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Religion - the important factor determining the spiritual life of today's Tatarstan. Religious environment in multinational and multiconfessional Tatarstan reflects to some extent consequences of basic changes in state and politics which have taken place for last decade and have significally influenced the state-church relations and activity of religious organizations all over the territory of the former USSR.
State-church relations in Tatarstan are in strict conformity with the principle of the freedom of worship, including such concepts, as equality of all religions for the law; the right of citizens to confess any religion or not to adhere to any religion; secular character of the state. In the republic the further democratization of state-church relations is going on, there are no wrongful restrictions in activity of the religious organizations.
Probably, it is difficult to find in Russia region with such variety of peacefully coexisted representatives of religious beliefs. There are moslems and christians (Orthodox, Old Believers, Catholics, Protestants of various tendencies), Judaism, Baha'i. Such religious variety and peaceful co-existence of various faiths in many respects is unique, its studying and preservation - an important state task. It is very important because last years - in the channel of democratic transformations of the society (destruction of former ideological system) the influence of religion on the society has greatly increased. Look for yourself: ten years ago in republic there were registered 38 religious communities, including 18 Muslim and 15 orthodox. Today in Tatarstan there are about thousandvarious religious organizations. The number of Muslim communities comes to seven hundred, and Orthodox - more than hundred fifty.
Last years in republic there is an intensive process of returning of cult buildings to the believers.
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