ABSTRACT
Four periods in the history of atheism and Freethought in Russia are discussed in this chapter. The first (the second half of the 18th century) is the aristocratic period when the Russian nobility was keen on the ideas of the French Enlightenment. The second is the period of the search by the intelligentsia for ultimate truth apart from official Orthodox Christianity (the second part of the 19th century). In the third period after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Soviet atheism transformed the philosophical critique of religion into practical politics aimed at expunging not only religious institutions but also the daily expressions of religious beliefs; two stages of Soviet atheism – the “militant” and the “scientific” – are considered. A distinction is made between institutional religion and private beliefs and practices; it is demonstrated that the Soviet state was much more successful in extermination of the former than of the latter. Finally, it is argued that in post-Soviet Russia the place of atheism, as one of the basic principles of Soviet ideology, is occupied by religion as a repository of “genuine” spirituality. The conclusion is reached that the position of an atheist in Russia today is more of an atheist for “inward use”.
