Religious Policy in the Soviet Union [Hardcover]

This 1992 book contains contributions from fifteen of the West's leading scholars of religion in the USSR.This 1992 book contains contributions from fifteen of the West's leading scholars of religion in the USSR, and provides a comprehensive analysis of the subject. Bringing much hitherto unknown material to light, the authors discuss the policy apparatus, programmes of atheisation and socialisation, cults and sects, and the world of Christianity.This 1992 book contains contributions from fifteen of the West's leading scholars of religion in the USSR, and provides a comprehensive analysis of the subject. Bringing much hitherto unknown material to light, the authors discuss the policy apparatus, programmes of atheisation and socialisation, cults and sects, and the world of Christianity.This book provides a sweeping and comprehensive analysis of the history of religion in the Soviet Union, tracing its fortunes through the chaos of the 1920s, and the anti-religious persecution of Stalinism, to the slow strangulation of Brezhnev, and the liberalization under Gorbachev. Bringing together fifteen of the West's leading scholars on this subject, the book examines the policy apparatus, atheist education, cults and sects, and recent changes in legislation and policy, presenting hitherto unknown material for the first time.Preface Sabrina Petra Ramet; Part I. Introduction: 1. A survey of Soviet religious policy Philip Walters; 2. Religious policy in the era of Gorbachev Sabrina Petra Ramet;; Part II. Policy Apparatus: 3. The Council for Religious Affairs Otto Luchterhandt; 4. Some reflections about religious policy under Kharchev Jane Ellis; 5. The state, the church, and the oikumene: the Russian Orthodox Church and the World Council of Churches, 194885 J. A. Hebly; Part III. Education, Socialisation, and Values: 6. Fear no evil: schools and religion in Soviet Russia, 191741 Larry E. Holmes; 7. Soviet schools, atheism and religion John Dunstan; 8. The Ten Commandments as vall“-