"I believed in Judaism since I was born and I don't think I ever wished to change my religion or to become an atheist. In our religion, you don't have to visit synagogue every day or week. If you live in Israel you must visit it every day. However, in Russia it is impossible because of the laws, so you are able to choose if you want to go or not.

There was a little moment in my life when I was attending it every thursday with my friends but now I don't.

I would describe typical attendee in a synagogue definitely as men of any age. There are some "rules" which every believer should respect and follow, so most adult men at the synagogue have a beard. Women usually are not allowed to pray with men in the same room, so usually in synagogue you won't meet many women.

As I am not Orthodox Judaist, people don't usually care about my religion. I was never telling others about my religion unless they ask me, so I never felt any oppression or felt I was being discriminated by others.

All religious people have some moments in their life when praying gave them more power to keep on moving forward and continue fighting and so do I. It's like a feeling that somebody is watching me and this mystical power will help in any occasion. You don't see much help when everything is alright, but when you are in trouble, just open your heart to God and see some things getting much better.

I am absolutely neutral to people from other religions. Everyone can believe in whatever they want. There are some laws in Orthodox Judaism which prohibit marriages with people who are not Judaists. I think that if I wish and insist on my point of view, my parents will understand and accept me and my opinion. I have a friend who professes Islam and we easily talk to each other and laugh at same jokes.

Judaism is a quite friendly religion. As far as I know in Israel anyone can come to a rabbi and talk to him or ask for advice. Synagogue can even help you in difficult life situations: give you money, clothes or anything you need. And what is really important is that you don't have any withdrawal slips. Everything is based on trust.

If we talk about Judaists who live in Moscow, of course they don't comply all canons of our religion. I work pretty hard on Shabbat, despite rules of Judaism which prohibit any kind of work on this day. Russia is a more Christian country, so laws here very often intersect with laws in Judaism. As my close friend said, "We have about 600 laws. If you try really hard, you can follow 300 of them. And we obey the ones we have enough time to follow. So from 600 laws we abide by only 30.

If I had a chance to travel to Israel, I think I would definitely do it. I wish I could visit Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Holon and some other important religious cities in Israel. I thought about having multiple citizenships (Russian and Israel), but the problem is that you have to prepare a lot of documents proving your nationality and this is very difficult and tedious work for me."

In the early 1990s, there was a movement of former citizens in USSR countries starting to immigrate to America to chase religious freedom. Growing up in the Soviet Union, the communist party was in control. If you weren't a Communist, you didn't fit in and were treated differently — typically in unfair ways.

Certain former citizens sought refuge in America. They had to leave everything behind — career, family, and their homes. Coming to America was not easy. Many former Soviet citizens did not speak English; they did not have much money and relied mostly on sponsors and eventually other family members who moved to America.

Senior pastor Peter Sayenko was one of those immigrants who made the trip to the United States, where he would start his own church for the Slavic community in the Tacoma area. There, he leads one of the biggest Slavic churches in the area with approximately 2,000 adult members.

The Slavic Christian Center, better known by local Russians as "Sayenko Church," is a Pentecostal Christian faith based. Sayenko, who has been a pastor at the church for 25 years, has a reputation as a friendly and Godly man, who is really good with remembering names and faces.

Sayenko was born into a Christian family in Ukraine. At this time Ukraine was under the regime of the Soviet Union.

"The ruling political party at that time was the communist party, and the strict rule of Atheism ruled the country," Sayenko says, "The time was very difficult. There was destruction after World War II. During my youth, I dedicated my life to serve God."

Sayenko, his wife and 11 children immigrated to America in January of 1991 after the authorities of the Soviet Union took away their citizenship because of their faith and deported them out of the country. The authorities in the United State of America gave their family refugee status. They settled in the state of Washington in the city of Tacoma. "We thank God, the US government, and the good people of Tacoma," Sayenko said. Today, Sayenko's family consists of 8 daughters and 4 sons. All of their children are married and have children of their own. The Sayenko family has multiplied to 40 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Sayenko says, "We all serve God, love America, work, and study to be good and beneficial citizens of this great country that we call home."

In 1992, the Slavic immigrant church chose Sayenko to be the pastor of the church and he has been a pastor ever since. Before moving to America, he was a pastor in Ukraine for 25 years. Sayenko says, "There is not much difference [between religion in Russia vs. America]. We all believe in one God and learn from one book, the Bible." Slavic Christian Center has a huge impact on the city of Tacoma. Part of the church building acts as a private school Monday through Friday for students from kindergarten to 10th grade. Sayenko says, "Slavic Christian Center strives to be beneficial in all the services we see in our city and the surrounding cities we live in."

"I was born in a Muslim family, so Islam has been my religion since then. It's not like I didn't have a choice, of course you can choose while you grow up. However, my religion is important to me and I stay by it. I've never heard of someone who would refuse to be a Muslim. I don't think it's a bad thing though, because everyone has a right to believe in their own way.

We don't go to mosque often. Like Orthodox, we have fasting and rituals, for example, in the month of May, Ramadan is when we can eat or drink only when the sun is down. During the day, we must conduct the Salat, the main Islamic prayer, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. In the mosque, there is a diverse age range of people. You can see old people, young men and small children. Women are allowed to visit mosques only on holidays. Where I'm from — Samarkand, Uzbekistan — there are mosques in every area of the city and you would see only men in there. Women have to conduct their prayers apart from them.

It is known, Islam has different movements. There are some Muslim women who wear hijabs all the time. Here's the thing — it's not necessary. The Quran teaches you to pray 5 times a day and how to be modest, but there's no mention about the fact that all women must wear hijabs. It's actually just a traditional dress of Arabian countries. Nowadays, Muslim women don't even have to wear a shawl. If you don't want to do this — you don't have to.

On the other hand, there are still some very strict families where the man's word is like the law. Woman must hide her face behind veil, even on her wedding day if this is what her fiancée wants. But no one can force anyone to conduct the Salat or any other act of worship. That's a huge sin.

To be honest, I don't pray 5 times a day since I came to Moscow. I really want to start doing this again though. I think about May, because it's when our holy month Ramadan begins. Every Muslim is required to pray to Allah, because Allah can see every sin.

Once I had a strange and scary period in my life when I started to hear mysterious voices inside of my head. I was terrified and decided to look for help in my local mosque. There, I found an old mullah who listened to me first and then gave me an amulet that opened and inside it had a piece of paper with prayer on it. He said, "Read it and you'll feel better." So I did and it worked. It's possible that I just convinced myself, I don't really know. But I still have that amulet.

I heard of a few cases where someone forced another person to commit suicide because it was written in the Quran. In fact, that is not written in the Quran and it's a deadly sin. The people who interpret it this way are not Muslims, even if they say they are.

I think there's only one God for everyone. It's just different beliefs with different names. One thing can have a variety of names, but you can't change it's meaning.

No one ever discriminates me because I'm a Muslim, even when I moved to Moscow. Some Russians can tell me that I'm an immigrant and that I'm not Russian, but who cares about that? I'm a proud Muslim and I don't care what people say."

Like most people belonging to Orthodoxy, I was christened in far childhood. Actually, I do not remember the exact date but I think it happened when I was 1 or 2 years old. My godparents were my father's sister and mother's brother, so my uncle and aunt.

I used to go to church much more often than now. One of the most important factors is that I used to sing in kliros (Section of an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic church dedicated to the choir) in The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Samara. It is really sad but in Moscow I can not find church which my soul would accept. It's hard to explain the reasons. I mean that I am looking for the place which will become my second home. Although I still need to visit church, it is a kind of hunger for the pray. And so when I feel that I need to go to a holy place, I go to Kazan Cathedral near Red Square or to Intercession Monastery.

It is a myth that people working in church don't have a social life. They do and they spend a lot of time talking to friends and just random people. Our church organizes children's matinees, our parish has also a special children center and a Sunday school, from time to time Orthodox musical concerts are held there, the abbe talks to parishioners, gives advice.

Currently I keep in touch with my native church and every time when I come back to Samara I come to sing in kliros. As I said, my parents christened me when I was a kid, so all my family and relatives believe the same. My family is very sensitive to the faith, but without fanaticism.

I know how Orthodox Church lives in other countries, because my best friend went to Italy to study there. She found church which is quite the same if we compare it with Russian one, but after coming back home she immediately noticed that the main goal of Russian church is to educate, to instruct. That is what they do not have in Italy. Women are allowed to go to church in pants, and there are other "indulgences". In this regard our Church is stricter.

Faith is the main thing that I have in life. It gives me strength in the most difficult moments and always supports. It is a source of inspiration, enlightenment, cleansing, acceptance and love to the world and life. Like any true believer, I do not just feel the presence of a higher power, I feel their help.

My whole family believes in Buddha, so we do not have any misunderstandings. In general, I suppose that a Buddhist is a person with a kind open heart, who knows how to be compassionate to all people of the world.

As the Dalai Lama XIV outlined, the tenets of all religions say one and the same: they are aimed primarily at creating peace in the world. Do not kill, do not steal, take care of the middle — all these truths are stated in all religions.

We have this term 'moleben' (prayer). Moleben is a divine service. The monks read prayers about health, well-being, prosperity, and happiness. In this moment, the worshippers think in their head about goodness and all good intentions. Also, it is important for us to listen to prayers of 'your' year. It is known that Buddhists have their own Buddhist calendar. If you are born in the year of the Fire dragon, dog or any other year of the Buddhist calendar, you should attend moleben as 'your' year is the most difficult especially for you. I listen to such worship when I come home to Elista.