(April 21, 2016 at 1:48 pm)Ivan Denisovich Wrote: The thing is that religion wasn't forbidden fruit and church was not oppressed or at least it didn't look like clergy claims it looked like. If history books I read aren't wrong in this church could speak about oppression only till 1956, after that date there were clashes with occasional outbursts.
For example during the years 1975-1990 over 1500 churches were built. It hardly speak of hardships that church allegedly suffered.
Yes, I remember when John Paul the Slimeball visited Poland. But still, the regime didn't endorse religion, so it was one expression against the regime. Same as with East Germany, where the churches were at the forefront of dissidents. That changed to a breeding ground for neonazis there, but still, fomer communist countries seem to equate religion with freedom. More than the former West is used to.