Concept

State atheism

Overview

State atheism is the incorporation of hard atheism or non-theism into political regimes. It is considered the opposite of theocracy and may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments. To some extent, it is a religion-state relationship that is usually ideologically linked to irreligion and the promotion of irreligion or atheism. State atheism may refer to a government's promotion of anti-clericalism, which opposes religious institutional power and influence in all aspects of public and political life, including the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen. In some instances, religious symbols and public practices that were once held by religions were replaced with secularized versions of them. State atheism in these cases is considered as not being politically neutral toward religion, and therefore it is often considered non-secular.

The majority of communist states followed similar policies from 1917 onwards. The Soviet Union (1922–1991) had a long history of state atheism, whereby those who were seeking social success generally had to profess atheism and stay away from places of worship; this trend became especially militant during the middle of the Stalinist era, which lasted from 1929 to 1953. In Eastern Europe, countries like Bulgaria, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia experienced strong state atheism policies. The Soviet Union attempted to suppress public religious expression over wide areas of its influence, including places such as Central Asia. Currently, China, North Korea, and Vietnam are officially atheist.

Cuba was an atheist state until 1992, when a change in its constitution declared it a secular state, a provision that is reaffirmed in the 2019 constitution.

In contrast, a secular state officially purports to be neutral in matters of religion; it does not support religion, nor does it support irreligion. In a review of 35 European states in 1980, 5 states were considered "secular" in the sense of religious neutrality, 9 considered "atheistic", and 21 states considered "religious".

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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This Constitution, so ingeniously made invulnerable, was, however, like Achilles, vulnerable at one point: not in its heel, but in its head, or rather, in the two heads into which it ran out—the Legislative Assembly, on the one hand, and the President on the other. Run through the Constitution and it will be found that only those paragraphs wherein the relation of the President to the Legislative Assembly is…
Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
States what State atheism is; the author is tied to State atheism in the knowledge graph.
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The first pamphlet we lay before the public is called _The Northern Crisis_. It was printed in London in 1716, and relates to the intended Dano-Anglo-Russian _invasion of Skana_ (Schonen). During the year 1715 a northern alliance for the partition, not of Sweden proper, but of what we may call the Swedish Empire, had been concluded between Russia, Denmark, Poland, Prussia, and Hanover. That partition forms the first…
Karl Marx, Secret Diplomatic History of The Eighteenth Century
States what State atheism is; the author is tied to State atheism in the knowledge graph.
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Siberia, as far as China, was in a state of idolatry; and, in some of the provinces, they were utter strangers to all kind of religion. Perry, the engineer, and baron Strahlemberg, who both resided so many years in Russia, tell us, that they found more sincerity and probity among the Pagans than the other inhabitants; not that paganism made them more virtuous, but their manner of living, which, was that of the…
Voltaire, The History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia
States what State atheism is.
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Philosophers who discussed State atheism

Nikolai Berdyaev

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Place in the tradition

Part of Antireligion.

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