Penindasan umat Kristen di Uni Soviet

Sepanjang sejarah Uni Soviet (1922–1991), terdapat periode di mana pemerintah Soviet menekan dan menindas berbagai bentuk Kekristenan dalam tingkat yang berbeda-beda tergantung pada kepentingan negara.^[1] Kebijakan Marxisme-Leninisme Soviet secara konsisten menganjurkan kontrol, penindasan, dan akhirnya, penghapusan keyakinan agama, dan secara aktif mendorong ateisme di Uni Soviet.^[2] Namun, kebanyakan agama tidak pernah dilarang secara resmi.^[1]

Negara menganjurkan penghancuran agama, dan secara resmi menyatakan keyakinan agama merupakan takhayul dan terbelakang.^[3][4] Partai Komunis menghancurkan gereja, masjid, dan sinagoga, mengejek, melecehkan, memenjarakan dan mengeksekusi para pemimpin keagamaan, memenuhi sekolah-sekolah dan media dengan ajaran-ajaran anti-agama, dan memperkenalkan sebuah sistem kepercayaan yang disebut "ateisme ilmiah," dengan ritual, janji, dan propagandisnya sendiri.^[5][6] Jumlah total korban umat Kristen di bawah rezim Soviet diperkirakan berkisar antara 14-22 juta.^[7][8][9]

Kepercayaan dan praktik keagamaan bertahan di antara mayoritas penduduk,^[5] di ruang domestik dan pribadi, tetapi juga di ruang publik yang tersebar yang diizinkan oleh negara yang mengakui kegagalannya untuk memusnahkan agama dan bahaya politik dari perang budaya yang tak henti-hentinya.^[3][10]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Revelations from the Russian Archives: ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGNS". Library of Congress. US Government. Diakses tanggal 2 May 2016. 
2. ^ "Soviet Union: Policy toward nationalities and religions in practice". www.country-data.com. May 1989. Diakses tanggal 2014-03-29. Marxism-Leninism has consistently advocated the control, suppression, and, ultimately, the elimination of religious beliefs, except for Judaism, which was actively protected by the bolshevik state. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Daniel, Wallace L. (Winter 2009). "Father Aleksandr Men and the struggle to recover Russia's heritage". Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (George Washington University). 17 (1). ISSN 1940-4603. Diakses tanggal 2014-03-29. Continuing to hold to one's beliefs and one's view of the world required the courage to stand outside a system committed to destroying religious values and perspectives. 
4. ^ Froese, Paul. "'I am an atheist and a Muslim': Islam, communism, and ideological competition." Journal of Church and State 47.3 (2005)
5. ^ ^{a b} Paul Froese. Forced Secularization in Soviet Russia: Why an Atheistic Monopoly Failed. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 35-50
6. ^ Haskins, Ekaterina V. "Russia's postcommunist past: the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the reimagining of national identity." History and Memory: Studies in Representation of the Past 21.1 (2009)
7. ^ ”Estimates of the total number all Christian martyrs in the former Soviet Union are about 12 million.”, James M. Nelson, “Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality”, Springer, 2009, ISBN 0387875727, p. 427
8. ^ ”In all, it is estimated that some 15 to 20 million Christians were martyred under the Soviet regime”, David Barrett, “World Christian Trends”, Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2001, cited by David Taylor, ”21 Signs of His Coming: Major Biblical Prophecies Being Fulfilled In Our Generation”, Taylor Publishing Group, 2009, ISBN 097629334X, p. 220
9. ^ ”over 20 million were martyred in Soviet prison camps”, Todd M. Johnson, “Christian Martyrdom: A global demographic assessment“ Diarsipkan 2016-03-03 di Wayback Machine., p. 4
10. ^ John Shelton Curtis, The Russian Church and the Soviet State (Boston: Little Brown, 1953); Jane Ellis, The Russian Orthodox Church: A Contemporary History (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986); Dimitry V. Pospielovsky, The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime 1917-1982 (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1984); idem., A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Policies (New York; St. Martin’s Press, 1987); Glennys Young, Power and the Sacred in Revolutionary Russia: Religious Activists in the Village (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997); Daniel Peris, Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the Militant Godless (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998); William B. Husband, “Godless Communists”: Atheism and Society in Soviet Russia DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2000; Edward Roslof, Red Priests: Renovationism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Revolution, 1905-1946 (Bloomington, Indiana, 2002)