a hope to avoid don.
 '.sere and unpleasantness and a desire to know one's
 future. and almost as may say that they have encoun-
 tered area which verified certain signs, predictions. and
 no on.
 1 would like to point out one other aspect of the problem
 of non-traditional religion. This is that because of a
 certain eclecticism and primitivism the so-called
 "neocuhts" are unable to perform the religious compen-
 satory function and cannot erne as a adequate means of
 individual social adaptation. Therefore. politization of
 the activity of non-traditional religious groups is almost
 inevitable. This is confirmed by foreign experience, and
 by our own domestic experience. Most of the existing
 associations which to one degree or another have a
 religious (or pseudorcligious) orientation are drawn to
 consolidation. Steps are being taken to work out com-
 mon ideas and programs whose purpose is to form a
 political organization of believers, persons united by
 "space religion." and so on.
 Many Soviet social scientists are now speaking of the
 "need to refine the existing pactices in classifying believ-
 en with religious organizations considering the real
 processes in the ideology and activity of our country's
 religious organizations." But while rejecting vulgar athe-
 ism which has been imposed on mass consciousness for
 many years. we must understand that idealized ideas of
 religion and religious organizations are also unwise and
 usually result from inadequate theoretical literacy and
 humanitarian culture.
 Under conditions of continued democratization of puh-
 .lic life on the Country the activity of religious organi-
 sastions. including the non-traditional ones. will grow.
 Overall this is natural, and given all the diversity or the
 situation there must he broader interaction with re li-
 gious oragniratiems and groups of believers in the soKial.
 cultural, and sociopolitical spheres. Joint activit% h%
 religious, public, and state organizations offers an oppor-
 tunity for believers to achieve social self-rratvatnm not
 ? only in the religious sphere, but also in solving sneiatl%
 significant pmbtems. Such interaction can help reorient
 the individual and mold a scientific materialist world-
 view through concrete activity, through solving joint
 problems that are equally important to believers and
 non-believers.

