Atheism: From Russia, Without Love

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The Soviet government, certain that religion is the opium of the people, has always tried hard to help its citizens kick the habit. Last week Pravda announced that the Communist Party had undertaken a grand new program to excise God from the minds and the hearts of all Russians.

The plan, drawn up by the party's Ideological Commission, is perhaps the most thorough in Soviet history. The commission will set up a new Institute of Scientific Atheism, offer courses in the subject at Russian universities starting this fall. Atheism will be taught more intensively at party training cen ters and in special courses for teachers, doctors and journalists. Already start ed are competitions for the best atheist plays, films, paintings and photographs (one entry shows believers gloating over a collection plate). To counter act the emotional appeal of church feasts, the party will give greater emphasis to Russia's secular festivals —such as Cattle Breeder Day and Corn Grower Day, now celebrated joyously throughout the Ukraine.

If atheism is to succeed, warned Commission Chairman Leonid Ilyichev, non-believers must embark on a person-to-person campaign — "more heart-to-heart talks, frank explanations and patient conversations." He suggested the formation of Young Atheist clubs, whose members could enter into anti-religious dialogues with believers, such as warning pregnant women about the physical dangers involved in baptism and circumcision.

The new campaign emphasized that the Soviet drive against God has been hardly more successful than Khrushchev's farm program. It is 46 years since the revolution, and yet the Russian Orthodox Church still claims 50 million members in a population of 226 million; in addition, there are at least 25 million Moslems, 3.5 million Jews, and uncounted thousands who have been converted from nonbelief by the Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses.