Reply #27: If only we could somehow rid the world of this scourge

[Rage for Order]

The Soviet Union practically wiped out religion and that worked out great:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Soviet_Union#Loss_of_life

The Soviet Union was an officially atheistic state. The stated goal was control, suppression, and, ultimately, the elimination of religious beliefs. Atheism was propagated through schools, communist organizations, and the media. The Society of the Godless was created. All religious movements were either prosecuted or controlled by the state and KGB.

Somewhere between 80 to 90% of the general population were Russian Orthodox. Tens of thousands of churches were closed. Laymen, priests and Bishops were executed. Religious activities could and were prosecuted under article 58. Untold millions lost their lives for their religious convictions.

The persecution of religion under the Soviet Union has been the largest in history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalin#Religion

Stalin's role in the fortunes of the Russian Orthodox Church is complex. Continuous persecution in the 1930s resulted in its near-extinction: by 1939, active parishes numbered in the low hundreds (down from 54,000 in 1917), many churches had been leveled, and tens of thousands of priests, monks and nuns were persecuted and killed. Over 100,000 were shot during the purges of 1937-38.

Many religions popular in the ethnic regions of the Soviet Union including the Roman Catholic Church, Uniats, Baptists, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, etc. underwent ordeals similar to the Orthodox churches in other parts: thousands of monks were persecuted, and hundreds of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, sacred monuments, monasteries and other religious buildings were razed.


Stalin must have been a very religious man, because he was very deadly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Soviet_Union#Genocide

The deaths of millions of people in Ukraine during the Holodomor famine of 1932—1933 was, according to many historians, caused intentionally by confiscating all food and blocking the migration of starving population by the Soviet government. The number of Golodomor victims was estimated by Robert Conquest as 5 million <12> Overall number of peasants who died in 1930-1937 from hunger and repressions during collectivization (including Kavkaz and Kazakhstan) was at least 14.5 million

And then there's this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Soviet_Union#Loss_of_life

Soviet political repression was a de facto and de jure system of prosecution of people who were or perceived to be enemies of the Soviet system. Its theoretical basis were the theory of Marxism about the class struggle and the resulting notion of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Its legal basis was formalized into the Article 58 in the code of RSFSR and similar articles for other Soviet republics. Aggravation of class struggle under socialism was proclaimed. An extensive network of civilian informants - either volunteers, or those forcibly recruited - was used to collect intelligence for the government and report cases of suspected dissent.

The term "repression", "terror", and other strong words were normal working terms, since the dictatorship of the proletariat was supposed to suppress the resistance of other social classes which Marxism considered antagonistic to the class of proletariat. The entire "ruling classes" have been exterminated, including "rich people", and a significant part of intelligentsia and peasantry labeled as kulaks. The numerous victims of extrajudicial punishment were called the enemies of the people. The punishment by the state included summary executions, torture, sending innocent people to Gulag, involunatry settlement, and stripping of citizen's rights. Usually, all members of a family, including children, were punished simultaneously as "traitor of Motherland family members". The repressions have been conducted by Cheka, OGPU and NKVD in several consecutive waves known as Red Terror, Collectivisation, Great Purge, Doctor's Plot, and others. The secret police forces conducted massacres of prisoners at numerous occasions. The repressions against "ruling classes" and general population were practiced in Soviet republics and at the territories "liberated" by Soviet Army during World War II, including Baltic States, Eastern Europe, China, and North Korea.

State repression led to uprisings, which were brutally suppressed by military force, like the Tambov rebellion, Kronstadt rebellion, or Vorkuta Uprising. During Tambov rebellion, Soviet military forces widely used chemical weapons against civilians. Most prominent citizens of villages were often taken as hostages and executed if the resistance fighters did not surrender.

After Stalin died, various religions continued to be outlawed, but life was grand!:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_the_Soviet_Union#Loss_of_life

After Stalin's death, the suppression of dissent was dramatically reduced and took new forms. The internal critics of the system were convicted for anti-Soviet agitation or as "social parasites". Others were labeled as mentally ill, having sluggishly progressing schizophrenia and incarcerated in "Psikhushkas", i.e. mental hospitals used by the Soviet authorities as prisons. A few notable dissidents were sent to internal or external exile, as Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, Vladimir Bukovsky, and Andrei Sakharov.

Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced. This gave rise to Samizdat, a clandestine copying and distribution of government-suppressed literature.

Free and fair elections existed only in theory, as a part of the Soviet democracy. All candidates had been selected by local Communist party or affiliated organizations, at least before the June 1987 elections.

Personal property was allowed, with certain limitations. All real property belonged to the state. Unauthorized possession of foreign currency was forbidden and prosecuted as criminal offense.

Freedoms of assembly and association did not exist. Workers were not allowed to organize free trade unions. All existing trade unions were organized and controlled by the state<14>. All political youth organizations, such as Pioneer movement and Komsomol served to enforce the policies of the Communist Party.

Emigration and any travel abroad were not allowed without an explicit permission from the government. People who were not allowed to leave the country are known as "refuseniks".

Passport system in the Soviet Union restricted migration of citizens within the country through "propiska" (residential permit/registration system) and use of internal passports. For a long period of the Soviet history peasants did not have internal passports and could not move into towns without permission.

Many former inmates received "wolf ticket" and were allowed to live only at 101 km away from city borders.

Travel to closed cities and to the regions near USSR state borders was strongly restricted.



You're right jgraz - if only we could get rid of damn religion!