Religion

By virtue of its geopolitical position, Belarus during all its history stood on the joint of two worlds, two cultures and ideologies, was a peculiar zone of interaction of the Orthodox-Byzantine and Catholic-Roman civilizations. All this has defined its unique cultural and historical position in Europe. The syncretic, predominantly Orthodox-and-Catholic culture of the people of Belarus was enriched with achievements of other cultures, by absorbing first of all those values that could be easily adapted to local soil. A considerable role in development of general culture of the people of Belarus belongs to representatives of traditional religions.

The relationships of the two main religions of Belarus, Orthodoxy and Catholicism were, as a rule, of a tolerance nature. The Orthodox people of Belarus before the Brest Church Unia of 1596 were a dominating confessional majority and considerably dominated in number over the local Catholics, Jews, Moslems, Protestants. In the 17th -19th centuries Orthodox believers were forcibly converted into the Uniat Church which had in much borrowed the Orthodox traditions, church rituals and was using the Church Slavonic and live national language operating in its cult practice. At the end of the 18th century Uniats made up to 70% of all citizens of Belarus, Catholics - about 15%, Orthodox believers - 6%, Jews - 7%, Protestants and others - about 2%.

In 1839 the Unia on the lands of Belarus (also of Lithuania and the greater part of the Ukraine) was eliminated, and the Uniat Church was attached to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Orthodox population in Belarus became again dominant in number (more than 66% by the beginning of the 20th century).

During the last decade (1990-1999) the religious-and-ethnic self-consciousness of the people of Belarus has increased considerably, and the confessional factor began to play a noticeable role in socio-political life of the society. This was promoted by democratization of the public life. In religion people began to see the warranty of stability, order, inviolability of spiritual abutments of the society, revival of national traditions of the people. "Religious Renaissance" was promoted by revision of relations between the church and the State.

The religious activity of all confessions in Belarus has grown especially active from the end of the 1980s. Sociological researches testify it. Thus, in 1989 65% of all the interrogated ascribed themselves to atheists, in 1994 they counted 32% (that is 30% less). The fraction of believers increased considerably - from 22% to 43.4% by 1994, and the religiosity among women was higher than among men (54.6% against 33.3%). Among the elder age brackets, the fraction of believers was 1.5-2 times higher than among men. In the youth the inclination to religion spread almost uniformly between the sexes. Researches in the beginning of the 1990s showed that among the believers about 70% associate themselves with Orthodoxy, 15-20% with Catholicism, and about 2% with Protestantism.

Under support of the state authorities positive changes took place in cultural-and-religious life of national minorities. Since 1992 in Belarus the Law "On National Minorities" is in action, according to which the State shall encourage creation of material conditions for development of education and culture of national minorities by allocation of necessary assets from the state budget. Since 1994 in Minsk the Republican Center of National Cultures is in operation, one of its purposes being a specific simulation in miniature of interethnic relations, characteristic for economically developed multinational countries of Europe, America, Asia.

There is a tight connection of religious organizations and ethno-confessional groups with cultural-and-educational associations which put as their target the national, cultural and religious revival of each ethnic group. The majority of religious organizations promote inter-confessional understanding, preservation of traditions of tolerance in the society. The well-balanced position of the State, search of compromises on the way to creation of civil society promote to the fact that now the state ideology is formed on the basis of general Christian values, and not on the basis of the doctrine of any religion separately taken.

The State Committee on Religions and Nationalities created in January 1997 on the basis of the Council on Religions under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus contributes to inter-confessional consent through fulfilling functions of the supervising body and investigation and co-ordination center. The law of the Republic of Belarus 'On Freedom of Faith and Religion Organizations' underwent international expertise and was recognized to be adequate to international standards.

In the post-Soviet period the religious life in Belarus became richer, more active and started its dynamic development. Every citizen is granted the right to profess any religion or to be an atheist. The quantity of religions, religious communities which are of authority with the population has grown. The society is interested in a dialogue of representatives of different religions, confirmation of principles of tolerance and cooperation. The respectful attitude towards representatives of different religions is the guarantor of social peace in the Belarusian land.