Russia

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Russia}}
[[File:Moscow StBasilCathedral d18.jpg|thumb|[[Saint Basil's Cathedral]] in Moscow is the most iconic religious architecture of Russia.]]
Russia is a [[secular state]] by constitution, and its largest religion is [[Eastern Orthodox Christianity]], chiefly represented by the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].<ref name="ArenaAtlas2012">{{cite web|title=Арена: Атлас религий и национальностей|trans-title=Arena: Atlas of Religions and Nationalities|year=2012|publisher=Среда (Sreda)|url=https://docviewer.yandex.com/view/0/?*=rvAv5PGTc%2Fw%2BBFV6QOUZtaf5gYF7InVybCI6InlhLWRpc2stcHVibGljOi8vMWV1aDl5RDFpcnZKeVZNNSswWWFaZktqRFhoOXZDNWhldUlGTU5uQU4zQT0iLCJ0aXRsZSI6IlNyZWRhX2Jsb2tfcHJlc3Nfc20yLnBkZiIsInVpZCI6IjAiLCJub2lmcmFtZSI6ZmFsc2UsInRzIjoxNTI0NDg3NTUzMTcwfQ%3D%3D&page=1|format=PDF}} See also the results' '''[http://sreda.org/arena main interactive mapping]''' and the static mappings: {{cite map|title=Religions in Russia by federal subject|journal=Ogonek|volume=34|issue=5243|date=27 August 2012|url=http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421154615/http://c2.kommersant.ru/ISSUES.PHOTO/OGONIOK/2012/034/ogcyhjk2.jpg|archive-date=21 April 2017}} The Sreda Arena Atlas was realised in cooperation with the [http://sreda.org/arena/maps?mainsection=census All-Russia Population Census 2010 (Всероссийской переписи населения 2010)], the [http://sreda.org/arena/maps?mainsection=minust Russian Ministry of Justice (Минюста РФ)], the Public Opinion Foundation (Фонда Общественного Мнения) and presented among others by the Analytical Department of the Synodal Information Department of the Russian Orthodox Church. See: {{cite journal|title=Проект АРЕНА: Атлас религий и национальностей|trans-title=Project ARENA: Atlas of religions and nationalities|url=http://russ.ru/Mirovaya-povestka/Proekt-ARENA-Atlas-religij-i-nacional-nostej|journal=Russian Journal|date=10 December 2012}}</ref> Orthodox Christianity, together with [[Islam]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Paganism]] (either preserved or [[modern Paganism|revived]]), are recognised by Russian law as the traditional religions of the country, part of its "historical heritage".<ref>{{cite book|last=Bourdeaux|first=Michael|chapter=Trends in Religious Policy|chapter-url={{GBurl|id=EPP3ti4hysUC|p=46}}|title=Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2003|isbn=978-1857431377|pages=46–52 [47]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fagan|first=Geraldine|title=Believing in Russia: Religious Policy After Communism|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=9780415490023}} p. 127.</ref>

Islam is the second-largest religion in Russia, and is the traditional religion among the majority of the [[peoples of the Caucasus|peoples of the North Caucasus]], and among some [[Turkic peoples]] scattered along the [[Idel-Ural|Volga-Ural]] region.<ref name="ArenaAtlas2012"/> Large populations of Buddhists are found in [[Kalmykia]], [[Buryatia]], [[Zabaykalsky Krai]], and they are the vast majority of the population in [[Tuva]].<ref name="ArenaAtlas2012"/> Many Russians practise other religions, including [[Rodnovery]] (Slavic Neopaganism),<ref>{{cite journal|last=Beskov|first=Andrey|year=2020|title=Этнорелигиозное измерение современной русской идентичности: православие vs неоязычество|trans-title=Ethno-Religious Dimension of Modern Russian Identity: Orthodoxy vs Neo-Paganism|journal=Studia Culturae|publisher=ANO DPO|location=Saint Petersburg|volume=3|number=45|pages=106–122|issn=2310-1245|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349573805|language=ru}}</ref> [[Assianism]] (Scythian Neopaganism),<ref>{{cite journal|author-last=Foltz|author-first=Richard|author-link=Richard Foltz|title=Scythian Neo-Paganism in the Caucasus: The Ossetian Uatsdin as a 'Nature Religion'|journal=Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture|volume=13|number=3|year=2019|pages=314–332|doi=10.1558/jsrnc.39114|s2cid=213692638|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338821308}}</ref> other ethnic Paganisms, and inter-Pagan movements such as [[Ringing Cedars' Anastasianism]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Andreeva|first=Julia Olegovna|year=2012|chapter=Представления о народных традициях в движении 'Звенящие кедры России'|trans-chapter=Representations of national traditions in the movement 'Ringing Cedars of Russia'|title=Аспекты будущего по этнографическим и фольклорным материалам: сборник научных статей|trans-title=Prospects of the future in ethnographic and folklore materials: Collection of scientific articles|chapter-url=http://www.kunstkamera.ru/files/lib/978-5-88431-204-3/978-5-88431-204-3_14.pdf|editor=T. B. Shchepanskaya|publisher=[[Kunstkamera]]|location=Saint Petersburg|pages=231–245|language=ru|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806200229/https://www.kunstkamera.ru/files/lib/978-5-88431-204-3/978-5-88431-204-3_14.pdf|archive-date=6 August 2020}}</ref> various movements of [[Hinduism]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tkatcheva|first=Anna|title=Neo-Hindu Movements and Orthodox Christianity in Post-Communist Russia|journal=India International Centre Quarterly|volume=21|number=2/3|pages=151–162|date=1994|jstor=23003642}}</ref> [[Siberian shamanism]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kharitonova|first=Valentina|title=Revived Shamanism in the Social Life of Russia|journal=Folklore|volume=62|pages=37–54|date=2015|issn=1406-0949|doi=10.7592/FEJF2015.62.kharitonova|doi-access=free}}</ref> and [[Tengrism]], various [[Neo-Theosophy|Neo-Theosophical]] movements such as [[Roerichism]], and other faiths.<ref>{{cite book|year=2006|editor-surname1=Bourdeaux|editor-given1=Michael|editor-surname2=Filatov|editor-given2=Sergey|title=Современная религиозная жизнь России. Опыт систематического описания|trans-title=Contemporary religious life of Russia. Systematic description of experiences|place=Moscow|publisher=[[Keston Institute]]; Logos|volume=4|language=ru|isbn=5987040574}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Menzel|editor-first1=Brigit|editor-last2=Hagemeister|editor-first2=Michael|editor-last3=Glatzer Rosenthal|editor-first3=Bernice|title=The New Age of Russia: Occult and Esoteric Dimensions|publisher=Kubon & Sagner|year=2012|isbn=978-3866881976|url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/26681/1003383.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903042320/https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/26681/1003383.pdf|archive-date=3 September 2021}}</ref> Some religious minorities have faced oppression and some have been banned in the country;<ref>{{cite web|last=Sibireva|first=Olga|url=https://www.sova-center.ru/en/religion/publications/2021/04/d44133/|title=Freedom of Conscience in Russia: Restrictions and Challenges in 2020|publisher=[[SOVA Center]]|date=29 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209154706/https://www.sova-center.ru/en/religion/publications/2021/04/d44133|archive-date=9 February 2022}}</ref> notably, in 2017 the [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] were outlawed in Russia, facing persecution ever since, after having been declared an "extremist" and "nontraditional" faith.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Knox|first=Zoe|year=2019|title=Jehovah's Witnesses as Extremists: The Russian State, Religious Pluralism, and Human Rights|journal=The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review|volume=46|number=2|pages=128–157|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|doi=10.1163/18763324-04602003|hdl=2381/43756|s2cid=164831768|issn=1876-3324|url=https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/10196396 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

In 2012, the research organisation Sreda, in cooperation with the [[Ministry of Justice (Russia)|Ministry of Justice]], published the Arena Atlas, an adjunct to the 2010 census, enumerating in detail the religious populations and nationalities of Russia, based on a large-sample country-wide survey. The results showed that 47.3% of Russians declared themselves Christians—including 41% Russian Orthodox, 1.5% simply Orthodox or members of non-Russian Orthodox churches, 4.1% unaffiliated Christians, and less than 1% [[Old Believers]], [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] or [[Protestants]]—25% were [[spiritual but not religious|believers without affiliation to any specific religion]], 13% were [[atheism|atheists]], 6.5% were Muslims,{{efn|name=ArenaAtlasIslam|The Sreda Arena Atlas 2012 did not count the populations of two federal subjects of Russia where the majority of the population is Muslim, namely [[Chechnya]] and [[Ingushetia]], which together had a population of nearly 2 million, thus the proportion of Muslims was possibly slightly underestimated.<ref name="ArenaAtlas2012"/>}} 1.2% were followers of "traditional religions honouring gods and ancestors" ([[Slavic Native Faith|Rodnovery]], other Paganisms, [[Shamanism in Siberia|Siberian shamanism]] and [[Tengrism]]), 0.5% were Buddhists, 0.1% were [[Judaism|religious Jews]] and 0.1% were Hindus.<ref name="ArenaAtlas2012"/>