THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RELIGION

World War II  and Religion

In 1939, Nazi Germany, than an ally of the Soviet Union, invaded Poland, thus beginning World War II.  Within a year the Soviet Union has absorbed the last 4 of its 15 republics-Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Moldavia.  In  June 1941, however, Germany launched a massive attack on the Soviet Union, which took Stalin totally by surprise.  By the end of the year, German troops has reached the outskirts of Moscow, and the fall of the Soviet Union appeared imminent.

In desperation, Stalin sought to mobilize the nation for what the Russians called the Great Patriotic War. Stalin recognized that he needed to make concessions to the church to win the support of the people for the war effort, since millions of them still remained religions. What was the result of the spectacular reversal of Stalin's policy toward religion?  

With the cooperation of the church, the Russian people were mobilized for the war effort, and by 1945 a dramatic Soviet victory over the Germans were realized.  After the Soviet attack on religion was suspended, the number of Orthodox churches  increased to 25,000, and the number of priests reached 33,000.  

Attack Renewed

In reality, though, the goal of the Soviet leaders, to eradicate the concept of God from the minds of their people had not changed.  The Encyclopedia Britannica explains:  "A new anti-religious move was initiated by Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev in 1959-64, reducing the number of open churches to less than 1,000. Patriarch Pimen was elected in 1971 following Alexis' death, and although the church still commanded the loyalty of millions, its future remained uncertain." 

Later we will discuss how the Russian Orthodox Church succeeded in surviving the renewed Soviet attack.  But how did other religions in the Soviet Union fare?  Of these, which one became a chief focus of the attack, and why? This will be discussed in the following article.

Next time: THE SOVIET ATTACK ON RELIGION -A Focus OF THE SOVIET ATTACK 

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