What was the role of Christianity in the Cold War and

how has the latter impacted on Christian churches in

Communist countries?

The role of Christianity, and religion in general, during the cold war has
been largely understudied by contemporary historians. This is probably, at
least in part, due to the development of economic history as a distinct
field of historical thought during the 1960s - this, unsurprisingly, has
likely led to the overwhelming emphasis on political-economy in recent
years and thus by proxy the cold war being dominated by historians
intrigued by the inner-workings of the Communist Russian system.
Following the end of World War Two in 1945, the Allies divided Germany
between themselves, with Austria becoming a liberated, neutral state. The
Americans, British and the French split between themselves and occupied
western Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
occupied the eastern part of the country. Berlin, which was located within
the Soviet occupied zone of Germany, was divided and occupied jointly by
the Allied powers due to its importance of being the capital and due to the
former role the Nazi government played there. These Allied and Soviet
occupied zones became the independent states, the Federal Republic of
Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East
Germany) in 1949.
The Soviet Union was formed in 1922 following the Russian Civil War and
was led by the revolutionary politician Vladimir Lenin. Following his death
in 1924, there was a power struggle involving member of the Soviet
Politburo, with Joseph Stalin, managing to gain power of the Union. Both
men had communist ideologies which were based on the works of Karl
Marx in the 1800s. Several communist led governments were formed in
Europe after World War Two and these were mainly down to their location
in Central and Eastern Europe and the significant influence the Soviet
Union had over these. This collection of eight countries (post 1948)
including East Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia was known as the
Eastern Bloc and the countries outside the Soviet Union were known as
satellite states, meaning the Soviet Union had strong political influence
over them. The ideological and political barrier between the democracies
in the West and the communist run Stalinist regimes in the East was
known as the Iron Curtain. The tyrannical regime that Stalin led in the
USSR was spreading and Western Europe and the United States feared the
escalation of communism towards them. The original alliance of the
Western Allies and the Soviets started to deteriorate following World War

Two due to conflicts of interest and military alliances were formed in NATO
(North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and the Warsaw Pact which was led by
the Soviets. The time period between 1947-1991, which consisted of a
sustained state of military and political tensions between these powers of
nations, in which there was an arms race and various proxy wars, was
known as the Cold War.
Karl Marx stated that religion is the opium of the people and thus his
communist theories rejected religion. Stalins USSR was officially atheist
due to it being communist and this, along with the oppression that came
with Hitlers regime, begot among his opponentsa sensation that
morality among nations was all-important to humanity (Chadwick, 1992,
p.1). The end of World war Two was celebrated with masses across
Western societies with a national day of prayer in the USA in May 1945
with General Macarthur of the USA saying that Christian Principles gave
moral force to the defeat of Japan and were the key to the Allied policies.
This was in stark contrast to those countries east of the Iron Curtain,
particularly in the Soviet Union, where the government had an unofficial
policy of state atheism. The Eastern Bloc and Western countries were
divided primarily by political views, with these views affecting religion in
these countries in such a way that had never been seen before.
The territories Russia acquired following World War Two meant that they
also acquired many more people into their empire. Over 25 million nonRussians were now part of Stalins communist empire, with the majority of
them being of various Christian denominations including Orthodox,
Catholic, Protestant, Uniat and some remaining German Lutherans.
Russias ideological objective of the elimination of religion caused the
main target, the Russian Orthodox Church to have an anti-religious
campaign against it. Many of its believers or clergy were sent to labour
camps and religious books such as the bible were banned. By 1939 only
500 out of over 50,000 churches remained open (loc.gov, 2010). Following
the invasion of Russia by Germany in 1941, Stalin saw that he had to
motivate people to support Russias cause in the war. He relaxed the
Soviet Unions atheist stance and the Russian Orthodox Church was
reintroduced into society. By 1957 there were about 22,000 active Russian
Orthodox churches, however due to new leadership following Stalins
death, religion was again seen as something that should be eliminated
and by 1985 fewer than 7,000 churches remained active (loc.gov, 2010).
The various Popes throughout the Cold War period were publicly against
communism and believed to be the agents of imperialism and capitalism
therefore governments of countries in the Eastern Bloc were much more
against Roman Catholicism than other Christian denominations.

Christianity was attacked throughout Eastern Europe through various

means including murder if it was deemed necessary. Governments could
not outlaw religion due to the United Nations doctrine of human rights, but
they did the best they could to discourage it, especially in younger
generations. Education was the means where this discouragement could
take place and religious education was banned in most schools with
scientific atheism the subject taught to replace it. Catholic churches were
particularly targeted by the governments due to the Popes stance against
communism and there were public show trials of leading religious figures
such as Mindszenty in Hungary. He was the leader of the Catholic Church
in Hungary and thus was anti-communist. He was forced in prison into
signing a confession and became the subject of a show trial in 1949 where
he was given a life sentence for treason, spying and manipulating
currency. His trial was condemned by the United Nations and thousands of
people protested in New York City to show support for him. He was
released during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. In 1967 in Albania, a
constitutional change was made which gave the people of Albania no right
to practice religion with leader Enver Hoxha claiming that his country was
the first atheist state in the world. Other countries were less inclined to
attack Christianity including East Germany and Poland whose churches
resisted communist pressures and towards the latter stage of the 20th
century, they played an important part in the progression towards
democracy. Despite the fact that the communist regime wanted to rid of
religion, they found that this was not entirely possible. People may appear
to be non-religious however many underground churches did exist
primarily those of Catholic denomination. Under the oppressive rule of the
communist countries, those church services and religious festivals that did
exist were one of the only ways for people to experience freedom and
resistance against their government.
Throughout those countries west of the Iron Curtain, religion also played a
major part in peoples lives. In the United States it was seen as the
forefront against communism where Christianity was used as a
psychological weapon against the communists. Diane Kirby stated in
(Kirby, 2003, pg.2) that it was a war in which Christianity was
appropriated by Western propagandists and policy-makers for their anticommunist arsenal. The US president Harry Truman said that Christianity
and democracy were based on the same principles. In the 1940s and
1950s, it seemed that more people were member of religious
organisations than any other time in history (cprice75, 2012). The
propaganda caused this increase in members and the situation could be
seen as people joining religion for the wrong reasons, in that they are
bombarded with anti-communist propaganda from religious organisations,

causing them to become religious without knowing the true meanings and
ideologies of the religion they are joining. However, this rise of Christianity
in the US and its links with anti-communism led to increased pressure
against the countries east of the Iron Curtain.
In October 1978, Karol Jozef Wojtyla of Poland was elected in Rome to be
Pope John Paul II following the death of Pope John Paul I. He was the first
non-Italian Pope since Adrian VI in 1523. Some Italian people were not
content with this however throughout the majority of the Western world,
Catholics saw this as a sign that Christianity was an international religion
that isnt ruled by a single nation. He was from a nation where
communism had tried to take hold and not long previously Catholics had
been persecuted. John Paul II made travelling his priority as leader and
visited 129 countries during his 28 years in the papacy. In June 1979 he
gained permission for freedom to make a visit to Poland, and he
addressed 3.5 million Poles at the shrine of Czestochowa. Poland had a
predominantly Catholic population and was a country east of the Iron
Curtain whose population were starting to gain hope for more religious
and political freedom and this speech by the Pope was not only aimed at
the Poles, but to all the people of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. He
said We cannot forget these brothers of ours before shouting, I trust
they can hear me (Pick, 1979), showing his support. This speech provided
a catalyst for the Solidarity movement in 1980, which was the emergence
of a non-communist controlled trade union. The movement had aims of
improving workers rights and causing social change and it gave a
platform for which to oppose the government in a group. The pope
powerfully supported this movement and had a lot of responsibility linked
to its success. The union initiated factory strikes which carried on
throughout the 1980s and these led to the organisation being taken
seriously and the Polish government began serious talks with the
opposition. These talks were known as the Round Table Talks and resulted
in the legalisation of trade unions, an elected President and the formation
of a senate. This resulted in elections in 1989 and there was a landslide
victory for the Solidarity movement and it obtained 99% of the available
seats in the newly formed senate.
Throughout the 1980s the Soviet Unions economy had become stagnant
and on the brink of collapse and the choice of Mikhail Gorbachev in as
general secretary of the Soviet Union in 1985 transformed the possibilities
of freedom in communist countries. He was a liberalising leader who
attempted reforms and changed the strategic aims of the government as
well as decreasing intervention in Eastern Bloc politics. This change in
Soviet strategy and the Polish elections led to led to a series of peaceful
anti-communist revolutions in countries east of the Iron Curtain. There

were major revolutions across Hungary, East Germany and

Czechoslovakia, including the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Soviet
Union and Yugoslavia were dissolved into independent states and by
spring 1991, every former communist Eastern European country held
competitive parliamentary elections. These revolutions and elections
signified the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War, with the
USA remaining the only world superpower.
The communist countries of the East had essentially banned religion
throughout the Cold War and the effects of the laws placed upon these
countries during the previous 50 or so years affected the religious stance
of people within those countries. People had not been taught religion at
school and churches were closed down or destroyed therefore people
were not used to the new religious freedoms that had begot them. Former
communist countries were traditionally religious with a large Roman
Catholic population in Poland and a large number of Orthodox in Russia.
The Christian Church was expected to grow spiritually following the end of
the Cold War however this did not happen to a huge extent in the 1990s.
Due to the number of years of totalitarian rule, masses at churches were
sceptical towards major themes of ideology with and many people
followed less institutionalised religious movements such as New Age
(eastwestreport.org, 1994). Christianity played a major part in the
collapse of communism especially Roman Catholicism and its stance
against it. Following the end of the Cold War, the Catholic Church has
played a very important role in shaping the post-communist politics and
societies of Eastern Europe. In Poland 91% of people are Catholic and the
church is involved politically as voters will vote for those parties that
support it. This influence has brought about change in political structure
and public policy. In Russia, where there was a big oppression against
religion throughout the Cold War period, there were bibles sent to people
who were said by Christianity Today to be spiritually starved. The
churches in Russia have grown following communism with abandoned or
converted churches from the Soviet era restored for use again. In 1989
there were only two Catholic parishes in Russia which were owned by the
French government but by 2002 there were 350 with a weekly Catholic
newspaper produced. In post-communist countries religion played a major
role in the breakdown of their communism and since then the revival of a
previously oppressed culture has developed and today there are many
millions of believers who can practice freely without risk of persecution.
The existence of Christianity on communist countries was against the
workings of Karl Marx on which the communist ideologies were based. He
believed that religion was harmful to society and would be better off
without it. This led to the Stalinist regime across the countries east of the

Iron Curtain oppressing it with the aim of eradicating it completely. People,

however, didnt just stop believing because their government told them to
and despite the youth not being taught religion at school, older people
could continue to believe, sometimes having to secretly or in their own
home, not publicly. These beliefs people had and the social change
towards the end of the 1980s caused revolutions which toppled the
communist run regimes. The popes speech in Poland in 1979 played a
major role in the start of these revolutions which spread throughout the
countries in the Eastern Bloc. One could argue that these revolutions
might have happened without any church intervention due to the stalling
Soviet economy which led to growing unrest among the people. However
the revolutions started with some churches as meeting places such as in
East Germany and in Romania the revolution started when a pastor
named Tokes refused to be evicted from his church; he was backed by his
congregation and then the people(Chadwick, 1992, pg.207). Christianity
was seen as the only official opposition against communist states during
their rule as they recognised it existed despite being oppressed against at
the same time. It drew people in as it was a body that cared about human
rights and freedom. Christianity was also embedded in the history of the
countries and wasnt just going to disappear because the government said
it would, despite Hoxha of Albanias atheism claim in 1967. After the fall of
communism Christianity has grown in these countries as people realise
their religious freedoms due to democracy and this has allowed people to
develop a public faith which for a period of over 60 years, they were not
openly and freely able to do.

References

Chadwick, O. (1992) The Christian Church in the Cold War. Allen Lane, p.1.
Chadwick, O. (1992) The Christian Church in the Cold War. Allen Lane,
p.207.
cprice75 (2012) Christianity, Patriotism, and anti-Communism in Cold War
America. [online] Available at:
http://cprice75.hubpages.com/hub/Christianity-and-anti-Communismin-Cold-War-America [Accessed: 25 Apr 2013].
Eastwestreport.org (1994) Post-Modern Culture in Post-Communist
Countries. [online] Available at:
http://www.eastwestreport.org/articles/ew02101.htm [Accessed: 25
Apr 2013].
Kirby, D. (2003) Religion and the Cold War. Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire: Palgrave, p.2.
Loc.gov (2010) Anti-religious Campaigns. [online] Available at:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/anti.html [Accessed: 25 Apr
2013].
Pick, H. (1979) Pope tugs at the Iron Curtain. [online] Available at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1979/jun/04/catholicism.religion
[Accessed: 25 Apr 2013].