{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02923076923076923, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.823880597014925, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Sociology of Religion in the USSR: A Beginning?

"What is the meaning of life?" "What is happiness?" "What is morality?" Does Marxism-Leninism have a satisfactory answer to these everlasting questions of man? The official Soviet doctrine certainly has answers to questions such as what religion is and what its cause and function in society are. But then, why does it still exist in Soviet society, more than half a century after the Revolution-when the USSR is supposedly moving from socialism (already accomplished) to communism (to be achieved soon) ? Moreover, why does it also exist among young people? And why does it even undergo, from time to time, periods of revival? It should not be surprising, then, that the Soviets have begun a relatively widespread program of sociological surveys of religion. They have also begun to study Western thought and sociology of religion. The beginning of some kind of sociology of religion of the USSR is, of course, a part of the general development of sociology in the Soviet Union in general. And like sociology at large, it should be viewed with caution. Naturally its methods, concepts, and basic motivation are rather far from scientific objectivity. Nevertheless, for the first time, these studies provide a body of information and an insight into the state of religion which was hitherto totally unavailable. The reasons for this development may be somewhat puzzling. True, there are some signs of a partial revival of religious beliefs and of rather widespread curiosity about religious ceremonies, churches, icons, and so forth. But these do not amount to any serious threat to the party's position in power. Perhaps the following discussion will provide some clues. Since no brief review can provide a full treatment of the work in sociology of religion in the USSR, we shall examine three books, all of them collections of articles, mainly based on field studies. The one edited by A. Klibanov,