David G. Gibson 

Nationwide surveys conducted by Open Media Research Institute's Audience and Opinion Research Department throughout Central and Eastern Europe in 1994-95 found a pattern of wider public confidence in the church than in any other institution except the military.  The question read, "How much confidence do you have in [institution]: a great deal, some, not very much, or none at all."  High confidence in both the church and the military is most noticeable in the three Slavic nations of the former Soviet Union--Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus--and in Romania and Poland.  Lithuania was alone in expressing great confidence in the church but relatively little in any state or military institution.  Czechs, however, exhibited less confidence in the church than in any other institution.

In most of the surveys, more women than men expressed some or great confidence in the church, and confidence was more widespread in rural areas than in towns and cities.  Older people, the least educated, and lower-income groups in most countries surveyed had greater confidence in the church than did the young, the wealthier, and the best educated.
 
David G. Gibson is manager of quantitative research in the Audience and Opinion Research Department, Open Media Research Institute (OMRI).  This material is reprinted from Transition 2 (5 April 1996): 29, with permission of OMRI, a nonprofit organization with research offices in Prague, Czech Republic.  For more information about OMRI, please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 David G. Gibson, "High Public Confidence in the Church," East-West Church & Ministry Report, 4 (Summer 1996), 9.

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© 1996 Institute for East-West Christian Studies
ISSN 1069-5664