Sepanjang sejarah Uni Soviet (1922–1991), terdapat periode di mana pemerintah Soviet menekan dan menindas berbagai bentuk Kekristenan dalam tingkat yang berbeda-beda tergantung pada kepentingan negara.[1] Kebijakan Marxisme-Leninisme Soviet secara konsisten menganjurkan kontrol, penindasan, dan akhirnya, penghapusan keyakinan agama, dan secara aktif mendorong ateisme di Uni Soviet.[2] Namun, kebanyakan agama tidak pernah dilarang secara resmi.[1]
Negara menganjurkan penghancuran agama, dan secara resmi menyatakan keyakinan agama merupakan takhayul dan terbelakang.[3][4] Partai Komunis menghancurkan gereja, masjid, dan sinagoga, mengejek, melecehkan, memenjarakan dan mengeksekusi para pemimpin keagamaan, memenuhi sekolah-sekolah dan media dengan ajaran-ajaran anti-agama, dan memperkenalkan sebuah sistem kepercayaan yang disebut "ateisme ilmiah," dengan ritual, janji, dan propagandisnya sendiri.[5][6] Jumlah total korban umat Kristen di bawah rezim Soviet diperkirakan berkisar antara 14-22 juta.[7][8][9]
Kepercayaan dan praktik keagamaan bertahan di antara mayoritas penduduk,[5] di ruang domestik dan pribadi, tetapi juga di ruang publik yang tersebar yang diizinkan oleh negara yang mengakui kegagalannya untuk memusnahkan agama dan bahaya politik dari perang budaya yang tak henti-hentinya.[3][10]
^"Soviet Union: Policy toward nationalities and religions in practice". www.country-data.com. May 1989. Diakses tanggal 2014-03-29. Marxism-Leninism has consistently advocated the control, suppression, and, ultimately, the elimination of religious beliefs, except for Judaism, which was actively protected by the bolshevik state.
^ ab
Daniel, Wallace L. (Winter 2009). "Father Aleksandr Men and the struggle to recover Russia's heritage". Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (George Washington University). 17 (1). ISSN1940-4603. Diakses tanggal 2014-03-29. Continuing to hold to one's beliefs and one's view of the world required the courage to stand outside a system committed to destroying religious values and perspectives.
^
Froese, Paul. "'I am an atheist and a Muslim': Islam, communism, and ideological competition." Journal of Church and State 47.3 (2005)
^ abPaul Froese. Forced Secularization in Soviet Russia: Why an Atheistic Monopoly Failed. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 35-50
^Haskins, Ekaterina V. "Russia's postcommunist past: the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the reimagining of national identity." History and Memory: Studies in Representation of the Past 21.1 (2009)
^John Shelton Curtis, The Russian Church and the Soviet State (Boston: Little Brown, 1953); Jane Ellis, The Russian Orthodox Church: A Contemporary History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986); Dimitry V. Pospielovsky, The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime 1917-1982 (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984); idem., A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Policies (New York; St. Martin’s Press, 1987); Glennys Young, Power and the Sacred in Revolutionary Russia: Religious Activists in the Village (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997); Daniel Peris, Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the Militant Godless (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998); William B. Husband, “Godless Communists”: Atheism and Society in Soviet Russia DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2000; Edward Roslof, Red Priests: Renovationism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Revolution, 1905-1946 (Bloomington, Indiana, 2002)
Bibliografi
And God Created Lenin: Marxism vs. Religion in Russia, 1917-1929. Author: Paul Gabel ISBN1-59102-306-8[1]
Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the Militant Godless Author: Daniel Peris Publisher: Cornell University Press ISBN0801434858ISBN978-0801434853[2]
The Plot to Kill God: Findings from the Soviet Experiment in Secularization Author: Paul Froese Publisher: University of California Press ISBN0520255291ISBN978-0520255296[3]
Religion and the State in Russia and China: Suppression, Survival, and Revival Author: Christopher Marsh ISBN1441112472ISBN978-1441112477
Russian Society and the Orthodox Church: Religion in Russia after Communism Author: Zoe Knox Publisher: Routledge (August 13, 2009)ISBN0415546168ISBN978-0415546164[4]
"Godless communists": atheism and society in Soviet Russia, 1917-1932 Author: William Husband Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press ISBN0875802575ISBN978-0875802572[5]
Secularism Soviet Style: Teaching Atheism and Religion in a Volga Republic Author: Sonja Luehrmann Publisher: Indiana University Press ISBN0253356989ISBN978-0253356987
Doubt, Atheism, and the Nineteenth-Century Russian Intelligentsia Author: Victoria Frede Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press ISBN0299284441ISBN978-0299284442[6]
After Atheism: Religion and Ethnicity in Russia and Central Asia (Caucasus World) Author: David C. Lewis Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan ISBN0312226926ISBN978-0312226923[7]