ABSTRACT

Although the Constitution of the Soviet Union guaranteed freedom of worship, there is little question that religion was repressed if not completely suppressed during the years of socialist rule. The forms of repression changed from outright persecution during the Stalin years, to grudging toleration with considerable civil disability during the more recent years. In their sexual attitudes Russians were tolerant of premarital and extramarital sex, less tolerant of East Germans of the former and more tolerant of the later. Belief in a personal God reduces to statistical insignificance the Russian "advantage" in these three variables. The change from atheism to theism of about a fifth of all Russians is especially likely to happen among younger Russians. The proportion who always believed has declined with age, but this effect has been canceled out by the increase of the switchers among the younger generation so that all age groups under sixty-five are equally likely to believe in God.