Religious tolerance and its manifestation in Buryatia

The article deals with several aspects of the concept of religious tolerance: its denotation, definition, subjects and objects, and the main levels. It is proposed the differentiation of the concepts of inter-confessional tolerance, intra-confessional tolerance, liberal attitude towards religion and religious tolerance. We believe that more rigorous and substantiated use of key terms as well as sensitivity to the nature of differences as a basis for differentiating forms of religious tolerance are necessary. The article reveals the differences between religious and inter-ethnic tolerance, religious and ethnic self-identification, illustrates the manifestations of various forms of religious tolerance by an examples of the Russian region of Buryatia, which has positive traditions of inter-religious interaction, due to the confessional policy of the Russian state, the specificity of Siberia, as well as Buddhism and Orthodoxy as the dominant religions of Buryatia, which are mutually tolerant and peacefully coexist with other confessions.