Through the Eyes Of Statistics
Another round table — The Church, the State, and Society — organized the Wednesday before last by the Razumkov Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Research, State Committee on Religions, and Ukrainian Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, presented the new issue of The National Security and Defense. This time the periodical contains a lengthy analysis of religious life in Ukraine, relying on Razumkov nationwide polls in August 2002, involving 2,004 respondents aged 18 and over.
The results, albeit dry facts and figures, form an expressive picture of today’s Ukrainian believers and nonbelievers. Certain aspects might surprise Ukraine’s man in the street by refuting some of the myths we appear to have created about ourselves. Below is only a small part of data contained in the said turnouts that this author believes will give the reader food for thought.
To begin with, what religions or confessions do the Ukrainians profess? 68.8% consider themselves Orthodox, 6.9% claim they are Greek Catholics, 2.2% are Protestants, 0.8% are Roman Catholics, and 0.7% are Muslims. A separate group of 6.4% insists they are “just Christians.” In other words, Ukraine is clearly a multiconfessional state. Studies show that most female believers are aged 50 and over, with an incomplete secondary education, living in the countryside and small towns in Western Ukraine. Of late, men, young people as well as the middle-aged, have been sharing an increasing percentage among believers, especially in small populated areas with set lifestyle, folkways, public opinion, and daily conformism.
Now as in previous years, the Church enjoys higher trust among the Ukrainian citizenry than other social or political institutions. Recent polls indicate that 61.2% of the adult population trust the Church (e.g., 28.8% of the respondents state that they believe it implicitly; 32.4% say they believe more than distrust it). 68.3% of believers acknowledge its positive social role. This author, in turn, believes that such high popularity of the Church is partially due to the people’s profound distrust of most other institutions in this country, ones upon which our life depends to some degree or another. Compare this to the ratings of other state structures and the head of state: 7.1% of the Ukrainians support the president; 5.2% parliament; 6.9% the cabinet; 25.3% the armed forces; 12.2% the militia.
Despite such high Church support, religion does not rank that high among the Ukrainians’ vital priorities. Most believe that they have to (a) take care of their families, (b) themselves, and (c) serve their Lord (32.4%). Then comes society and the state (although perhaps the question was not properly formulated). In addition, most believers, including the Orthodox, consider that their religion is ill-adjusted to the needs of modern man. Religious influence in the political sphere is not very high either; it is taken into account by 24.2% of Ukrainian Greek Catholics, some 10% of Ukrainian Orthodox, and 12% of UOC, Kyiv Patriarchate.
When asked about reasons for interfaith conflicts, respondents came up with unexpected answers, differing from those habitually referred to by the media and even clergymen. Thus, 47.4% (including 43.5% believers) point to power plays in upper church echelons as the main reason for such conflicts. Second comes the struggle for property, buildings, and premises. Third are political reasons. Fourth come ethnic factors (a mere 14.2% of the respondents say that church conflicts have something to do with ethnic problems). When asked whether the Church and religion have to be ethnically oriented, half the respondents (49.5% of believers) replied in the negative.
This latest poll is another evidence that Ukraine has a high degree of religious tolerance. 62.9% of the believers are convinced that any religion has a right to exist provided it propagates the ideals of good, charity, mercy, and poses no threat to others. This approach is manifest in the response to the thesis “The only true religion is the one I profess.” Only 9.3% supported it (i.e., every tenth respondent, including every sixth believer). About as many consider that only the traditional churches should exist in Ukraine.
A mere 19.2% of the respondents favored the idea of an official Church in this country (a status coveted by one of our major churches), the others pointed out that this would contradict the right of every individual to the freedom of consciousness and lead to discrimination against the adherents of other churches. 37.1% feel sure that granting any of the churches such official status would add to interfaith tensions and aggravate the relationships between Church and state.
Two Ukrainian phenomena ought to be singled out; both were brought into focus by the polls. One is that there are two largest Orthodox churches in Ukraine, not one, depending on what one takes into account. If it is the number of parishes, the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, with its over 10,000 parishes, is far ahead of the other two Orthodox churches that have almost 4,000 parishes in all. The polls, however, show a somewhat different picture. 53.2% Ukrainians consider themselves “just Christians”; 23.8% adhere to the UOC of the Kyiv Patriarchate; 14.8% Moscow Patriarchate; 2.4% are for the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and 7% are unsure. Obviously, this does not tally with the above (maybe people do not want to declare their affiliation to the Moscow Patriarchate for reasons best known to themselves?). Experts attribute this discrepancy to people now knowing what religious jurisdiction they are under.
The other phenomenon is also arithmetical. In Ukraine, believers are not the only ones considering themselves Orthodox. Others, still uncertain whether they believe, and even agnostics do so as well. In other words, part of the Ukrainians are Orthodox unbelievers. This phenomenon could mean that people simply identify being Ukrainian with being Orthodox or that the concept is the result of pressure on unbelievers by public Orthodox conformism.
All told, the polls produce a rather attractive picture of contemporary Ukrainians; quite tolerant, with a degree of respect for other adherents in their immediate environs, capable of a critical approach to their own religious roots, not sanctimonious, imposing certain requirements on the Church, knowing the difference between religious and political convictions.
