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.