The Plot to Kill God: Findings from the Soviet Experiment in Secularization

by Paul Froese

Paul Froese explores the nature of religious faith in a provocative examination of the most massive atheism campaign in human history. That campaign occurred after the 1917 Russian Revolution, when Soviet plans for a new Marxist utopia included the total eradication of all religion. Even though the Soviet Union's attempt to secularize its society was quite successful at crushing the institutional and ritual manifestations of religion, its leaders were surprised at the persistence of religious belief. Froese's account reveals how atheism, when taken to its extreme, can become as dogmatic and oppressive as any religious faith and illuminates the struggle for individual expression in the face of social repression.

Genres: History, Religion, Sociology

264 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2008

Reviews

[Peter Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Amazon review -

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1Q0RYNX...

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dryly academic but contains good research on an important aspect of Soviet life: state atheism.

[Mary Havens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sped through this to return it to it's rightful owner.

I knew nothing about Russian history and/or Russian religious history. As a clueless child of the 80s, I just thought Russia was bad. Well, now I know just how bad.

The book is very well-researched and academic in tone. Any of the chapters could stand alone as a paper. I felt it was a bit repetitive and there were some typos that I could have been eliminated easily but weren't, for whatever reason. It was somewhat easy to read, even for someone who didn't know anything about the subject matter.