Christianity In The Soviet Union
The history of Christianity in the Soviet Union was not limited to repression and secularization. Soviet policy toward religion was based on the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, which made atheism the official doctrine of the Soviet Union. Marxism-Leninism has consistently advocated the control, suppression, and the elimination of religion.
The state was committed to the destruction of religion, and destroyed churches, mosques and temples, ridiculed, harassed and executed religious leaders, flooded the schools and media with atheistic propaganda, and generally promoted 'scientific atheism' as the truth that society should accept.
Religious beliefs and practices persisted among the majority of the population, in the domestic and private spheres but also in the scattered public spaces allowed by a state that recognized its failure to eradicate religion and the political dangers of an unrelenting culture war.
Read more about Christianity In The Soviet Union: Official Soviet Stance, Soviet Tactics, Anti-religious Campaign 1917–1921, Anti-religious Campaign 1921–1928, Anti-religious Campaign 1928–1941, World War II Rapprochement, Postwar Era, Resumption of Anti-religious Campaign, 1964–1970s, Renewal of Persecution in 1970s, Penetration of Churches By Soviet Secret Services, Glasnost
Famous quotes containing the words soviet union, christianity, soviet and/or union:
“In the Soviet Union everything happens slowly. Always remember that.”
—A.N. (Arkady N.)
“What’s the greatest enemy of Christianity to-day? Frozen meat. In the past only members of the upper classes were thoroughly sceptical, despairing, negative. Why? Among other reasons, because they were the only people who could afford to eat too much meat. Now there’s cheap Canterbury lamb and Argentine chilled beef. Even the poor can afford to poison themselves into complete scepticism and despair.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“The tremendous outflow of intellectuals that formed such a prominent part of the general exodus from Soviet Russia in the first years of the Bolshevist Revolution seems today like the wanderings of some mythical tribe whose bird-signs and moon-signs I now retrieve from the desert dust.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“The best philosophical attitude to adopt towards the world is a union of the sarcasm of gaiety with the indulgence of contempt.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)