<P> The Soviet Union was established by the Bolsheviks in 1922 , in place of the Russian Empire . At the time of the 1917 Revolution , the Russian Orthodox Church was deeply integrated into the autocratic state , enjoying official status . This was a significant factor that contributed to the Bolshevik attitude to religion and the steps they took to control it . Thus the USSR became the first state to have as one objective of its official ideology the elimination of existing religion , and the prevention of future implanting of religious belief , with the goal of establishing state atheism ( gosateizm ) . Under the doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union , there was a `` government - sponsored program of conversion to atheism '' conducted by Communists . The communist regime targeted religions based on State interests , and while most organized religions were never outlawed , religious property was confiscated , believers were harassed , and religion was ridiculed while atheism was propagated in schools . In 1925 the government founded the League of Militant Atheists to intensify the persecution . Accordingly , although personal expressions of religious faith were not explicitly banned , a strong sense of social stigma was imposed on them by the official structures and mass media and it was generally considered unacceptable for members of certain professions ( teachers , state bureaucrats , soldiers ) to be openly religious . </P>
<P> The Soviet Union was established by the Bolsheviks in 1922 , in place of the Russian Empire . At the time of the 1917 Revolution , the Russian Orthodox Church was deeply integrated into the autocratic state , enjoying official status . This was a significant factor that contributed to the Bolshevik attitude to religion and the steps they took to control it . Thus the USSR became the first state to have as one objective of its official ideology the elimination of existing religion , and the prevention of future implanting of religious belief , with the goal of establishing state atheism ( gosateizm ) . Under the doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union , there was a `` government - sponsored program of conversion to atheism '' conducted by Communists . The communist regime targeted religions based on State interests , and while most organized religions were never outlawed , religious property was confiscated , believers were harassed , and religion was ridiculed while atheism was propagated in schools . In 1925 the government founded the League of Militant Atheists to intensify the persecution . Accordingly , although personal expressions of religious faith were not explicitly banned , a strong sense of social stigma was imposed on them by the official structures and mass media and it was generally considered unacceptable for members of certain professions ( teachers , state bureaucrats , soldiers ) to be openly religious . </P>
what was the official religion of the soviet union
what was the official religion of the soviet union
atheism
atheism