Conative component of religious identity of population in border regions of Russia

Maximova Svetlana Gennadyevna ORCID: 0000-0002-4613-4966 Doctor of Sociology Professor, Head of the Department, Department of Social and Youth Policy, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 515 svet-maximova@yandex.ru Other publications by this author     Surtaeva Ol'ga Valeryevna ORCID: 0000-0002-6535-2838 PhD in Sociology Associate Professor, Department of Social and Youth Policy, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 515 bubuka_s@mail.ru Omelchenko Dar'ya Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0002-2839-5070 PhD in Sociology Associate Professor, Department of Social and Youth Policy, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 515 daria.omelchenko@mail.ru Noyanzina Oksana Evgenyevna ORCID: 0000-0002-1252-6021 PhD in Sociology Head of the Information and Analysis Department of the Main Computing Center of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation 19/1 Staraya Basmannaya str., Moscow, 105066, Russia noe@list.ru

Atyasova Natalya Yuryevna ORCID: 0000-0001-9022-4320 PhD in Sociology Research Fellow at the Research and Development Department, Altai State University 656049, Russia, Altai Krai, Barnaul, Dimitrova str., 66, office 515 kaiser.natasha@gmail.com Other publications by this author

The publication was prepared within the framework of the RNF project No. 22-28-01120 "Models of constructing religious identity in the border regions of Russia: institutional mechanisms, strategies and practices" (2022-2023).

Introduction. In the last few decades, there has been a persistent interest in research at the intersection of religious studies, sociology and psychology, and issues that previously belonged to the competence of theologians and philosophers are now being solved with the help of methodological tools of social and biological sciences ^[1]. A large number of interdisciplinary studies related to the problems of religion and religiosity are conducted ^[2-4].

At the same time, it is difficult to draw unambiguous conclusions from the currently available empirical data on the change in the proportion of adherents of various religious traditions, as well as on the forecasts of its change for the coming decades. It is also not easy to quantify the proportion of the non-religious population (so-called non-believers), agnostics or atheists, as well as the transformation of their number and ratio. Nevertheless, there seems to be a certain consensus among experts in the following: we are seeing a decline in institutional religious affiliation in world religions. This is especially true of the population in Western Europe and China, Western scientists and intellectuals, as well as younger generations around the world ^[5]. At a first approximation, the empirical decrease in institutional religious affiliation can be easily identified with the development of secularization processes, however, a more complex and ambiguous process may be behind this, since dissatisfaction with religious institutions does not always lead to the disappearance of religious experience. Moreover, such discontent can initiate the transformation of religious institutions.

For many people, religion functions as an important set of ideas about the world through which they interpret their reality and give meaning to their lives ^[6-9]. Answering the most difficult questions, the religious worldview influences many psychological processes in addition to basic ideas about oneself and the world, including expectations, goals, motives and emotions ^[10]. For example, many religious belief systems give people a sense of confidence in the important existential question of what happens to us after death ^[11]. More religious people are less likely to use psychological defense mechanisms to cope with the fear of death ^[12-14]. In addition, religion gives a general pleasant feeling of confidence and control over everyday life ^[15-17]. Religiosity also benefits people by uniting them with other people ^[18], connecting them with caring and attentive supernatural beings ^[19-21], and giving them the opportunity to feel better ^[22]. Thus, the religious worldview performs important psychological functions.

However, these advantages of a religious worldview may be threatened by other people who support alternative worldviews, which leads to interfaith tensions. For a person with a strongly expressed religious worldview, the simple understanding that other people believe in something completely different poses a threat, since this in some way suggests that his beliefs may be erroneous ^[23], and the less compatible the outgroup's worldview is with our own, the greater the threat this outgroup poses. This problem is especially relevant for the border regions of Russia, where the spiritual and religious practices of the population are more diverse due to more intensive migration processes, less stable socio-economic situation and increased social differentiation ^[24]. All this affects the social well-being of the population of the border regions, creating risks of social tension.

In connection with the above, the purpose of this article is to analyze the specifics and the role of the conative component in the formation of religious identity of the population of the border regions of the Russian Federation.

Literature review. Religion is one of the most important markers of group identity, belonging to a religious group causes its members to feel confident and included in the social context ^[25]. In the modern multicultural world, the importance of religion and religiosity has increased enormously. The growing migration exchange significantly changes the historically formed religious composition of local communities, and some researchers argue that this change has increased intergroup tension on religious grounds ^[26].

Since religious identity can be considered one of the most important markers of social differentiation, understanding the driving forces of religious identification and the consequences of these processes for society is crucial. For example, many studies have shown that trust and social cohesion are lower in communities with a high diversity of social characteristics ^[27-31]. Although it is expected that increasing social heterogeneity will eventually create opportunities for intergroup contacts that will mitigate the initially negative conditions for the formation of trust and social cohesion ^{[32; 33]}, some studies have shown that in the short term, an increase in religious diversity is associated with lower generalized trust in others ^[34]. The lack of trust and social cohesion in socially diverse communities is also associated with other negative consequences, such as conflicts ^[35], low economic growth ^[36] and low availability of social benefits ^[37].

The authors of the theory of social identity ^{[38; 39]} believe that social heterogeneity can lead to people identifying themselves more strongly with other members of their group (for example, religious or ethnic), rather than with members of society in a broader sense. This may limit the development of a common dominant identity (for example, the state), which could contribute to the development of social cohesion. All these problems can be especially acute in border regions, where the composition of the population is most heterogeneous due to intensive processes of migration exchange, therefore, research aimed at analyzing the features of the processes of formation and development of different types of social identity, including religious, is especially important for such regions.

Like any other type of identity, religious identity includes a number of structural components: cognitive (cognitive), axiological (value-normative), affective (emotional-sensual) and conative (behavioral, activity-instrumental), the analysis of which is devoted to this article. This study will allow the scientific community to offer empirically based models characterizing the relationship between religiosity and behavioral manifestations of religious identity of the population of the border regions of the Russian Federation.

Materials and methods. The study was conducted in 2022 (N = 1868) in four regions of the Siberian Federal District (the Republic of Altai, the Republic of Tyva, the Altai Territory and the Novosibirsk Region). The selection of regions was determined by the specifics of socio-cultural features reflecting the religious composition of the region's space, as well as the peculiarities of the ethno-demographic composition of the population living in these territories. A quota sample was calculated for each region, in which the gender, age and place of residence of the respondents (urban or rural settlement) were the quota features. Primary empirical information was collected through the online survey method. The representativeness of the data was ensured by the control of quotas, as well as by the diversification of methods of recruiting respondents (personal mailings by e-mail and social networks, posting information on public virtual platforms and in official sources).

In four regions, 1,868 people aged 15 to 70 years took part, the average age of respondents was 40.1 years. 498 people were interviewed in the Altai Territory, 448 people in the Novosibirsk Region, 439 people in the Altai Republic and 246 people in the Republic of Tyva. The age structure was as follows: 32.7% of the population were surveyed at the age of 15-30, 38.5% at the age of 31-49, and 28.8% of the population aged 50 and older.

Initially, a typology of respondents was constructed according to the level of religiosity. Objective and subjective assessments of religiosity were used to obtain a reliable result. The respondent's self-assessment of his own religiosity on a scale from 0 to 10 was used as a subjective parameter, regardless of whether the respondent considers himself a follower of a particular religion. As an objective parameter, the methodology "The Centrality of Religiosity Scale" (Huber S., Huber O.W., 2012, The Centrality of Religiosity Scale, CRS) was used, with the help of which the centrality, importance or severity of religious meanings for a person is assessed ^[40]. The index is based on the integration of five structural components of religiosity – intellectual, ideological, public religious practices, personal religious practices and religious experience (the test norm for Russia is 2.45 points).

The scale was used in the CRSI-20 version, since representatives of not only Abrahamic religions with a monotheistic concept of God live in the regions covered by the study, but also representatives of Eastern religious traditions (for example, Buddhism), as well as archaic beliefs (for example, shamanism).

The typology of respondents in terms of the severity of religiosity was built on the basis of the two parameters described above using a two–stage cluster analysis, as a result of which a good classification quality was achieved: the average value of the silhouette measure of connectivity and cluster separation was 0.7. The importance of the predictor "centrality of religiosity" was 1.00, and the importance of the predictor "self-esteem of religiosity" was 0.98. The Euclidean distance was used as a measure of the distance between objects, since all the variables analyzed were continuous.

The first cluster of 673 observations (39.4% of the total sample) included respondents who scored 3.52 points out of 5 possible on the religiosity centrality scale, and the average self-assessment of religiosity for them was 7.04 points. It is obvious that this cluster includes respondents with strongly expressed religiosity.

The second cluster with the size of 1033 observations (60.6% of the entire sample) included respondents who scored 2.03 points out of 5 possible on the religiosity centrality scale, and the average self-assessment of religiosity for them was 2.60 points. Consequently, this cluster unites people with weakly expressed religiosity.

The resulting typology of respondents was later used as a dependent variable in the construction of regression models.

For a comparative assessment of the degree of influence of various ritual and ceremonial actions and pseudo-religious practices resorted to by the population of the border regions on the level of severity of the integral indicator of religiosity, a regression analysis was carried out using binary logistic regression. As a dependent variable in the regression model, the indicator of the level of religious expression obtained at the previous stage using a two-stage cluster analysis was used. This indicator had two gradations: 0 = "weakly expressed religiosity", 1 = "strongly expressed religiosity". To build a regression model, the following indicators were used as predictors.

Performing ritual and ceremonial actions:

1. Wearing religious symbols or items of clothing.

2. The use of sacred images and objects as amulets.

3. Visiting the same priest, having a confessor.

4. Receiving a blessing, advice in important life decisions from a priest.

5. Participation in church processions, processions, veneration of relics.

6. Asking for help from the ministers of the church for the consecration of the house, car, office, etc.

Committing pseudo-religious practices:

1. Appeal to psychics, healers.

2. Appeal to magicians.

3. Belief in omens and following them.

4. Turning to the universe for the fulfillment of desires.

5. Participation in virtual seminars, marathons dedicated to improving life, finding happiness.

6. Appeal to astrologers.

All predictors were dichotomous variables reflecting the presence or absence of the listed practices and actions in the respondent's life.

The described methodology made it possible to construct a general regression model for the border regions as a whole, as well as to model the relationship between religiosity and behavioral manifestations of religious identity in the Altai Republic, the Republic of Tyva, the Altai Territory and the Novosibirsk Region as regions specific in terms of population composition.

The results of the study.

The religious identity of Russian citizens in modern conditions is transformed under the influence of socio-cultural processes of a global nature, often takes individualized forms and is combined with practices of reviving interest in religion and its protective, compensatory functions in conditions of uncertainty. Ideas about religiosity and spirituality are changing and acquiring new meanings and meanings in the light of changing social relations between believers and non-believers, emerging new practices and religious organizations, the activities of traditional religions to preserve their values and adherents.

 Among the population of the four border regions, only a third of the surveyed residents do not consider themselves believers (31% in total), all others consider themselves followers of a particular religion, beliefs or bearers of a blurred religious identity. In general, the population of the border region tends to Orthodoxy (36%), however, significant differentiation of the religious mosaic is expressed in the regional refraction. Thus, in the Altai Territory and the Novosibirsk Region there is a similar religious picture with a predominance of the Orthodox population: in the Altai Territory 51%, and in the Novosibirsk Region – 37% of the population consider themselves Orthodox believers. In the ethnic republics of the border region, the share of non–believers is less, but in the Republic of Tyva their share is minimal - only 9%, in this sense, Tyva is more different from other territories covered by the study by its traditionalism, immersion in the spiritual space of life. And, if in the Altai Republic, along with the Orthodox, who also make up the majority (36%), the so-called "Altaic faith" (Burkhanism) is widely represented (16%), then in Tyva there are only 5% Orthodox, and the dominant in the religious sphere are the landmarks of shamanism (52%), or its combinations with Buddhism (16%). The main number of believers in Tuva are Buddhists and shamanists at the same time, they resort to the spiritual help of both a lama and a shaman, which preserves the already formed and persisting phenomenon of syncretism of shamanism and Buddhism in Tuva.

Cultic or religious-minded behavior: in total, almost a fifth of the residents of the border region (19.9%) have experience of religious pilgrimages, trips to holy places for religious purposes, and another 15.2% have a desire for sacred travel. Most of the residents with such experience in the Republic of Tyva – 38.8%, significantly less in the Republic of Altai – 19.7%, and in the Altai Territory and the Novosibirsk Region – approximately at the same level – 14.4% and 13.4%, respectively.

Assessing the behavioral component of religiosity, it was revealed that the average estimates of the severity of public religious practices are lower, this may reflect the reality – on the one hand, not all religious prescriptions require the publicity of religious life, relying on the performance of the sacraments, meditation, spirituality and righteous (for Buddhists – correct) life, and On the other hand, we live in a secular society in which social rituals are prioritized: the importance of belonging to a religious community as a whole in four regions is expressed at the level of 2.07 points, the importance of participation in religious services is 2.12 points, the frequency of participation in them is at a low level of 1.98 points. It is concluded that according to the criterion of public religious practices, the population of all four Siberian regions can hardly be called religious, so only 5.4% of all respondents have high rates of religiosity in this component, 63.7% of the study participants can be attributed to the non–religious group and only slightly less than a third – 30.9% - to the religious part of the population. Although, of course, such a conclusion is very conditional, since the public demonstration of faith (albeit within the framework of ritual actions) is to a lesser extent part of the elements of religious cults that determine the compliance of the believer with religious canons. The distribution of population groups differentiated by the severity of public religious practices in the Altai Territory and the Altai Republic is similar: a third of the religious population and more than 60% of the non-religious, although the share of the highly religious population in the Altai Republic is one and a half times higher than in the Altai Territory (7% vs. 4.5%). In this sense, the Republic of Tyva and the Novosibirsk Region are mirror images of each other: the non–religious part of the population absolutely prevails in the region – 80.4%, and in the republic - religious (63.8%).

In contrast to public religious actions, personal religious practices are generally expressed at an average level of 2.53 points, the maximum severity is expected in the Republic of Tyva, the Republic of Altai is in the second position, the Altai Territory is in the third, and the lowest average values are in the Novosibirsk region. And according to this component, Tyva continues to demonstrate the great importance of religiosity and religious practices in the spiritual life of its residents, and the Novosibirsk Region is the reference points of secular residents of a secular state, the Republic of Altai and the Altai Territory demonstrate a median position, gravitating, the first – to the position of the Republic of Tyva, and the second – to the landmarks and values of the population of the Novosibirsk region. Within the framework of the general distribution for all four regions according to the component of personal religious practices, only 8.2% of residents of the border region demonstrate a highly religious model of personal life, while more than half can be classified as religious, and more than a third – non-religious individuals in private life.

Further, regression models were constructed to demonstrate the role of the conative component in the formation of religious identity of the population of the border regions of Russia.

The regression model for the Russian border regions was built on the basis of 1,599 observations, which accounted for 85.9% of the entire study sample. The model was obtained on the basis of the inverse conditional step-by-step method of inclusion of variables, the best quality of the model was achieved at the fifth step (?2=576.19, p<0.001). The share of the total variance described by the constructed model was 41.1% (Nagelkerke R Square=0.411). The constructed model makes it possible to correctly classify 77.5% of respondents, and the correctness of the classification is slightly higher for a subgroup of respondents with weakly expressed religiosity (83.8%) than for respondents with strongly expressed religiosity (67.3%). Thus, the obtained solution allows not only to characterize the influence of ritual and ceremonial actions and pseudo-religious practices on the level of religiosity of the population, but also to correctly predict the degree of religiosity of the population based on adherence to certain practices.

Table 1 shows data on the statistical significance of the predictors included in the analysis (Values) and Wald statistics for each variable (Wald), non-standardized (B) and standardized coefficients of the regression equation (Exp (B)).

Table 1. Regression analysis results, general sample

 Based on standardized coefficients, we will assess the impact of each predictor on the level of religiosity of the population of the border regions of the Russian Federation. We will take into account all the coefficients, since the significance level in all cases was less than 0.05.

The key predictors of high religiosity of the population of the border regions of the Russian Federation include the wearing of religious symbols or items of clothing, which increases the probability of falling into a subgroup with high religiosity by 2,960 times, and the respondent's visit to the same priest, the presence of a confessor, which increases the probability of falling into a subgroup with high religiosity by 2,902 times. In second place in terms of the degree of influence on the religiosity of the population were behavioral practices such as participation in church processions, religious processions, veneration of relics, which 2,791 times increases the probability of a respondent falling into a subgroup with high religiosity, as well as the use of sacred images and objects as amulets, increasing the probability of a respondent falling into a subgroup with high religiosity in 2,666 times. If a respondent sought advice or received a blessing from a priest in important life decisions, this increases the probability of his falling into a subgroup of the population with high religiosity by 2,417 times. At the same time, the obtained model showed that some pseudo-religious practices are also characteristic of the population with high religiosity living in the border regions of Russia: thus, the respondent's appeal to magicians increases the probability that he will fall into the subgroup of highly religious by 2,128 times, the respondent's belief in signs and following them by 1,491 times increases the probability of belonging to a subgroup with high religiosity, and the appeal to the Universe for the fulfillment of desires by 1,318 times.

Since the regions covered by the study, on the one hand, represent one macroeconomic region (the Siberian Federal District) and by their geographical location belong to border regions, but on the other hand, as mentioned above, differ from each other in the ethnodemographic, socio-cultural, confessional composition of the population, we will analyze regression models in the regional context.

So, for the Altai Territory, a regression model was built on the basis of 476 observations. The model was obtained on the basis of the inverse conditional step-by-step method of inclusion of variables, the best quality of the model was achieved at the sixth step (?2=175.166, p<0.001). The share of the total variance described by the constructed model was 42.3% (Nagelkerke R Square=0.423). The regression model made it possible to correctly classify 80.0% of respondents, the correctness of the classification was higher for a subgroup of respondents with weakly expressed religiosity (85.4%) than for respondents with strongly expressed religiosity (70.2%).

Table 2 shows the main parameters of the regression model. The assessment of the influence of each predictor on the level of religiosity of the population of the Altai Territory was carried out on the basis of standardized coefficients of the regression equation Exp (B), taking into account all coefficients, since none of them has a significance level greater than 0.05.

Table 2. Regression analysis results, Altai Krai

 The most important predictors of high religiosity of the population of the Altai Territory are the use of sacred images and objects as amulets, which increases the probability of falling into a subgroup with high religiosity by 3,305 times, and participation in church processions, religious processions, veneration of relics, which increases the probability of falling into a subgroup with high religiosity by 3,155 times. The second place in terms of importance is occupied by such predictors as visiting the same priest, having a confessor, which increases the probability of falling into a subgroup with high religiosity by 2,687 times, as well as wearing religious symbols or items of clothing, practicing which the respondent increases the probability of falling into a subgroup of highly religious by 2,532 times. If a respondent participates in virtual seminars, marathons dedicated to improving life, finding happiness, he is 2,339 times more likely to treat respondents with high religiosity. Asking for help from church servants to consecrate a house, car, office, etc. increases the probability of a respondent falling into a subgroup with high religiosity by 2,076 times, and turning to the Universe for the fulfillment of desires increases this probability by 1,741 times.

The regression model for the Altai Republic was built on the basis of 416 observations using the inverse conditional step-by-step method of inclusion of variables. The best quality of the model was achieved at the sixth step (?2=124.827, p<0.001). The share of the total variance described by the constructed model was 34.7% (Nagelkerke R Square=0.347). The regression model made it possible to correctly classify 70.4% of respondents, the correctness of the classification was higher for a subgroup of respondents with weakly expressed religiosity (74.1%) than for respondents with strongly expressed religiosity (66.0%).

Table 3 shows the main parameters of the regression model. The assessment of the influence of each predictor on the level of religiosity of the population of the Altai Republic was carried out on the basis of standardized coefficients of the regression equation Exp (B), taking into account all coefficients, since they have a high level of statistical significance (p?0.05).

Table 3. Regression analysis results, Altai Republic

 The key predictor of the high religiosity of the population of the Altai Republic is the visit of the same priest, the presence of a confessor, practicing which the respondent increases the probability of falling into the subgroup of highly religious by 5,479 times. If a respondent wears religious symbols or items of clothing, this increases the probability of his falling into a subgroup with a strongly pronounced religiosity by 3,011 times. Applying for a blessing or advice in important life decisions from a priest 2,691 times increases the likelihood that the respondent belongs to a subgroup with high religiosity. In addition, the following practices increase the probability of getting into a subgroup with pronounced religiosity for respondents from the Altai Republic: turning to magicians by 1,843 times; turning to the Universe for the fulfillment of desires by 1,796 times; believing in omens and following them by 1,722 times and using sacred images and objects as amulets by 1,705 times.

For the Republic of Tyva, the regression model was built on the basis of 239 observations based on the inverse conditional step-by-step method of inclusion of variables, at the ninth step the best quality of the model was achieved (?2=68.027, p<0.001). The share of the total variance described by the constructed model was 33.2% (Nagelkerke R Square=0.332), while the model correctly classified 73.2% of respondents, and the correctness of the classification was higher for a subgroup of respondents with strongly expressed religiosity (80.6%) than for respondents with weakly expressed religiosity (63.8%).

Table 4 shows the main parameters of the regression model. The assessment of the influence of each predictor on the level of religiosity of the population of the Altai Republic was carried out on the basis of standardized coefficients of the regression equation Exp (B), all coefficients have a high level of statistical significance (p?0.05).

Table 4. Regression analysis results, Republic of Tyva

 Thus, respondents from the Republic of Tyva who participate in church processions, religious processions, and veneration of relics have 4.470 times higher chances of getting into a subgroup of the population with high religiosity. If a respondent uses sacred images and objects as amulets, this increases the probability of his falling into the subgroup of highly religious by 2.985 times. Respondents who seek to receive a blessing or advice from a priest in important life situations increase the probability of falling into a subgroup with pronounced religiosity by 2,816 times, and wearing religious symbols or items of clothing increases this probability by 2,313 times.

The regression model for the Novosibirsk Region was built on the basis of 440 observations using the inverse conditional step-by-step method of inclusion of variables. The best quality of the model was achieved at the sixth step (?2=193.490, p<0.001). The share of the total variance described by the constructed model was 52.4% (Nagelkerke R Square=0.524), while the model allowed 86.1% of respondents to be correctly classified. The correctness of the classification was higher for the subgroup of respondents with weakly expressed religiosity (93.0%) than for respondents with strongly expressed religiosity (66.1%).

Table 5 shows the main parameters of the regression model. The assessment of the influence of each predictor on the level of religiosity of the population of the Novosibirsk region was carried out on the basis of standardized coefficients of the regression equation Exp (B), taking into account all coefficients, since they are all characterized by a high level of statistical significance (p?0.05).

Table 5. Regression analysis results, Novosibirsk region

 The key predictors of high religiosity of the population of the Novosibirsk region include visiting the same priest, having a confessor, practicing which the respondent 5,484 times increases the probability of falling into a subgroup of highly religious, as well as wearing religious symbols or garments, increasing the probability of the respondent falling into a subgroup with high religiosity 5,463 times. Respondents participating in church processions, processions, and veneration of relics are 4.423 times more likely to be in the subgroup of highly religious. If the respondent uses sacred images and objects as amulets, this increases the probability by 2,647 times that he will have a high religiosity. In addition, turning to psychics, healers by 2,071 times and believing in signs and following them by 1,848 times increases the probability for a respondent demonstrating such behavior to be in a subgroup with pronounced religiosity.

Discussion and conclusion.

As a result of the study, it was revealed that, in the sample as a whole, the behavioral component of the religious identity of the population of the border regions of Russia manifests itself in the following practices: the religious population tends to wear religious symbols or items of clothing, to have "their own" minister of worship (which manifests itself in the desire to turn to the same priest, including to receive parting words and blessings when making important decisions), participate in religious rituals prescribed by their religion and use sacred objects as amulets. However, the behavior of the religious population of the border regions of Russia is not limited only to religious rituals and cult activities, it also includes pseudo-religious practices, such as visiting magicians, following signs and trying to fulfill their desires through the practices of addressing the Universe. It can be concluded that the religious behavior of the population of the surveyed regions is syncretic and includes not only practices prescribed by the professed religion, but also practices characteristic of esoteric teachings.

As a result of the analysis of the regional specifics of the conative component of the religious identity of the population, the following conclusions were made. The religious behavior of the population of the Altai Territory is most actively manifested in the use of sacred objects as amulets and participation in religious rites prescribed by the professed religion. It is also important for the religious population of the Altai Territory to visit the same priest and wear religious symbols or items of clothing. At the same time, the religious population of the Altai Territory practices participation in virtual seminars and marathons dedicated to improving life and finding happiness, appeals to the ministers of the church to consecrate the dwelling and things they use, and appeals to the Universe for the fulfillment of desires. As we can see, the population of the Altai Territory also demonstrates syncretism in their religious practices, in addition, utilitarian motivation is also visible in them.

The most "striking" feature of the religious behavior of the population of the Altai Republic is the desire to visit the same priest, to have a confessor. In addition, the religious population of the Altai Republic tends to wear religious symbols or items of clothing and seek advice or blessing from the ministers of worship. However, the religious population of the region under discussion also practices and appeals to magicians and the Universe, believes in omens and follows them, uses sacred objects and images as amulets. Probably, such an eclectic combination of various religious and pseudo-religious practices in the behavior of the population of the Altai Republic is associated with a specific religious palette of the region, in which there are both many world religions and a variety of archaic beliefs. In addition, the undying interest in Altai on the part of representatives of various esoteric teachings also leaves its mark on the peculiarities of the religiosity of the population of this region.

The religious behavior of the population of the Republic of Tyva manifests itself in participation in religious rites prescribed by the professed religion, the use of sacred objects as amulets, the desire to consult with a minister of worship and receive a blessing from him, wearing religious symbols and garments. Attention is drawn to the fact that it is not typical for the religious behavior of the population of the Republic of Tyva to demonstrate any pseudo-religious practices, unlike the population of other regions covered by the study.

The behavior of the religious population of the Novosibirsk region includes the following practices: the desire to visit the same priest and have a confessor, wear religious symbols or items of clothing, participate in prescribed religious rituals and use sacred objects as amulets. At the same time, the religious population of the Novosibirsk region can seek help from psychics and healers, and also believes in signs and follows them.

Thus, as a result of the study, both general trends and specific characteristics inherent in the behavioral component of the religious identity of the population of the border regions of the Russian Federation were identified. At the same time, regional communities are heterogeneous both in terms of ethno-confessional and socio-demographic characteristics. The analysis of the features of religious behavior of social groups distinguished by ethnic, confessional and demographic affiliation contributes to a more differentiated assessment of the features of religious behavior of the population.

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