Vyacheslav Karpov and Elena Lisovskaya, Western Michigan University
June 21, 2007
Religious Intolerance Towards the Jews in Russia
Abstract
Data from our 2005 national survey (2,972 interviews) show a widespread and strong religious intolerance towards the Jews in Russia. Most Orthodox Christians and Muslims are unwilling to grant the Jews basic religious liberties despite Judaism's legal status of a "traditional" religion. Jews are Russia's least tolerated "traditional" minority, and only "non-traditional" western churches are tolerated less. Among the Orthodox, stronger religiosity is linked to slightly more, and among Muslims, to slightly less tolerance. The intolerance is more consistently linked with illiberal and ethnocentric beliefs about religions than with religious beliefs proper. It is worsened by reactionary ideological orientations and racist attitudes. The intolerance is so widespread that anti-Semitism adds little to it. The intolerance towards the Jews is part of a broader culture of disdain for religious freedom. It would be impossible to advance religious freedom for Russia's Jews without policy efforts targeting this broader culture.