To: 2MAR$ who wrote (33925 ) 3/6/2013 11:48:41 AM From: longnshort Read Replies (1) | Respond to 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 . [1] [2] [3] 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. [4] [5] [4] in the domestic and private spheres but also in the scattered public spaces allowed by a state that recognised its failure to eradicate religion and the political dangers of an unrelenting culture war . [2] [6] [7] Militant atheism was central to the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union [8] and a high priority of all Soviet leaders. [3] Communism required the abolition of religion. [3] Convinced atheists were considered to be more virtuous individuals than those of religious belief. [3] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [ unreliable source? ] Criticism of atheism or the state's anti-religious policies was forbidden and could lead to forced retirement, arrest and/or imprisonment. [15] [16] [17]
