Features of religiousness of Moscow students

Abstract

This article discusses the results of an empirical study of the religiosity of Moscow students conducted by the author in 2016. The level and degree of religiosity of students is examined; a considerable discrepancy is shown. A comparison of the attitudes of religious, non-religious and unbelieving students towards religion is made. The attitudes of young people towards religion and the characteristics of their behavior are determined by religious affiliation: the most pronounced religiosity is among Muslims, the least pronounced one is among Orthodox Christians. The author develops a classification of the Orthodox students based on the degree of their religiosity. The paper puts emphasis on the ‘fuzziness’ of the religious consciousness of students, especially the Orthodox Christians. A mechanism involving students in religion, which includes representatives of different generations, is described. The article considers students’ views about the essence and functions of religion, church and clergy. It shows the specificity of family and marriage values, norms and attitudes of students as well as their ideas about sexual morality depending on religion.