www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Poll Suggests Russia Is Europe’s Most Pious Nation

Russians are the most pious nation in Europe, most atheists are male, and Orthodox Christians outnumber Muslims overwhelmingly, according to two recent polls.

The surveys, however, also indicate that the country's leading religious denomination, the Russian Orthodox Church, may be seriously overestimating its membership, and avoided the tricky question about whether belief translates into active worship — which earlier polls indicate it does not.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/...is-europes-most-pious-nation/436344.html

If Russia is Europe's most pious nation, how does one account for the fact [data.un.org] that in 2007 there were 53.7 abortions per 1,000 women in that country, whereas there were 7.8 in Germany and 5.0 in Greece?

The USA has a higher percentage of people who say that they believe in God than the Western European countries, and yet it also has a higher abortion rate than Germany and France, and of course both Germany and France have large majorities that say that they do not believe in God.

When I think of piety I certainly do not think of Germany or France.

Apparently there is little or no correlation between statistics related to a general belief in God and the abortion rate within a given country.

I like your phrasing: "a general belief in God." I'm not so sure "a general belief in God" on its own ever did anyone much good. What's more important: What people say or what they do?

By the way, you can find plenty of piety in France and Germany. I have attended packed churches in both countries on quite ordinary Sundays during the year.

It should be borne in mind too that recent history has played a major role in the demographic shifts that have occurred, and that continue to occur, in Russia.

After all, since the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991 the number of abortions per 1000 women has been in decline from highs during the 1980s of 120 per 1000. Who knows what things will be like in another twenty years time in a Russia that is no longer dominated by an atheistic political ideology.

P.S. - As I see it religion, and Christianity in particular, has a brighter future at the present in Russia than it does in Western Europe. The religious future of Western Europe is one that will most likely be dominated by Muslims.

Ya think? Personally, I put no faith in opinion surveys on religion, because it's one of two subjects about which everybody lies, the inclination being to tell the pollster whatever the societally acceptable answer is, regardless of the truth.

And, in general, it helps to remember: "Attitudinal Surveys Yield Platitudinal Results"

It's not only Russia.

Philippines - 82% Catholic

Population: 92,000,000

Abortion rate: 500,000 plus a year.

Maybe someone has the figures for Russia?

I am sure that there are pious people in France and Germany, but polls taken in both countries also reveal large numbers of atheists, and in fact in France the number of atheists is larger than the number who say that they believe there is a God.

Be that as it may, I find it amazing that there is any religious activity at all in Russia after 70 years of persecution by the godless Bolsheviks. It is a true miracle in my opinion.

Below is a video excerpt from the 2009 visit of the Kursk Root icon to Russia - its first visit since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917:



I am sure that many of the people in this video had the opportunity to do something else that day, but they chose to participate in the veneration of this sacred icon.

All "official" figures for Russia should be taken with a grain of salt, since the tendency is for the government to put a smiley face on all news, good or bad.

Abortion figures for the USSR were classified until the 1980s. After the fall of communism, statistics were collated from documents in archives, and the state has continued to publish annual figures, but their reliability is dubious.

Here is a sample of abortion as a ratio per 1000 live births, as a percentage of all pregnancies, and as a ratio per 1000 women of childbearing age::


From these data, it can be seen that only in the past few years has the ratio of abortion to live births dropped below 1:1, while the % of abortions per pregnancy has gradually dropped below 50%. The rate of abortions per 1000 women of childbearing age still remains very high, but is also declining. While abortion is obviously still used as a method of birth control, its popularity is declining as other forms of contraception become available. More disturbing, though is, according to Russian figures, some 30% of all abortions were performed on girls under 18. Russia being what it is, one must suspect the actual figure is much higher.

The West lives in a glass house. Its murder rate for the unborn is certainly lower, but not that much lower. One million murders a year in the USA is hardly a thing to be rejoicing about.