STATISTICS: MIRACLES
A THIRD OF RUSSIANS BELIEVE IN MIRACLES
by Anatoly Chernov
Vedomosti, 27 September 2002
A study by the "KOMKON" company has shown that a third of Russians believe
in miracles. And, according to scholars, this is a thoroughly positive sign. Scepticism
toward miracles is out of place in a civilized society. After all, faith in miracles
shows that people do not totally deny the supernatural and incomprehensible. On
the contrary, they see in miracles another object for study.
The leading scientific associate of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, Kandidat of Philosophical Sciences Mikhail Chernysh, says
that faith in the supernatural does not depend on level of education. He drew
that conclusion after a study conducted in the institute two years ago during
which 2500 respondents were surveyed.
"But simply to say that 30% believe in miracles is not to say anything,"
Mikhail Chernysh says. "What is interesting is something else: in just what
kind of miracles does a person believe? Someone believes in UFOs and another in
telepathy. Everybody's faith is different and it is impossible to reduce them
to a common denominator."
According to data from the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, approximately ten percent of the Russian population believes unconditionally
in telepathy, extraterrestrial civilizations, and magic. Around 17% believe in
the existence of heaven, hell, and demonic forces. Higher figures apply to faith
in fate (28%), omens (37%), and folk medicine (62%). And people under thirty and
over sixty believe in miracles more strongly. The beautiful half of humanity believes
in miracles at almost twice the rate of the faith of men. It is interesting that
belief in an international conspiracy against Russia is considered superstition
by the sociologists, in light of its indemonstrability. And here, among men 16%
believe in it and 12% among women.
Academician of the Russian Academy of Education Igor Bestuzhev-Lada maintains
that faith in miracles is a natural need of society. "The dominance of science
in the public consciousness is insufficient for the resolution of social problems.
A person has sense organs. Humanity does not have sense organs; they deal with
forms of public consciousness. One of these forms is faith," Igor Bestuzhev-Lada
explains. In his opinion faith exists on the same level as justice, morality,
and art. With regard to faith it is possible to take three positions: as a plus,
as a minus, or to take the position of an animal that cannot pose such questions
at all.
If we continue this topic we come immediately into contact with religion. Incidentally,
according to results of a "KOMKONR-TGI" study in 2002, only 23% of Russian
think that religion plays an important part in their lives and 63% state that
they maintain their own conceptions of morality and ethics.
In Bestuzhev-Lada's opinion, the decline of patriarchal ideology and then the
locomotive of the communist ideology produced what can be called a process of
deideologization. That is, the nation found itself "in the wilderness."
"When a person who calls himself Orthodox suddenly starts talking about karma,
this is absolutely the same thing as if Zhirinovsky were to begin speaking the
same words as Ziuganov," Igor Bestuzhev-Lada says.
If one sets aside the religious theme and returns to miracles, it can be said
that faith in them may become a supplementary stimulus for the development of
science. In Bestuzhev-Lada's opinion, miracles should not be denied but they should
be studied. With regard to extrasensory perception, UFOs, and similar phenomena
one should advance hypotheses and then try to test them by experiment.
The chief editor of the "Anomalies" newspaper, Tatiana Syrchenko,
became engaged in the study of miracles twelve years ago. An engineer by education,
she, for example, finds the explanation of various lights in the sky (which people
take for UFOs or supernatural signs). As a rule, the causes of the appearance
of these phenomena are a breakdown of the earth's crust or sun spots. She views
telepathy and poltergeist with the same optimism. "Sometimes science proves
that an idea born in the head is transformed in the brain into a kind of electronic
signal that can be projected into the distance," she says. In Tatiana Syrchenko's
opinion, the number of people in foreign countries who believe in miracles is
much higher. "This is to some degree a sign of democracy. A person can freely
believe in whatever is believable," she says. Such an inclination towards
miracles is not surprising and advertising specialists began exploiting it long
ago. Moreover modern technology permits depicting a miracle on the screen with
great ease. For example, heavenly bliss of "Chudo-Yogurt" and the cleaning
powder "Tide" whitens better than boiling. Isn't that really a miracle?
Ideologists of postmodernism predict a growth of the need for miracles. According
to this theory, in modern
life when all processes are speeded up, space has become more homogeneous and
the emotional life has been more impoverished. In the light of such transformations,
the need for the supernatural will only grow. However if people also maintain
common sense, there will be nothing bad in this. As Academician Igor Bestuzhev-Lada
said: "Let's believe; let's study; let's love the beautiful; and let's develop
harmoniously."
(tr. by PDS, posted at http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/0209c.html#18
on 27 September 2002)
