Abstract
Russia's religious situation today is often described in terms of a “religious renaissance”. However, this is only one aspect of the situation. There were indeed some important changes at the beginning of the 1990s and the number of believers increased significantly. But since then the situation has stablized. Later in the decade, only one-third of the Russian population considered themselves believers, the majority remaining indifferent towards religion. Furthermore, because of their atheist heritage, most people have only a cursory knowledge of religion. Believers in Russia today for the most part also believe in astrology, magic, reincarnation, and so on. The Russian Orthodox Church is respected, but only a minority of the people describe themselves as Orthodox. Furthermore, despite the growing number of churches and parishes across the country, Russians go to church less often than other Europeans.