The religious situation in Buryatia in the late 1980s and early 1990s

Based on archival data the paper describes the religious situation in the Buryat ASSR, then the Buryat SSR and the Republic of Buryatia during the change of socio-political development of the national state in the late 1980s – early last decade of the XX century. The authors say that this problem has not received serious analysis in the framework of scientific publications. Therefore, the research was based on archival documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SA RF) and the State Archive of the Republic of Buryatia (SARB). The purpose of the study is to characterize the religious situation in the border area of the local territory in a difficult transition period of national history. The research methodology is based on the fundamental principles of historical science, the principles of historicism and objectivity, which allowed us to consider a rather complex component of the life of society – religion, without bias, in its historical development. The result of the study was the identification of features of religious processes in Buryatia during the period under review. The authors provide quantitative indicators for registered religious associations and religious buildings. The religious situation is assessed against the background of the General situation in the RSFSR (Russian Federation), with statistics for the Republic and the country. It is noted that the trends of religious processes in Buryatia, at the time under review, were similar to the national ones. This is a sharp surge in religiosity, against the background of the resolution of religious freedom, on the one hand, and, in the context of the socio-economic crisis, on the other. It is said that in Buryatia, in addition to traditional religious teachings for the region, new ones appeared, among which, there were the teachings of totalitarian sects. It describes the difficulties that arose in connection with the change in the attitude of the authorities to religions. It is noted that further work with sources is necessary, which will allow us to recreate the most complete picture of the religious situation in Buryatia during the difficult transition period of the late 1980s – early 1990s.