Results of Youth Poll on Religious Issues Reported

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

And can many of our "worldly" confessors say several sincere, informal words over a grave without a crib sheet? And a church sexton would say that the marriage ceremony performed in our registry offices [zags] is backwork. So, it should not be surprising that the church "opium" continues to cloud even present-day brains that are enlightened by the sciences. The soul is drawn there where refuge is given.

I had a remarkable dialogue with A. Volobitina, chairman of the Ust-Pechengsk rural sov... Anna Anfinogenovna, with knowledge of the matter, talked about how her countrymen and women live, what they buy in the store, what they subscribe to and read, and how much money they have on their bankbooks. She guiltily became silent only when I asked whether she knew for what reasons Komsomol member Sidorova recently baptized her firstborn, and deputy Petrova, her two sons, who are senior pupils.

"I visit the church only on a patron saint's day." Volokitina admitted frankly. "In order to hear whether there is anything anti-Soviet in the sermons. I once tried to establish contact with the father, and he then and there took the opportunity to ask permission... at times to sit in at sessions and meetings of the ispolkom."

"You did not allow it."

"What else!"

Brief, but very eloquent indeed. But I liked that seditious initiative of the Ust-Pechengsk father superior very much (true, he is now in another parish). Well, he will not miss his chance, and we? Are we always seeking, finding and seizing any opportunity to look into the human heart—into another soul. Which, maybe, is drawn to us more strongly than to the temple?

. I finished my notes in the Gryazovetskiy Rayon. Three of the 17 parishes functioning now in Vologodskaya Oblast (not counting the newly opened church in Totma) are in villages in the nearby area. Apparently, it is for this very reason that the visiting (vyezdnoye) conference of the department of propaganda and agitation of the Vologodskiy CPSU obkom was held here. The conference examined the question "on the individual approach to the atheistic education of the population." Not bothering the reader with an exposition "of individual shortcomings in the system of party management of atheistic education of the population." I will say, however, that this system is in deep stagnation, if not worse.

There is this kind of a line in the resolution document: "The ideological activ obtains information on the activity of religious organizations in the rayon..." I strongly doubt the truth of this assertion. The rayispolkom showed me such information on the condition: "Not for publication." N. Voronin, a representative of the council on religious matters in Vologodskaya Oblast, when

requested to acquaint the correspondent with the activity of the Vologodskaya eparchy [diocese], turned the key in a safe and, excusing himself, sajid. All information of this kind goes to Moscow under a "secret" stamp, so I do not have the right."

Secret just like in a confession. Only it is not known what is being concealed. It looks like it is the fact of their capitulation to the father.

Results of Youth Poll on Religious Issues Reported

38000552a Tallinn MOLODEZH ESTONII in Russian

& Jan 29 p 3

[Article by Ye. Grishina, under the rubric "Sociological Laboratory": "Are We Religious?"]

[Text] The process of renewing society has made the problem of the human being, his spirituality and morality, paramount. In this connection a great deal of attention is being given to questions of the attitude toward religioun, the level of acceptance 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 of the All-Union Leninist Komsomol Central Committee conducted a sociological study on this subject. They questioned 420 representatives of the youth intelligentsia and college students in Moscow and Leningrad, including doctors, teachers, engineers, and representatives of the creative professions. In addition, young believers in the non-traditional religious grouping of Hare Krishna were questioned by the identical methodology.

On the basis of the data received we can say that the interest in religion, above all in religious culture and the ethical side of religious teachings, is quite high among the youth intelligentsia: about 40 percent of all the young people surveyed were familiar 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 by 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 that some respondents consider the Bible's prophesies timely for the present day; they consider them a kind of "futurology." This is found most commonly among students.

Responding to a question about the reasons for the preservation of religious feelings, almost half of the respondents agreed with the statement that in ordinary ideas there is a mixture of national and religious concepts and that it is often impossible to separate national from religious traditions. Perhaps this is why the growth