Quote:Thus the USSR became the first state to have as one objective of its official ideology the elimination of existing religion
Incorrect. The French Revolution had the same idea over a century earlier. Granted, they got it for the same reason that the Russians did. As in France, the Church was arm-in-arm with the ruling class to oppress the peasants.
Even Jefferson understood the principle.
Quote:In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814
