Scientific atheism in the 1970s, between conflicts with religion and cooperation with believers

Despite the continuity Olof Klohr embodied, East German scientific atheism presented a very different face, characteristic of the 1970s, with new areas explored and new issues and challenges raised. East German scientific atheists discovered other religions – Islam, Buddhism – and other parts of the world and developed extensive research on Protestants. This was considered one of their main areas of expertise by German observers and across the communist world. Appreciation of religion began to change, but not easily, towards a necessary “cooperation” with believers – but not a “dialogue”. The discourse on religion oscillated between conflicting concepts; the “withering away” of religion and “political clericalism” had not yet been left aside.