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Religion, Politics and Nation-Building in
Post-Communist Countries
 Post-Soviet Politics
Series Editor: Neil Robinson, University of Limerick, Ireland

The last decade has seen rapid and fundamental change in the countries of the
former Soviet Union. Although there has been considerable academic comment
on these changes over the years, detailed empirical and theoretical research on the
transformation of the post-Soviet space is only just beginning to appear as new
paradigms are developed to explain change.
Post-Soviet Politics is a series focusing on the politics of change in the states
of the former USSR. The series publishes original work that blends theoretical
development with empirical research on post-Soviet politics. The series includes
work that progresses comparative analysis of post-Soviet politics, as well as case
study research on political change in individual post-Soviet states. The series
features original research monographs, thematically strong edited collections and
specialized texts.
Uniquely, this series brings together the complete spectrum of work on post-Soviet
politics, providing a voice for academics world wide.

Also in the series

Negotiating Armenian-Azerbaijani Peace

Opportunities, Obstacles, Prospects
Ohannes Geukjian
ISBN 978 1 4724 3514 9

Crisis Management Challenges in Kaliningrad

Edited by Eugene Krasnov, Anna Karpenko and Greg Simons
ISBN 978 1 4094 7074 8

The Politics of Energy and Memory between the Baltic States and Russia
Agnia Grigas
ISBN 978 1 4094 4653 8

Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in the South Caucasus

Nagorno-Karabakh and the Legacy of Soviet Nationalities Policy
Ohannes Geukjian
ISBN 978 1 4094 3630 0

The Politics of Sub-National Authoritarianism in Russia

Edited by Vladimir Gel’man and Cameron Ross
ISBN 978 0 7546 7888 5
 Religion, Politics and
Nation-Building in
Post-Communist Countries

Edited by

Greg Simons
Uppsala University, Sweden

David Westerlund
Södertörn University, Sweden
© Greg Simons and David Westerlund 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Greg Simons and David Westerlund have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work.

Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Wey Court East 110 Cherry Street
Union Road Suite 3-1
Farnham Burlington, VT 05401-3818
Surrey, GU9 7PT USA
England

www.ashgate.com

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Religion, politics and nation-building in post-communist countries / edited by Greg Simons
and David Westerlund.
pages cm. -- (Post-soviet politics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4724-4969-6 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4724-4970-2 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-
4724-4971-9 (epub) 1. Religion and politics--Russia (Federation) 2. Religion and politics-
-Former Soviet republics. 3. Church and state--Russia (Federation) 4. Church and state-
-Former Soviet republics. 5. Orthodox Eastern Church--Russia (Federation) 6. Orthodox
Eastern Church--Former Soviet republics. 7. Post-communism--Russia (Federation) 8.
Post-communism--Former Soviet republics. 9. Nationalism--Russia (Federation)--Reli-
gious aspects. 10. Nationalism--Former Soviet republics--Religious aspects. I. Simons,
Greg, editor of compilation. II. Westerlund, David, editor of compilation.
BL65.P7R432757 2015
201'.720947--dc23
2014030190

ISBN 9781472449696 (hbk)

ISBN 9781472449702 (ebk – PDF)
ISBN 9781472449719 (ebk – ePUB)

Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Limited,

at the Dorset Press, Dorchester, DT1 1HD
 Contents

List of Figures   vii

Notes on Contributors   ix
Preface   xiii

Introduction   1
Greg Simons and David Westerlund

1 Religious Diplomacy in International and

Inter-Orthodox Relations   21
Greg Simons

2 Religious, Cultural and Political Dimensions of

Winter-Bathing in Russia   45
Per-Arne Bodin

3 ‘Orthodoxy or Death!’: Political Orthodoxy in Russia   65

Maria Engström

4 Shamanism, Politics and Ethnos-Building in Russia   75

Olle Sundström

5 The Approved and the Disapproved Islam in Russia   99

Kaarina Aitamurto

6 Islamic Opposition in Azerbaijan:

Discursive Conflicts and Beyond   117
Sofie Bedford

7 Religion and Nation-Building in Estonia:

Some Perspectives on Secular Society   143
Ringo Ringvee

8 Church and State Relations in Poland, with Special Focus on the

Radio Station Mary   163
Konrad Pędziwiatr
vi Religion, Politics and Nation-Building in Post-Communist Countries

9 Majority, Minorities and Religious Pluralism in Romania   179

Catalin Ionete

Comparative Conclusions and Wider Implications   199

Greg Simons and David Westerlund

Index   213
 List of Figures

2.1 The blessing of water outside the town Tyumen   47

2.2 The icon of the Baptism of Christ   52
2.3 Boris Kustodiev, Winter: Blessing of the Water on Epiphany   56
2.4 Ivan Volkov, The Blessing of the Water on the Irtysh River,
6 January, 1918   57
2.5 Anton Chirkov, Jordan, 1943   58
2.6 Engraving by Johan George Korb   59

3.1 Igor Miroshnichenko wearing the T-shirt ‘Orthodoxy or death’   66

8.1 Dominicantes and Communicantes in Poland 1980–2011   165

This page has been left blank intentionally
 Notes on Contributors

Dr Kaarina Aitamurto received her doctoral degree from the University of

Helsinki. Her dissertation analysed contemporary Russian Paganism in the
context of Russian nationalism. In her post-doctoral study, she focuses on Muslim
minorities in ethnically Russian areas and, in particular, the changes in the Muslim
communities in big cities such as Moscow, St Petersburg and Nizhnii Novgorod.
Aitamurto holds a position of a post-doctoral researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute
at the University of Helsinki and is a scholar in its centre of excellence, ‘Choices of
Russian Modernisation’, funded by the Academy of Finland. She is also a member
of the editorial board of the Journal of Religion and Violence.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dr Sofie Bedford has a PhD in Political Science from Stockholm University and
an MA in Peace and Conflict Research from Uppsala University. The title of her
doctoral thesis is Islamic Activism in Azerbaijan: Repression and Mobilization
in a Post-Soviet Context (Stockholm: Dept. of Political Science 2009). On the
premise that Islamic activism may be interpreted as a ‘social movement’ the study
focused on internal, contextual and interactional aspects of the mobilization of two
mosque communities in Baku. Bedford is currently a post-doctoral researcher at
the Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, where
her new research project focuses on democracy activism and the revival of civil
society in Azerbaijan. Besides her academic experiences, she has been involved
in community development work with the United Nations Development Program
and the International Rescue Committee in Azerbaijan.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Professor Per-Arne Bodin is Professor of Slavic Languages at the Department

of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Stockholm University. He has written on
the relationship between Russian culture and Russian Orthodox tradition and
is working for the moment on a project studying the role of symbols from the
Russian past in post-Soviet Russian culture. His most recent book is Language,
Canonization and Holy Foolishness: Studies in Post-Soviet Russian Culture and
the Orthodox Tradition (2009).
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dr Maria Engström studied Russian philology at the Moscow State University

from 1988–91 and gained a PhD in Slavic languages at Stockholm University
in 2004. In 2005–07 she held a research fellowship from the Swedish Research
x Religion, Politics and Nation-Building in Post-Communist Countries

Council. Her research has also been supported by grants from Helge Ax:son
Johnson Foundation, Birgit and Gad Rausing Foundation for Humanistic Research
and Magnus Bergvall Foundation. She has taught Russian language, literature and
cultural history at Stockholm University, Uppsala University, Södertörn University
and Stockholm School of Economics. Since 2012 she has worked at Dalarna
University as Assistant Professor of Russian and Head of the Russian Department.
Engström’s current research examines the post-Soviet conservative intellectual
milieu and explores cultural manifestation of identity in contemporary Russia.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dr Catalin Ionete holds a doctoral degree from the University of Bucharest for a
thesis dealing with religious pluralism in post-communist Romania. Some of his
research interests concern the rapidly changing religious landscape in Romania,
where the Orthodox Church is facing an increasingly challenging competition
on the religious market. He is currently living in Anchorage, USA, where he is
employed by the largest agency in the state of Alaska providing services in the
field of intellectual disabilities.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dr Konrad Pędziwiatr holds a doctoral degree from the Katholieke Universiteit

Leuven (Belgium) for a thesis dealing with emergence of new Muslim religious
brokers in European cities and politics of citizenship amongst Muslims in Europe.
Alumnus of the Jagiellonian University (Kraków) and the universities of Exeter
and Oxford, he specializes in sociology of religion, migration and new social
movements. He is the author of monographs The New Muslim Elites in European
Cities: Religion and Active Social Citizenship Amongst Young Organized Muslims
in Brussels and London (2010) and From Islam of Immigrants to Islam of Citizens:
Muslims in the Countries of Western Europe (2005, 2007) and numerous other
scholarly and non-scholarly publications on religions, migrations, minorities
and social movements in Europe and the Middle East. Pędziwiatr is Assistant
Professor at the Cracow University of Economics and a member of the Committee
on Migration Research of the Polish Academy of Science collaborating with the
Södertörn University in research on Islamophobia in Germany, Poland and Russia.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dr Ringo Ringvee holds a doctoral degree from the University of Tartu in Estonia
for a thesis dealing with issues related to the relations between the state and
religion in the post-communist Estonia. His research interests are in the relations
between religion and secular society as well as on issues related to the situation
of minority religions in contemporary societies. He is currently employed at the
Estonian Ministry of the Interior and holds a position as professor of Comparative
Religion at the Theological Institute of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.
 Notes on Contributors xi

Ringvee is also a member of a research group for religious studies at the Centre of
Excellence in Cultural Theory at the University of Tartu.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dr Greg Simons holds a doctoral degree from the University of Canterbury in

New Zealand for a thesis dealing with the changes of the Russian mass media
system since the 1990s. His research interests are how journalists and mass media
react to sensitive issues, such as terrorism and crises, and communicational aspects
concerning the Russian Orthodox Church. He is currently employed at Crismart
(Crisis Management Research and Training) in the Swedish National Defence
College and at the Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies (Uppsala
University). In addition to this, he occasionally teaches PR at Turiba Business
College in Riga. Simons is also on the OSCE’s roster of experts. In 2011 he was
elected to the Latvian Research Council’s expert panel on communication science.
E-mail address: [email protected]

Dr Olle Sundström holds a doctoral degree in Religious Studies from Umeå

University, Sweden, where he is currently employed as Associate Professor at the
Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. In his doctoral
thesis (2009) he analyses how Soviet ethnographers conceptualized and theorized
‘supernatural beings’ in the worldviews of the Samoyed peoples. He has also
published studies on Soviet policies of religion towards ‘shamanism’ among the
indigenous peoples of the North, as well as on the revival of shamanism in post-
Soviet Siberia. Between 2010 and 2012 he ran the research project ‘Repression of
shamans in the Soviet North from the late 1920s through the 1950s: an archival
study’, financed by the Swedish Research Council. Sundström has been awarded
scientific prizes for his research both in Finland (The Donner Institute) and Sweden
(The Royal Skyttean Society).
E-mail address: [email protected]

Professor David Westerlund holds a PhD degree in the History of Religions

from Stockholm University. He is Professor in the Study of Religions at Södertörn
University in Stockholm. Westerlund is also affiliated researcher to the inter-
disciplinary research programme Impact of Religion at Uppsala University.
Currently, he is primarily engaged in the research project ‘Islamophobia in
Germany, Poland and Russia, with Particular Attention to Its Christian Dimension’,
financed by the Baltic Sea Foundation. His research interests include modern Islam
and Christianity, particularly Pentecostalism, in Africa and Europe. Thematically,
he is specialized on issues of religion and health, inter-religious relations, religion
and politics, historiography and religious revival movements.
E-mail address: [email protected]
This page has been left blank intentionally
 Preface

In the wake of the annual conference of the European Association for the
Study of Religions (EASR), ‘Ends and Beginnings’ in August 2012, which was
organized by the Department for the Study of Religions at Södertörn University
in Stockholm, it was decided to embark upon a book that would cover the issue of
religion in post-communist space from different angles. Dr Greg Simons (Uppsala
University) and Professor David Westerlund (Södertörn University) saw a great
deal of further potential and shouldered the task of preparing a collected volume
that went beyond the scope of the conference. The idea was to produce a coherent
book on religion, politics and nation-building, with examples mainly from Russia
but also from a few other countries in its neighbourhood.
In recent decades, old secularization theories have been challenged, and
debates about the post-secular state of things, or post-secular society, have
become increasingly important. The political role of religion can most clearly
be seen in non-European parts of the world. However, in Europe the ‘return
of religion’ and changing relationships between religion and public arenas or
institutions are significant too. Here post-communist Eastern Europe, where the
fall of communism partly paved the way for an augmented influence of religion,
is of particular interest. This book provides important examples of the increasing
visibility of religion in the public sphere(s) there. We hope that the contributions
to the book will be inspiring for further research on its theme.

Greg Simons and David Westerlund

Stockholm, October 2014
This page has been left blank intentionally
 Introduction
Greg Simons and David Westerlund

The chosen theme for this edited volume – religion, politics and nation-building
in post-communist countries – is a very dynamic one. What is contained within
these pages is merely the tip of the iceberg of what is happening in such countries,
but hopefully this book shall be one modest step in generating further interest and
research in this topic. There are many different aspects to religion in the states
covered in this book – Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Poland, Romania, Russia
and Ukraine. There are similarities that emerge from some unlikely aspects and
there are some expected differences. In some cases, religion was a strong marker
of independence or defiance during the socialist and Soviet period. In others, it
cooperated to various degrees with the new atheist authorities. Not all religions
were accepted during this period; others were to some extent tolerated. In general,
it was a difficult time for religious leaders and adherents, who chose different paths
to survive this period. One of the reasons that motivated this volume is summed
up in the words contained within a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe report:

The experiment with atheism conducted with varying degrees of intensity and
determination in both Central and Eastern European countries proved a failure.
None the less, the church policy of the Communist regimes in the region
effectively deformed religious culture, and has decisively shaped the special
features of post-Communist socio-cultural development in that part of Europe.1

This implies that the political and historical conditions of post-communist

regions have created a specific and unique environment. However, does this
still hold true, and are there any more general lessons to be learned from these
regions? A number of patterns emerge from the chapters contained within this
volume, such as the fusion of religious and national identities, the relevance
and importance of moral and spiritual authority, and questions concerning the
level of institutional access by religious organizations under the communist and,
in particular, during the current democratic era. In some regards, religion has

1 ‘Religion and Change in Central and Eastern Europe’, Report Summary,

Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, Doc. 9399, 27 March 2002. Available at:
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/Doc/XrefViewHTML.asp?FileID=9678&Language=en
(accessed 19 February 2014).
2 Religion, Politics and Nation-Building in Post-Communist Countries

been seen as a potentially uniting and civilizing force for society, to bring order
and stability to chaos (Agadjanian 2001: 477–8; Merdjanova 2000). This may
raise the question: ‘Where are the greatest effects of religion found in the post-
Communist and post-Soviet world, in the spiritual or political realm?’ When a
dominant foreign ideological/military power, such as the Ottoman Empire and
later communism, goes into decline, it sets the conditions where ‘the symbiosis
between religion and nationalism could gain attractive power’ (Merdjanova
2000: 252–3).
As an integral part of creating and defining the Self, the other side of the
coin is to create and define the Other. Once more, religion is a useful tool here
for achieving this task. The creation of the Other is emotionally driven by
socio-economic or political concerns. However, as noted by Kilp (2011: 197),
any ensuing conflict is based upon constructed cultural identities. ‘It is made
meaningful by a reliance on religious or ideological values, beliefs, myths and
narratives, and is framed with general moral binaries (such as “good” and “evil”).’
The creation of Self, or Us, is defined symbolically through cultural myths and
markers, influencing actions, ideas and values of individuals and groups. The
Other serves as a means of encouraging social integration by rallying around the
positive feelings that are generated by a national identity (Kilp 2011; Rogobete
2009). Although religion can be an important part in this process of creating the
cultural Self, it does not necessarily have to, as in the case of Estonia, which is
discussed further in Ringo Ringvee’s chapter in this book.
The issue of religious involvement in public life is a complex one with
many different angles and considerations that vary from country to country.
Communism may be seen as a leading example of what Lincoln (2003) calls a
minimalist approach to religion, according to which it should be restricted to
metaphysical issues and interiorized – if not totally forbidden (as in the case of
communist Albania). This contrasts to the maximalist approach at the other end
of the spectrum, where religion should control all aspects of human life. The
Islamic Republic of Iran may be seen as a contemporary example of that approach.
Between minimalist and maximalist positions there are a number of intermediate
approaches, according to which religion should control some aspects of human life.
The involvement of religion in social or societal issues does not necessarily mean
that it should or would assume a political role, but that possibility is not excluded.
Political leaders in post-communist societies frequently welcome the involvement
of religion within the public sphere, especially in unstable political, social and
economic environments of limited state capacity (see further, for instance, Ancic
and Zrinscak 2012 and Muller 2011). However – unlike the case of Iran – this has
not lead to the establishment of confessional states where the state apparatus is
subordinate to religion and religious leaders have a decisive say in political affairs.
In several post-communist cases, Lincoln’s concept ‘religions of status quo’
seems useful for designating the new relationship between the politically dominant
fractions and the predominant religions (Lincoln 2003: 77–92), in most cases
Christian Orthodoxy. Such religions help these leading fractions to legitimate
 Introduction 3

ideologically their exercise of power. While a religion of status quo thus tenders
valuable service to the ruling elite, and assists in terms of providing stability for
society, it may gain a special status and certain privileges in return. Being vitally
interested in the success of the propagation of the predominant religion – through
preaching, education, social services and otherwise – the dominant fraction may
support its institutions, leaders and followers in a number of various ways. To
what extent, and in what ways, religion has left its more shadowy position during
communist times and gained influence in various post-communist countries will
be exemplified in the following chapters of this book. In addition, some examples
of what Lincoln calls ‘religions of resistance’, which oppose the religions of status
quo, will also be provided.

Religiosity amongst the Population

In the aftermath of the collapse of communism many individual citizens began to

embark upon their personal quest for spirituality. ‘This was very often linked to the
healing of psychological or moral ailments as well as physical cures.’ There was a
flourishing of what had previously been banned religious information and literature
(Marsh 2010: 13). A strong trend towards increased interest in and affiliation with
religion has been recorded by religio-sociological research. However, this does
not necessarily mean that organized religion, practized according to traditional
rites and customs, is taking hold. To understand the religious landscapes, one
needs to pay attention to the ‘respective historical contexts and the significance of
religion for national and ethnic identity’ (Muller 2011: 32). In some cases, religion
is a powerful indicator of group identity, in others it is not. Hence the nature of
religious identity can vary a great deal.
In Russia, the number of people who profess a religion has been gradually
increasing. For instance, a poll conducted in 1997 had 62 per cent of respondents
professing a religion, which grew to 69 per cent in a 2003 poll (Simons 2009:
17). Within the turbulent environment of change, one of the most trusted public
institutions in Russia is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), and according to
one poll from 2004 some 41 per cent of the respondents named it so (Simons
2009: 16). Data from the International Social Survey Programme supports this
return to religion by Russians: between 1991 and 2008 those adults identifying
themselves as Orthodox rose from 31 to 72 per cent. During the same period those
not identifying with any religion fell from 61 to 18 per cent.2 However, it seems
possible to infer that, to most Russians, religion is regarded as being a cultural and
national tradition and an identity rather than a lifestyle and spiritual code. In spite
of an increasing number of Russians identifying themselves as being Orthodox,

2 Russians Return to Religion, But not to Church, Pew Research: Religion and
Public Life Project, 10 February 2014. Available at: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/02/10/
russians-return-to-religion-but-not-to-church/ (accessed 19 February 2014).
4 Religion, Politics and Nation-Building in Post-Communist Countries

their knowledge of the faith is usually poor (Simons 2009: 61). Hence we may here
have a case of ‘believing in belonging’– to Orthodoxy (Day 2011; cf. Davie 1994).
Christian Orthodoxy is thus increasingly being seen as a cultural and national
Russian heritage, which excludes many (non-Orthodox) ethnic others.
However, together with Christian Orthodoxy, Russia’s predominant faith, the
second biggest religion, Islam, as well as Buddhism and Judaism, have a special
status as officially recognized, so-called traditional religions too. Representatives
of organizations of these four religions meet in the federal Inter-Religious Council
(Mezhreligionzny sovet Rossii) and advocate a special role for them before the
government and the public. The number of Muslims is Russia, the majority of
whom are Sunnis, with pockets of Shiites,3 is quite varied, depending on the source
of the information. Figures can be found ranging from only a few million of the
population to 10 per cent (about 15 million people) or even much more (Cornell and
Svanberg 1999: 403).4 There are several predominantly Muslim republics in the
Russian Federation: Tatarstan, Dagestan, Chechnya, Adygeva, Ingushetia, North
Ossetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachayevo-Cherkessia. In some republics, like
Dagestan, Islam has a very long history dating back to the very first centuries of
its spread. There is currently an increasing emigration from the southern areas to
ethnically Russian-dominated regions in the north and a rapid establishment of
many new Muslim institutions, like mosques, schools and universities. There is
also a growing radicalism in some areas, particularly Chechnya, and some terrorist
attacks have occurred (see, for example, Dannreuther 2011). Radical Chechens
try to bring in their coreligionists in other parts of Russia, such as Ingushetia, to
fight the Russian state, ‘which is as ethnically and religiously alien to them in its
present as it was in its previous incarnations’ (Lincoln 2003: 71). Here Islam as
a religion of resistance, in Lincoln’s terminology, may develop into a ‘religion
of revolution’, opposing not only the religious arm of the politically dominant
fraction but also this fraction itself (Lincoln 2003: 85).
In Ukraine, easing of restrictions on religion began in the late Soviet era in
April 1991 with the On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations law
being passed (Belitser 2012: 393). Some 97 per cent of the religious communities
that are registered in Ukraine are Christian. Orthodoxy is represented by three
leading church bodies and several smaller confessions, and there are also a number
of Protestant denominations (Belitser 2012: 392–3). An increasing interest in
religion has been manifested, for instance, in a growing number of Pentecostal

3 T. Disney, ‘Islamic Identities in Post-Soviet Russia: Realities and Representations’,

E-International Relations, 25 November 2010. Available at: http://www.e-ir.info/2010/11/25/
islamic-identities-in-post-soviet-russia-realities-and-representations/ (accessed 19 February
2014).
4 Recent statistics from Pew Forum estimates the Muslim population figure at 5 per
cent of Russia’s population. Russians Return to Religion, But not to Church, Pew Research:
Religion and Public Life Project, 10 February 2014. Available at: http://www.pewforum.
org/2014/02/10/russians-return-to-religion-but-not-to-church/ (accessed 19 February 2014).
 Introduction 5

congregations and followers. According to Naumescu (2010: 70), however,

Ukrainians in general have a low level of commitment to religious organizations,
which he argues is a legacy of the Soviet past.
Some 99.3 per cent of respondents to a poll in Romania claimed to have a
religious faith, in spite of a strong atheistic propaganda during the communist era
(Rogobete 2009: 564). This is a hint at the resilience, or revival, of religion. Even
after over four decades of communist rule, it was able to regain a rapid comeback
and demonstrate that it is an important aspect in the fabric of contemporary
Romanian society. However, as discussed in the chapter by Catalin Ionete in
this book, the role of Christian Orthodoxy there has in some parts of the country
become increasingly challenged by Protestant minority denominations, where
church attendance and knowledge of the faith tend to be much higher than in
Orthodox circles. More or less conversion-oriented Protestant denominations,
which resist or challenge the (Orthodox) religion of status quo, are also found in
other countries, such as Belarus, Russia and Ukraine (see, for example, Sawatsky
2007; Stoor 2001; Wanner 2007).
In Azerbaijan approximately 93 per cent of the population have a Muslim
identity, and 60–75 per cent of them are connected with Shiite traditions. However,
religious or spiritual knowledge is poor; and one survey puts the number of ‘active
believers’, or practitioners, in the range of 4–6 per cent. Although the great
majority consider themselves as being Muslims, they only comply with a limited
number of beliefs and practices. Yet some very important changes have occurred.
For instance, in 1976 there were 16 mosques and one religious school (madrasa)
in Azerbaijan. By the end of the twentieth century the figure had increased to
about 1,300 mosques and religious schools. An Islamic university had also been
established (Motika 2001: 111).
This development seems to follow the pattern of many other post-communist
countries – an explosion of religious identity, but without corresponding religious
knowledge and practising of the faith. For example, a strengthening of Orthodox
identity can be observed also in Belarus (cf. Marples 1999), the third part of the
‘Slavic trinity’ (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus). The countries in the Balkans, or
former Yugoslavia, are another interesting case (Detrez 2000). Even in Albania,
where religious practices were officially banned in 1967 and the country became
a constitutionally atheist state (Broun 1988), religion has made a significant
comeback in the post-communist era, although – like Estonia – Albania belongs
to those countries where its return is less far-reaching than in other countries like
Russia and Poland.
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