Religion in the USSR.

I always thought that atheism is when you do not believe in God as a creative force, as something that is contrary to theism. And I always thought it‘s your personal matter. Who cares? Either you believe or not. But it was not so simple. Some peope had different ideas.

I grew up in the former USSR in one of its small republics which were forced into that huge union that lasted almost 70 years, and fell apart as a house of cards – completely and irreversibly.

There was no religion in the Soviet Union. It was condemned. Some churches by some miracle (or for reason I am not familiar with) were still functioning but most of them were stripped from all crosses and other religious regalia and turned into clubs and/ or warehouses.

What happened to priests? Ones that managed to survive kept a very low profile. The main slogan of communist party was,”Religion is an opium for people.” That was short and to the point. No one asked you whether you had a different opinion. People knew better than to ask questions. I do not think the authorities were generous enough to send priests to Siberia, I think they were shot right in their church backyards for convenience. Soviet Union had lots of enemies; religion was just one of them. Some people were still visiting churches but not openly, some still prayed but in hiding. No educated person with good social status could openly go to church – it was prohibited. It could cost you everything, even if you had so little of everything.

If you did not have a job in the USSR – you were doomed, you were criminal, because you had to work for living, and otherwise you could be arrested and put to prison. If you were fired, because you were a believer, you were criminal even more because you were not working, that was a criminal offence and if you believed in God as well, that was a criminal offence double. My mother was a teacher and because of that she could not be openly religious and she was not, but when I was born, she had christened me “just in case”. What if somebody is still up there and might get mad at me for not being a Christian? Sort of a double standard. My poor mother, it was hard on her, she had a religious upbringing, I am afraid, but then times changed. She had to compromise. For me it was not a problem, I went to school where teachers (most of them) had to be communist party members in order to work professionally and be recognised socially. They explained to me everything about religion from Marxist-Leninist point of view, and things were okay.

Karl Marx did not have to work for a living, neither did Lenin. They both came from “privileged” classes, were educated and had a lot of time on their hands to explore new rules and create a better society and condemn the society they lived in, and religion.

They wrote tons of volumes about that. I am sure most of my poor teachers with meagre salaries and little time on their hands never read any of those but they did not have to. Society had lots of slogans that could give enough information for the right behaviour, right thinking, and right teaching – everything according to the party line.

We did not need any religion, communism was our religion. We started our days with it; we went to bed with it. Holidays, schools, all life – social and personal was permeated with it. There was no escape. It took years and lots of “persuasion” and enemy killing to fine tune everything. At the moment when I was born, this big and clumsy socialist machine fuelled with empty slogans and meaningful mottoes of communist party was moving straight ahead and everybody was sure it would be moving like that forever. It could not be otherwise – too many “enemies” had been eliminated for the sake of its smooth movement, the rest were quiet and complacent – no questions asked.

Society promised riches for everybody and paradise on Earth – in the Soviet Union at least, but nothing was further from the truth. People were poor, shortages of everything, rations for butter, sugar, other products, empty shelves in food stores, in department stores. No money to buy and nothing to buy really. Some areas were better, some worse. I lived in the area that was better, but we had rations too and shortages all the time, though in my area there was no open hunger, people did not die on the streets. I know in Ukraine and in some parts of Russia it was much worse.

You cannot feed your children with slogans only, no matter how good they sound. So some people went to churches and silently prayed, and asked God for forgiveness and for help. Obviously God was too busy with other things at that time, and prayers were not answered. The day came when it all ended. For many people it came suddenly, others expected and rejoiced it.

It did not matter for me anymore because I left that crumbling world and with “rats from a drowning ship” and my family I left this falling house of lies for good. Now I am in a different country, where religion is still a part of society, where people are not afraid to say what they think and to defend their ideas. And earnestly who cares if you go to church or not? Is it anybody’s business? I don’t think so. In this country you actually can create something, earn money, live a good life and leave something behind for your children. At the end of your life you can just sit, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labour in that world of rotten, “dying”, confounded capitalism. Just wish me happy rotting in it – I personally don’t mind at all.

So what about religion in my personal life? Sorry, do not have it. I voided it from my life. I do not know who and how and when and why created everything the way it is. I do not know who gave us, human beings, the ability to think, to create, to suffer, to hurt and to save other beings around us. I believe into human beings, into our potential, that's my religion.

I am sure if we are careful with what we have, with our planet and ourselves, I am sure one day we might get that knowledge but not in my life time. I know we as a society are making now our first baby steps towards being civilized, and it's a long way to go. But I am sure we can do that, we still have time.