Religious Stability in Russia at Risk Because of Both Changes in Relative Size of Christianity and Islam and the Rise of Buddhism, ‘Nezavisimaya Gazeta’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 15 – The stable relations among the traditional religions of the Russian Federation – Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism – that have long existed are now at risk because of the changing size of the first two and increasing activism by the third, according to the editors of Nezavisimaya Gazeta.

            In a lead article, the editors note that Patriarch Kirill said recently that “Russia is an example of practically ideal relations between Orthodoxy and Islam” but also that changes in their relative size because of immigration and differences in growth rates are creating problems that need to be addressed (ng.ru/editorial/2024-09-15/2_9093_red.html).

            Kirill himself always makes clear that such challenges are coming primarily because of immigrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus, but as the newspaper points out, the number of Muslims in Russia is increasing not only because of them but because of higher growth rates among indigenous Muslim nations in Russia.

            But if the relationship between the two largest religions, Orthodoxy and Islam, have long attracted the most attention, the recent increase in activism by the country’s much smaller Buddhist community are now increasing to the point that it will become “a third force” as far as religions are concerned and upset the current balance as well.

            For background on recent changes in the Buddhist world in the Russian Federation, see /windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/08/two-structures-one-in-buryatia-and.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/02/russias-buddhist-nations-want-ulan.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/06/tyva-will-be-first-republic-in-russia.html