The national and religious landscape of Estonia

Estonia, as a gateway between East and West, has been a battleground between different forces for centuries. Danish, German, Swedish and Russian rulers have left their political and cultural impacts on the country. The first schools in Estonia for non-Estonians were established in 1251 in cathedrals by German and Danish Crusaders. Lutheranism established itself in Estonia in the 1520s and under its influence the first schools for Estonians were established in 1545.

During the following Swedish rule (middle of the 16^th – beginning of the 18^th

centuries) the Lutheran Church had the status of state church. One cornerstone of Lutheranism was literacy, so that anyone would be able to read the bible. The network of public schools that emerged by the end of the 17^th century was in this sense a child of the Lutheran church: being to some extent an expansion of the confirmation school, in which religious education had a central role.

Russian communities, mainly consisting of traders and religious and political dissidents have lived in Estonia for the last 1000 years (Estonian Institute, 1997).

Many immigrants from the Russian empire made their home in Estonia from the 18^th century, when the country fell under Russian rule. Prior to the Second World War, Russian communities in Estonia were small. After 1945, Soviet Russification dramatically altered the social and demographic landscape of Estonia. Estonia’s 1.3 million inhabitants now comprise two large national groups and more than 100 small minority groups. Today about one-third of Estonia’s population consists of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, or their descendants. Most of them settled in Estonia during the Soviet period: according to the censuses of 1934 and 2000 the percentage of non-Estonians has grown from 12% to 31% (Riigi Statistika Keskbüroo, 1935, 47–53 and http://pub.stat.ee/). According to data from 2008, Estonians make up 69% of the total population.² Russians are the second-largest group at 26%. Other minority groups are much smaller: Ukrainians (2%), Byelorussians and Finns (both about 1%), others each under 1%. On a regional basis, however, the composition of nationalities varies remarkably. In some north-eastern towns of Estonia the proportion of the Russian speaking population is almost 80%. Most of them are ethnically Russians but some people from other ethnic groups may use Russian as their first language as well. In contrast, on the Estonian islands, Russian speakers comprise only 1–2% of the population (Table 1).

There are more people with a migration background living in Tallinn and the north-east of Estonia: 69% Russians and 20% Estonians live in Ida-Viru, while 93%

Estonians and 4% Russians live in Viljandi county.

Table 1: Proportion of Estonian speaking population (%)

County 2.01.2008 County 2.01.2008

Harju 59,6% Pärnu 87,6%

Hiiu 98,4% Rapla 93,3%

Ida-Viru 19,7% Saare 98,3%

Jõgeva 90,3% Tartu 83,0%

Järva 93,5% Valga 82,7%

Lääne 87,8% Viljandi 94,3%

Lääne-Viru 85,2% Võru 94,5%

Põlva 94,8%

Total Estonia 68,7%

Source of data: Statistics Estonia, http://www.stat.ee/29847, (accessed 02.04.2009)

2 All the statistical data about Estonia is counted according the data on the Web page of the Statistics Estonia. (http://pub.stat.ee/, accessed 16.04.2009).

From the 11^th century Estonia was under the influence of the Catholic Church.

In the 16^th century, Estonia became a Lutheran country. A significant leap towards the Orthodox Church took place during a crop failure of the 19^th century, when Estonian peasants were encouraged to convert to the Orthodox faith with promises made by the Russian empire for land and for the socio-economic improvement of the converts. There was neither ecclesiastical structure nor any detached diocese for the Orthodox Church in Estonia until 1919, but all ecclesiastical administration depended on the Archbishop of Riga.

Nevertheless, a significant number of Estonians belonged to the Orthodox Church. According to the second census in Estonia in 1934, 78% of Estonians were Lutherans, 19% were Orthodox and 1% had no religious affiliation (Riigi Statistika Keskbüroo, 1935, 118–121).

Estonia’s religious landscape has changed dramatically during the last century. It is highly secularised today – only about 25–35% of population define their religious affiliation according to different surveys made in Estonia (Statistical Office of Estonia, 2002; Halman et al., 2005; Liiman, 2001; etc).

However, religious affiliation, even if it does not mean belonging to a specific religious community, seems to be connected with national identity. Lutherans are mainly Estonians, while Russians feel more commitment to the Orthodox Church. There are also parts of Estonia (especially Southern and Western Estonia, and some islands), where Estonians belong to the Orthodox Church. It is interesting to note that according to some surveys Russian speaking people in Estonia are more favourable to religion, and particularly Christianity, than Estonians (Hansen, 2002, 112).

Source of data: Statistics Estonia, http://www.stat.ee (accessed 12.04.2009) Figure 1: Proportion of religiously affiliated people in different counties

A number of other churches and religious communities (Baptists, Roman-Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, Old Believers, Adventists, Methodists, Muslims, Mormons and others) even if not numerous in terms of adherents, add diversity to Estonia’s religious landscape. Like national distri-bution, religious affiliation is not dispersed evenly in all counties (Figure 1).

One of the reasons for this is the fact that Estonians are less affiliated to religion than other national groups in Estonia. Harju and Ida-Viru, where many Russian speakers live, have more religiously affiliated people, especially Orthodox (Chart 1). Ida-Viru is 33% Orthodox with 6% Lutherans, but Rapla county is 22% Lutheran and 3% Orthodox. Although most of the Orthodox in Ida-Viru county are Russians, in Tartu, Pärnu and Põlva counties there are many Orthodox Estonians. One of the reasons for the higher proportion of believers and especially Lutherans in Saare, Põlva and Võru counties could be the long lasting impacts of the Moravian Church in these regions (Ilja 2006, 237; Plaat, 2003, 9).

Chart 1: Religious affiliation of the population of different counties

12,1

Source of data: Statistics Estonia, http://www.stat.ee/population-census-2000 (accessed 12.04.2009)

The low importance of religion does not occur only in terms of belonging, but is also mirrored in beliefs and values. The Euro barometer survey Social Values, Science and Technology conducted at the beginning of 2005 shows Estonia to be the most sceptical country in Europe with regard to belief in the existence of God. Less than one out of five declared that they believed in God (16%). At the same time more than half of Estonians (54%) believed in a non-traditional concept as ‘some sort of spirit or life force’ (European Commission, 2005). The

study conducted by Estonian researchers shows that among students, religion is valued as the least important, with a readiness for globalisation as the next lowest in priorities (Rüütel&Tiit, 2005).

Thus, in general terms, that Estonian people are rather distant from tradi-tional religion, although religion plays a more important role for other natradi-tional groups in Estonia. Usually more religiously affiliated people are found in border areas and fewer in central Estonia. These geographical factors should be taken into account when planning a sample for a survey on religious issues.

2.1.2. The legislative framework and status quo