Thirty Years Of Religious Pluralism In Ukraine

Virtually all the chapters of this book focus on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the birth of an independent state of Ukraine. This newly independent country did not have the same geographic borders, democratic institutions, or market institutions as it did in the early twentieth century or in the late nineteenth. Despite the significant legacy of Soviet and pre-Soviet history, many institutions had to be created from scratch or imported. Yet there were some notable exceptions. This chapter deals with one of them, religion. In the case of religion, Ukraine rediscovered, rather than created, it. Ukraine was not unique in this process. In fact, sociological studies have consistently shown that all postcommunist countries, from East Germany to Russia, experienced a similar rediscovery. Sociologists have registered increases in all conceptually important metrics of subjective religiosity: religious identity, church attendance, belief in God, trust in the church, and various combinations of these variables (Borowik, 2002; Gautier, 1997, 1998; Greely, 1994; Meulemann, 2004; Müller, 2011; Müller & Neundorf, 2012; Northmore-Ball & Evans, 2016; Pollack, 2001, 2003; Tomka, 1991; Voicu & Tufiş, 2013; Zrin čak, 2004). This process has received a special name in the sociological scholarship: religious revival or religious resurrection.