ABSTRACT
The dialogue was cosponsored by the International Humanist and Ethical Union and the Institute for Scientific Atheism of the Soviet Academy of Social Sciences. The defining characteristic of humanism is its commitment to human freedom and democracy; the kind of atheism practiced in the Soviet Union has consistently violated basic human rights. Humanists differ fundamentally with Marxist-Leninists on several points. The humanists present were dismayed at the puritanical attitudes of the Soviets; for instance, it is considered indecent even to mention masturbation in public. Marxism appears to have more in common with the Moral Majority than with secular humanism in its attitudes toward sex. As a consequence they invited a delegation of Western humanists to convene in Moscow; this meeting was entitled "A Dialogue between Humanists and Atheists: Differences and Similarities." In 1925 the "League of Militant Godless" was formed, which organized atheist lecturers, films, museums, "propaganda trains," and public demonstrations to "unmask religious frauds."
