The Council for Religious Affairs () was a government council in the Soviet Union that dealt with religious activity in the country. It was founded in 1965 through the union of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church (CAROC) and the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults. It ceased to exist after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Background The operations of the Council for Religious Affairs (CRA) became more apparent to scholars outside of the Soviet Union following glasnost and an opening of the Soviet archives. The CRA was a result of a renewed assault against religion, which started under the Khrushchev era, even though the CRA was not created until after his deposition. Letters from individual parishes express their frustration and alarm at a wave of new attacks starting in 1959, before the CRA was formed. Concerns came from both non-Orthodox and Orthodox figures, including Patriarch Alexy I of Moscow. The first head of the CRA, Vladimir A. Kuroyedov, was in fact the final head of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church. He replaced Chairman Karpov and was seen as a much more anti-religious enthusiast who did not have reservations about attacking established religion. In the period of 1958-1964, when the CRA was officially created, Kuroyedov oversaw the dissolution of over 1,000 places of worship for non-Orthodox religious denominations, and over 6,000 Orthodox churches. Structure The CRA statute organizes the council as being attached to the USSR Council of Ministers, but the Chairman of the CRA did not have ministerial rank. The chairman oversaw different divisions, which focused on particular religious groups, e.g. the Russian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, Islam, Judaism, etc. The CRA has been described as a go-between for religious denominations and the Soviet state. It was tasked with overseeing execution of legislation pertaining to religious "cults." Officially, the CRA had "no part to play" in promoting atheism or serving as the means for the party's anti-religious campaigns; however, one author found during the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the archives were generally more open than before, that there is evidence to the contrary. He cites an example of the CRA joining with another state agency, The Institute of Scientific Atheism, in combating the resurgence of Ukrainian Catholic activists. Activities The CRA adopted & continued many of the activities of its predecessors.