Breaking the Monopoly of Scientific Atheism in Soviet Social Science (1960s–1980s)
Breaking the Monopoly of Scientific Atheism in Soviet Social Science (1960s–1980s)
Author(s): Boris FilippovSubject(s): Religion and science , Politics and religion, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism, Sociology of Religion
Published by: Latvijas Universitātes Filozofijas un socioloģijas institūts
Keywords: scientific atheism; information blackout; individual resistance; the Philosophical Encyclopedia; Institute of Scientific Information on Social Sciences; religious ‘samizdat’ and ‘tamizdat’;
Summary/Abstract: Information blackout was the main tool of maintaining the leading position of scientific atheism as an integral part of Marxism-Leninism in Soviet academia. As an obligatory academic course, scientific atheism provided students with a theoretical framework, which did not allow them to see a complex picture of the function of religious institutions, religious ideas, and the activities of distinguished Church men and women. While atheism had been promoted using the instruments of the state-run propaganda institutions and the system of higher education, resistance to it was a matter of individual activity. This article deals with two cases from the history of the deconstruction of the information blackout in the field of Church and religious issues, which happened in the Soviet Union between the 1960s and 1980s. The author was not only a contemporary of the processes described in this article but also took part in the events, which are central to this paper.
Journal: Religiski-filozofiski raksti
- Issue Year: XXXI/2021
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 91-106
- Page Count: 16
- Language: English