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111-687: State atheism (de facto) The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also referred to as the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic , Azerbaijan SSR , Azerbaijani SSR , AzSSR , Soviet Azerbaijan or simply Azerbaijan , was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1922 and 1991. Created on 28 April 1920 when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic brought pro-Soviet figures to power in

222-594: A crackdown by the Red army which aimed at silencing the demands for independence. At least 132 demonstrators were killed and other civilians in Baku injured on 20 January 1990. Azerbaijan participated in the union-wide referendum to preserve the union as the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics but with different constitutional arrangements. The referendum was passed by 93.3% of valid polls. The Armenian SSR did not participate in

333-669: A republic of the Soviet Union directly. In the spring of 1921, a general change-over from revkoms and kombeds to Soviets took place. In order to help the Azerbaijani oil industry the Supreme Council of the National Economy decided in the same year to provide it with everything necessary out of turn. The new oilfields, like Ilyich bay , Qaraçuxur , Lökbatan and Qala have been discovered. By 1929,

444-488: A boom in evangelical worship , with tens of thousands of Cubans worshipping unmolested across the island each week. Though Article 39 of the GDR constitution of 1968 guarantees religious freedom, the state's policy was oriented towards the promotion of atheism. Eastern Germany practiced heavy secularization. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) generated antireligous regulations and promoted atheism for decades which impacted

555-406: A chapter of his book Atheism: A Very Short Introduction to a discussion about 20th-century political systems, including communism and political repression in the Soviet Union . Baggini argues that "Soviet communism, with its active oppression of religion, is a distortion of original Marxist communism, which did not advocate oppression of the religious." Baggini goes on to argue that " Fundamentalism

666-484: A degree of protection, but are subject to restrictions and controls under the State Administration for Religious Affairs . Unregistered religious groups face varying degrees of harassment. The constitution permits what is called "normal religious activities," so long as they do not involve the use of religion to "engage in activities that disrupt social order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with

777-618: A four-hour long speech the next day, condemning priests who serve "great wealth" and using fears of Falangist influence in order to attack Spanish-born priests, declaring "There is no doubt that Franco has a sizeable group of fascist priests in Cuba." Originally more tolerant of religion, the Cuban government began arresting many believers and shutting down religious schools after the Bay of Pigs Invasion . Its prisons were being filled with clergy since

888-763: A long history of state atheism, whereby those who were seeking social success generally had to profess atheism and stay away from places of worship ; this trend became especially militant during the middle of the Stalinist era , which lasted from 1929 to 1953. In Eastern Europe , countries like Belarus , Bulgaria , Estonia , Latvia , Russia , and Ukraine experienced strong state atheism policies. East Germany and Czechoslovakia also had similar policies. The Soviet Union attempted to suppress public religious expression over wide areas of its influence, including places such as Central Asia . Currently, China , North Korea , and Vietnam , are officially atheist. Cuba

999-679: A massive program to rebuild Buddhist and Taoist temples that were destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. The CCP has said that religious beliefs and membership in it are incompatible. However, the state is not allowed to force ordinary citizens to become atheists. China 's five officially sanctioned religious organizations are the Buddhist Association of China , Chinese Taoist Association , Islamic Association of China , Three-Self Patriotic Movement and Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association . These groups are afforded

1110-729: A member of the Western Front 's military committee, leading its Bolshevik faction together with Mikhail Frunze . He also served as the editor of the Bolshevik newspaper Zvezda in Minsk . He was elected a delegate to the 6th Congress of the Bolshevik Party (August 1917). In September 1917, he was elected chairman of the Northwestern Regional Committee of the Bolshevik Party (the predecessor of

1221-567: A new anti-Islamic drive and return to a policy of Russification , under the policy of sblizheniye ( rapprochement ), was instituted in order to merge all the peoples of the USSR into a new monolithic Soviet nation. In the 1960s, signs of a structural crisis in the Soviet system began to emerge. Azerbaijan's crucial oil industry lost its relative importance in the Soviet economy , partly because of

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1332-531: A point which stated that Mountainous Karabakh should be declared a part of Armenia. On June 12, Miasnikian signed a decree adopted by the Soviet Armenian government which stated that the Revkoms of Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed that Mountainous Karabakh was now an inalienable part of Armenia. However, there was disagreement from the Azerbaijani side, which insisted on leaving the final resolution of

1443-679: A possible unification of the two Azerbaijani republics, under Soviet control. As it turned out, the issue of Iranian Azerbaijan became one of the first conflicts of the Cold War, and under the pressure from the Western powers, the Soviet army was withdrawn. The Iranian government regained control over Iranian Azerbaijan by the end of 1946 and the Democratic Party leaders took refuge in Soviet Azerbaijan. Jafar Pishevari , who

1554-458: A religion or belief necessarily entails the freedom to choose a religion or belief, including the right to replace one's current religion or belief with another or to adopt atheistic views." Signatories to the convention are barred from "the use of threat of physical force or penal sanctions to compel believers or non-believers" to recant their beliefs or convert. Despite this, as of 2009 minority religions were still being persecuted in many parts of

1665-504: A report from Christian Solidarity Worldwide . While the Cuban constitution now recognizes freedom of religion , the law is still silent on the issue of church construction. This vagueness allowed authorities in some areas to prohibit the construction of new churches, but allowing to lead services inside their homes and in religious buildings erected before the Cuban revolution . Despite the difficults in constructing new churches, there's been

1776-491: A scientific materialistic world outlook in people." Catholic priest Shtjefen Kurti was executed for secretly baptizing a child in Shkodër in 1972. In 1990, the policy of state atheism was repealed. The 1998 Constitution of Albania defined the country as a parliamentary republic , and established personal and political rights and freedoms, including protection against coercion in matters of religious belief. Albania

1887-442: A shift of oil production to other regions of the Soviet Union and partly because of the depletion of known oil resources accessible from land, while offshore production was not deemed cost-effective. As a result, Azerbaijan had the lowest rate of growth in productivity and economic output among the Soviet republics, with the exception of Tajikistan . Ethnic tensions, particularly between Armenians and Azerbaijanis began to grow, but

1998-588: A significant kolkhoz movement had developed and Azerbaijan became the second Soviet tea producer after the Georgian SSR for the first time. On 31 March 1931, the oil industry of the Azerbaijan SSR, which supplied over 60% of the total Soviet oil production at the time, was awarded the Order of Lenin . The republic gained the second Order on 15 March 1935 during the observation of its 15th anniversary. By

2109-609: A union known as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (TSFSR). This was the first attempt at a union of Soviet republics, preceding the USSR. The Union Council of TSFSR consisted of the representatives of the three republics – Nariman Narimanov (Azerbaijan), Polikarp Mdivani (Georgia), and Aleksandr Fyodorovich Miasnikyan (Armenia). The First Secretary of the Transcaucasian Communist Party

2220-439: Is a state with a form of government which is characterized by the one-party rule or the dominant-party rule of a communist party which professes allegiance to a Leninist or Marxist–Leninist communist ideology as the guiding principle of the state. The founder and primary theorist of Marxism , the 19th-century German thinker Karl Marx , had an ambivalent attitude toward religion, which he viewed as "the opium of

2331-667: Is a danger in any belief system" and that "Atheism's most authentic political expression... takes the form of state secularism, not state atheism." State atheism ( gosateizm , a syllabic abbreviation of "state" [ gosudarstvo ] and "atheism" [ ateizm ]) was a major goal of the official Soviet ideology. This phenomenon, which lasted for seven decades, was new in world history . The Communist Party engaged in diverse activities such as destroying places of worship, executing religious leaders, flooding schools and media with anti-religious propaganda, and propagated "scientific atheism". It sought to make religion disappear by various means. Thus,

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2442-479: Is a member state of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , and the 2011 census found that 58.79% of Albanians adhere to Islam , making it the largest religion in the country. The majority of Albanian Muslims are secular Sunnis along with a significant Bektashi Shia minority. Christianity is practiced by 16.99% of the population, making it the 2nd largest religion in the country. The remaining population

2553-585: Is as fully authorized as that of any other of the peoples inhabiting Russia" (statement by Stalin during the Congress of the Peoples of Dagestan , an autonomous republic in Russia). Art. 135 of the 1936 constitution of the Soviet Union protects individuals from religious discrimination. In 1967 Enver Hoxha , the head of state of Albania, declared Albania to be the "first atheist state of the world" even though

2664-447: Is believed to include traditional folk practices such as burning incense for gods or ancestors at life-cycle or seasonal festivals, fortune telling and related customary practices. The U.S. State Department has designated China as a "country of particular concern" since 1999. Freedom House classifies Tibet and Xinjiang as regions of particular repression of religion, due to concerns about separatist activity. Heiner Bielefeldt ,

2775-580: Is challenging, but reports which state that DPRK officials repress religious activities have surfaced, including reports which state that the government forms and controls religious organizations in an attempt to restrict the performance of religious activities. In 2004, the Human Rights Overview reported that North Korea remains one of the most repressive governments, with isolation and disregard for international law making monitoring almost impossible. After 1,500 churches were destroyed during

2886-577: Is due to the traditional Chinese belief system which blends Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, so a person who follows a traditional belief system would not exclusively identify as a Buddhist or a Taoist, even though he or she would attend Buddhist or Taoist places of worship. According to Peter Ng, Professor of the Department of Religion at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, as of 2002 , 95% of Chinese were religious in some way if religion

2997-488: Is either irreligious or belongs to other religious groups. In 2011, Albania's population was estimated to be 56.7% Muslim, 10% Roman Catholic, 6.8% Orthodox, 2.5% atheist, 2.1% Bektashi (a Sufi order), 5.7% other, 16.2% unspecified. In the Gallup Global Reports 2010 survey, when asked whether religion is an important part of daily life, 39% of Albanians responded "yes" and 53% "no", which placed Albania in

3108-542: Is permitted. However, the North Korean government's Juche ideology has been described as "state-sanctioned atheism" and atheism is the government's official position. According to a 2018 CIA report, free religious activities almost no longer exist, with government-sponsored groups to delude them. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom stated that assessing the situation in North Korea

3219-474: Is the opium of the people—this dictum by Marx is the corner-stone of the whole Marxist outlook on religion. Marxism has always regarded all modern religions and churches, and each and every religious organisation, as instruments of bourgeois reaction that serve to defend exploitation and to befuddle the working class. Although Marx and Lenin were both atheists, several religious communist groups exist, including Christian communists . Julian Baggini devotes

3330-627: The Armenian Communist Party unsuccessfully protested the decision. Six months later, Miasnikian told the First Congress of the Armenian Communist Party that Azerbaijan had threatened to cut off Armenia's supply of kerosene if they demanded Karabakh. Miasnikian was instrumental in the formation of state institutions and economy of the republic. Miasnikian also initiated active work towards eradicating

3441-802: The Chilgol Church , one of the Protestant churches, and that church can be visited on tours. Christian institutions are regulated by the Korean Christian Federation, a state-controlled religious organization. Chondoism is an indigenous religion in Korea, and the Chondoist Chongu Party is part of the ruling front in North Korea, but the number of Chondoists in North Korea is unknown. The Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) propagated atheism until

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3552-475: The Chinese Communist Party must be "unyielding Marxist atheists"; in the same month, a government-sanctioned demolition work crew drove a bulldozer over two Chinese Christians who protested against the demolition of their church by refusing to step aside, resulting in death of a woman. Two members of the church demolition crew were later detained by police. Traditionally, a large segment of

3663-558: The Cultural Revolution , student vigilantes who were known as Red Guards converted religious buildings into buildings which were used for secular purposes or they destroyed them. However, this attitude relaxed considerably in the late 1970s, during the reform and opening up period. The 1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China guaranteed freedom of religion with a number of restrictions. Since then, there has been

3774-823: The February Uprising where forces of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation briefly overthrew Soviet authority in Armenia, the Bolshevik leadership in Moscow decided to appoint Miasnikian head of the newly installed government of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic . On his way to Armenia, he delivered Lenin's letter "To the Comrade Communists of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Dagestan, and

3885-593: The Gregorian calendar to the Soviets, subsequent efforts to reorganise the week to improve worker productivity saw the introduction of the Soviet calendar , which had the side-effect that a "holiday will seldom fall on Sunday". Within about a year of the revolution, the state expropriated all church property, including the churches themselves, and in the period from 1922 to 1926, 28 Russian Orthodox bishops and more than 1,200 priests were killed (a much greater number

3996-721: The Jewish Autonomous Oblast was established by Joseph Stalin , acting on an idea proposed by Lenin in order to give the Jewish population in Russia more personal autonomy, as reparation for antisemitism in the Russian Empire . Along with granting Jewish autonomy, Stalin also allowed Sharia law in the majority-Islamic countries of the Soviet Union. "The Soviet Government considers that the Sharia, as common law,

4107-579: The Mexican Constitution , which strived to eliminate religion by mandating "socialist education", which "in addition to removing all religious doctrine" would "combat fanaticism and prejudices", "build[ing] in the youth a rational and exact concept of the universe and of social life". In 1946, socialist education provisions were removed from the constitution and new laws promoted secular education. Between 1926 and 1934 at least 40 priests were killed. Where there were 4,500 priests operating within

4218-579: The Mexican Constitution of 1917 as originally enacted included anticlerical provisions and restricted religious freedoms. The Articles were initially seldom enforced until President Plutarco Elías Calles , who sought to enact the separation of church and state established in the Constitution of 1917, took office in 1924. Calles' Mexico has been characterized as an atheist state and his program as aiming to eradicate religious practices in Mexico during

4329-572: The Roman Catholic bishop of Pyongyang , Francis Hong Yong-ho . In November 2013, it was reported that the repression of religious people led to the public execution of 80 people, some of them were executed for possessing Bibles . There are five Christian churches in Pyongyang, three of them are Protestant , one of them is Eastern Orthodox , and one of them is Catholic . President Kim Il Sung and his mother were frequent patrons of

4440-725: The Russian Orthodox Church (which supported the White Movement during the Russian Civil War ) and saw it as a supporter of Tsarist autocracy . During the collectivization of the land, Orthodox priests distributed pamphlets declaring that the Soviet regime was the Antichrist coming to place "the Devil's mark" on the peasants, and encouraged them to resist the government. Political repression in

4551-518: The Treaty of Kars . The previously independent Nakhcivan SSR would also become an autonomous ASSR within Azerbaijan by the Treaty of Kars . Borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia , like elsewhere in the USSR, were redrawn several times, yet neither side was completely satisfied with the results. On 12 March 1922 the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenian, and Georgian Soviet Socialist Republics established

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4662-607: The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief , says that China's actions against the Uighurs are "a major problem". The Chinese government has denounced the report, stating that China has "ample" religious freedom. Until 1992, Cuba was officially an atheist state. In August 1960, several bishops signed a joint pastoral letter condemning communism and declaring it incompatible with Catholicism, and calling on Catholics to reject it. Fidel Castro gave

4773-623: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is designed to protect freedom of thought , conscience, and religion . In 1993, the UN's human rights committee declared that article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights "protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief." The committee further stated that "the freedom to have or to adopt

4884-610: The "Land of Atropates ", an Achaemenid then Hellenistic-era king over a region in present-day Iranian Azarbaijan and Iranian Kurdistan , south of the modern state. Despite this difference, the present name was chosen by the Musavat to replace the Russian names Transcaucasia and Baku in 1918. "Azerbaijan" derives from Persian Āzarbāydjān , from earlier Ādharbāyagān and Ādharbādhagān , from Middle Persian Āturpātākān , from Old Persian Atropatkan . From its founding it

4995-529: The 1960s. In 1961, the Cuban government confiscated Catholic schools, including the Jesuit school that Fidel Castro had attended. In 1965 it exiled two hundred priests. In 1976, the Constitution of Cuba added a clause stating that the "socialist state...bases its activity on, and educates the people in, the scientific materialist concept of the universe". In 1992, the dissolution of the Soviet Union led

5106-671: The 1960s. In the Mongolian People's Republic , after it was invaded by Japanese troops in 1936, the Soviet Union deployed its troops there in 1937, undertaking an offensive against the Buddhist religion. Parallel with this, a Soviet-style purge was launched in the People's Revolutionary Party and the Mongolian army. The Mongol leader at that time was Khorloogiin Choibalsan, a follower of Joseph Stalin, who emulated many of

5217-648: The 20th century. There was an expulsion of foreign clergy and expropriation of Church properties. Article 27 prohibited any future acquisition of such property by churches, and prohibited religious corporations and ministers from establishing or directing primary schools. The Constitution of 1917 also forbade the existence of monastic orders (Article 5) and religious activities outside of church buildings (which became government property), and mandated that such religious activities would be overseen by government (Article 24). On 14 June 1926, President Calles enacted anticlerical legislation known formally as The Law Reforming

5328-878: The Bolshevik party organization in Byelorussia). After the October Revolution , he was elected chairman the Revolutionary Military Committee of the Northwestern Front. Miasnikian was then elected commander of the Western Front at the soldiers' congress of deputies. Despite being an active opponent of the idea of a Byelorussian autonomy, in 1918, he was appointed the first chairman of the Communist Party of Byelorussia . From 4–27 February 1919, Miasnikian

5439-502: The Chinese population practiced Chinese folk religions and Confucianism , Taoism and Buddhism . As a result, all of these religions had played a significant role in the everyday lives of ordinary people. After the 1949 Chinese Revolution , the Chinese Communist Party took power. For much of its early history, that government maintained under Marxist thought that religion would ultimately disappear, and characterized it as emblematic of feudalism and foreign colonialism . During

5550-505: The Christian calendar was replaced with one reckoned from the date of the Revolution, and Festivals of Liberty, Reason, and the Supreme Being were scheduled. New forms of moral religion emerged, including the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic Cult of Reason , with the revolutionary government briefly mandating observance of the former in April 1794. Antireligious states, including atheist states, have been at odds with international human rights law . Article 18 of

5661-408: The Gallican Church held a dominant role in pre-revolutionary France . During a two-year period known as the Reign of Terror , the episodes of anti-clericalism grew more violent than any in modern European history . The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the Church, abolished the Catholic monarchy, nationalized Church property, exiled 30,000 priests, and killed hundreds more. In October 1793,

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5772-606: The Ganja Helicopter Assault Regiment ( Mi-24 Hinds and Mi-8 Hips ). The only ground forces training establishment in Azerbaijan was the Baku Higher Combined Arms Command School . Military conscription in the Azerbaijan SSR was introduced only after the establishment of Soviet control, with the number of people being called up for service being minimal at first. 40°18′N 47°42′E  /  40.3°N 47.7°E  / 40.3; 47.7 State atheism The majority of communist states followed similar policies from 1917 onwards. The Soviet Union (1922–1991) had

5883-488: The Mexican government persecuted the clergy, killing suspected Cristeros and supporters and often retaliating against innocent individuals. A truce was negotiated with the assistance of U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow . Calles, however, in violation of its terms did not abide by the truce and he had approximately 500 Cristero leaders and 5,000 other Cristeros shot, frequently in their homes in front of their spouses and children. Particularly offensive to Catholics after

5994-535: The Mountainous Republic" to the Caucasian Bolshevik leadership in Tiflis , which called on them to exercise moderation and slow down their transition to socialism. After arriving in Soviet Armenia in May 1921 and taking leadership of the government, Miasnikian was faced with two urgent issues: the anti-Bolshevik rebellion in the southern region of Zangezur and the question of Mountainous Karabakh , an Armenian-populated region disputed between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan. Miasnikian engaged in negotiations with

6105-481: The Orthodox Church; by 2008 72% of Russians identified as Orthodox - rising from 31% in 1991. However, Professor Niels Christian Nielsen of philosophy and religious thought of Rice University has written that the post-Soviet population in areas which were formerly predominantly Orthodox are now "nearly illiterate regarding religion", almost completely lacking the intellectual or philosophical aspects of their faith and having almost no knowledge of other faiths. In 1928,

6216-399: The Penal Code and unofficially as Calles Law . His anti-Catholic actions included outlawing religious orders, depriving the Church of property rights and depriving the clergy of civil liberties, including their right to a trial by jury in cases involving anti-clerical laws and the right to vote. Catholic antipathy towards Calles was enhanced because of his vocal anti-Catholicism. Due to

6327-488: The Soviet Union was widespread and while religious persecution was applied to numerous religions, the regime's anti-religious campaigns were often directed against specific religions based on state interests. The attitude in the Soviet Union toward religion varied from persecution of some religions to not outlawing others. From the late 1920s to the late 1930s, such organizations as the League of Militant Atheists ridiculed all religions and harassed believers. The league

6438-401: The Soviet Union on 22 June 1941. In the first year of the Soviet-German War , Azerbaijan produced 23.5 million tons of oil—a record for the entire history of its oil industry. By the end of 1941, thousands of Azerbaijanis had joined the People's Volunteer Corps. Mobilization affected all spheres of life, particularly the oil industries. A week after fighting began, the oil workers themselves took

6549-411: The Soviet Union took place on 26 December 1991. Shortly before that date, the Azerbaijan SSR joined the Commonwealth of Independent States . By the end of 1991 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh had escalated into a full-scale war, which culminated into a tense 1994 cease-fire that persisted into the 21st centuru. Azerbaijani success in the war of 2020 and a further successful offensive in 2023 resulted in

6660-500: The Soviet Union under Lenin had already been a de facto atheist state. Marxist–Leninist authorities in Albania claimed that religion was foreign to Albania and used this to justify their policy of state atheism and suppression of religion. This nationalism was also used to justify the communist stance of state atheism from 1967 to 1991. Article 37 of the Albanian Constitution of 1976 stipulated, "The state recognizes no religion, and supports atheistic propaganda in order to implant

6771-569: The Soviet authorities. Bill Clinton established the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 , in order to use diplomacy to promote religious liberty in repressive states. Countries like Albania had anti-religious policies, while also promoting atheism, that impacted their religious rights. Aleksandr Miasnikyan Alexander Fyodori Miasnikian or Myasnikov (28 January [9 February] 1886 – 22 March 1925), also known by his revolutionary nom de guerre Martuni ,

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6882-519: The Soviet occupation, a revival of the Azerbaijani literary language, which had largely been supplanted by Persian, was promoted with the help of writers, journalists, and teachers from Soviet Azerbaijan. In November 1945, with Soviet backing, an autonomous " Azerbaijan People's Government " was set up at Tabriz under Jafar Pishevari , the leader of the Azerbaijani Democratic Party. Secular cultural institutions and education in Azerbaijani blossomed throughout Iranian Azerbaijan, and speculation grew rife about

6993-484: The USSR became the first state to have as one objective of its official ideology the elimination of the existing religion, and the prevention of the future implanting of religious belief, with the goal of establishing state atheism ( gosateizm ). After the Russian Civil War , the state used its resources to stop the implanting of religious beliefs in nonbelievers and remove "prerevolutionary remnants" which still existed. The Bolsheviks were particularly hostile toward

7104-412: The country before the War, in 1934 there were only 334 priests licensed by the government to serve fifteen million people, the rest having been killed, exiled or not obtaining licenses. In 1935, 17 states had no registered priests. The French Revolution initially began with attacks on Church corruption and the wealth of the higher clergy, an action with which even many Christians could identify, since

7215-495: The country in units of the Ground Forces, Air Forces, Air Defense Forces, and Navy. The primary combat formation of Ground Forces in Azerbaijan was the 4th Army , which housed its headquarters and various support units in Baku . In addition to the independent surface-to-air missile (SAM), artillery, and SCUD brigades, the principal combat elements of the Fourth Army were the 23rd ( Ganja ), 295th ( Lenkaran ), 60th (Baku) and 75th ( Nakhchivan ) motorized rifle divisions (MRD), and

7326-481: The country to declare itself a secular state . Pope John Paul II contributed to the Cuban thaw when he paid a historic visit to the island in 1998 and criticized the US embargo . Pope Benedict XVI visited Cuba in 2012 and Pope Francis visited Cuba in 2015. The Cuban government continued hostile actions against religious groups; having ordered, in 2015 alone, the closure or demolition of over 100 Pentecostal , Methodist , and Baptist parishes, according to

7437-570: The country's monasteries were destroyed along with numerous holy texts and items of high artistic quality. 25,000 Buddhist monks were massacred by the regime, which was officially an atheist state. The persecution was undertaken because Pol Pot believed that Buddhism was "a decadent affectation". He sought to eliminate Buddhism's 1,500-year-old mark on Cambodia . Under the Khmer Rouge, all religious practices were banned. According to Ben Kiernan , "the Khmer Rouge repressed Islam , Christianity, and Buddhism, but its fiercest extermination campaign

7548-653: The educational system of the state. Religious organizations and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign dominance." Article 36 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China of 1982 specifies that: Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief. No state organ, public organization or individual may compel citizens to believe in, or not to believe in, any religion; nor may they discriminate against citizens who believe in, or do not believe in, any religion. The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair

7659-409: The end of the second five-year plan (1933–1937) Azerbaijan had become the 3rd republic in the Soviet Union by its capital investment size. From 17 September 1939 to 21 June 1941, Nazi Germany , due to its non-aggression pact and relatively normalized trade relations with the USSR, was a major importer of oil produced in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. This changed when Germany invaded

7770-433: The fire was never established, despite separate investigatory commissions chaired by Lavrentiy Beria (first) and Karl Pauker (second and third). Nothing was found to be wrong with the plane mechanically. Leon Trotsky , who left Sukhumi for the funeral in Tiflis, was suspicious of the cause of the crash. Others who believed it was deliberate suspected Beria himself had organized it. Anastas Mikoyan called for reviving

7881-401: The growth of citizens affiliating with no religion from 7.6% in 1950 to 60% in 1986. It was in the 1950s that scientific atheism became official state policy when Soviet authorities were setting up a communist government. As of 2012 the area of the former German Democratic Republic was the least religious region in the world. The North Korean constitution states that freedom of religion

7992-419: The health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state. Religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any foreign domination. Most people report no organized religious affiliation; however, people with a belief in folk traditions and spiritual beliefs, such as ancestor veneration and feng shui , along with informal ties to local temples and unofficial house churches number in

8103-589: The hundreds of millions. In its annual report on International Religious Freedom, the United States Department of State provides statistics about organized religions. In 2007, it reported the following (citing the Government's 1997 report on Religious Freedom and 2005 White Paper on religion): To some degree, statistics which are related to Buddhism and religious Taoism are incomparable to statistics for Islam and Christianity . This fact

8214-587: The illiteracy and developing local manufacturing in Armenia. He was succeeded as head of government of Soviet Armenia by Sargis Lukashin in January 1922. After the formation of the Transcaucasian SFSR in March 1922, Miasnikian held a number of leading positions in the federation's government, working from Tiflis . Miasnikian wrote several works about the theory of Marxism-Leninism , the history of

8325-463: The initiative to extend their work to 12-hour shifts, with no days off, including holidays and vacations, until the end of the war. In September 1942, Hitler 's generals presented him with a large decorated cake depicting the Caspian Sea and Baku. Baku then became the primary strategic goal of Hitler's 1942 Fall Blau offensive. This offensive was unsuccessful, however. The German army reached

8436-450: The lowest quartile of countries ranked by "yes" responses. The U.S. state department reports that in 2013, "There were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice." The Khmer Rouge actively persecuted Buddhists during their rule of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 . Buddhist institutions and temples were destroyed and Buddhist monks and teachers were killed in large numbers. A third of

8547-490: The memory of Miasnikian, alongside the writers Raffi , Raphael Patkanian , and Yeghishe Charents , in his March 1954 speech in Yerevan . In 1976, a film directed by Frunze Dovlatyan about Miasnikian's life titled Yerkunk ( Delivery ) was released where Miasnikian is portrayed by Khoren Abrahamyan . Several locations within the Soviet Union were named after him (including "Martuni", his nom de guerre ): In Armenia,

8658-704: The mountains of the Caucasus , but was at the same time decisively defeated at the Battle of Stalingrad and thus forced to retreat from the area, abandoning all hopes for a Reichskommissariat Kaukasien . In 1942, Azerbaijan also became the second-largest tea producer of the Soviet Army . By the decree of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in February 1942, the commitment of more than 500 workers and employees of

8769-545: The oil industry of Azerbaijan was awarded orders and medals. Of the estimated 600,000 Azerbaijanis who were recruited into the Soviet Army during the war, 290,000 died. An event that greatly impacted Azerbaijanis on both sides of the border was the Soviet occupation of Iranian Azerbaijan in the summer of 1941. The Soviet military presence south of the Aras River led to a revival of Pan-Azerbaijani nationalism. During

8880-666: The people ", simultaneously "the sigh of" and a source of moral agency of the "oppressed creature" against their suffering. To Marx, religion was not the ideological expression of those in power, and he did not see it needing abolishing. Instead, he saw the communist state as creating conditions where the consolation provided by religion would not be needed. In the Marxist–Leninist interpretation of Marxist theory, developed primarily by Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin , atheism emanates from its dialectical materialism and tries to explain and criticize religion. Lenin states: Religion

8991-624: The policies that Stalin had previously implemented in the Soviet Union. The purge virtually succeeded in eliminating Tibetan Buddhism and cost an estimated thirty to thirty-five thousand lives. More than 700 monasteries were demolished. Officially, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is an atheist state as declared by its communist government . Art. 24 of the constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam recognizes religious freedom. Articles 3, 5, 24, 27, and 130 of

9102-625: The previous trends of sblizheniye . In 1982 Aliyev was made a member of the Communist Party's Politburo in Moscow. In 1987, when perestroika was implemented, he was forced to retire by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev , whose reform policies he opposed. The late 1980s, during the Gorbachev era, were characterized by increasing unrest in the Caucasus , initially over the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The ethnic strife revealed

9213-673: The rebels in Zangezur, offering a number of concessions in return for accepting Soviet authority in Armenia, but on June 3, 1921 the Kavbiuro (the Bolshevik Party's decision-making body in the Caucasus) resolved to suppress the rebellion. The rebels were defeated and fled into Persia in July. The resolution adopted at the Kavbiuro meeting on June 3 (at which Miasnikian was present) included

9324-743: The referendum. The Supreme Soviet of the exclave of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic also decided not to participate in the referendum. The Azerbaijani Popular Front Party argued that only 15% of the electorate had participated in the referendum. The "Treaty of the Union of Sovereign States" failed to be ratified because the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt accelerated declarations of independence by Soviet Socialist Republics between August and December. Azerbaijan adopted its declaration of independence on 18 October 1991. The final dissolution of

9435-644: The region, the first two years of the Azerbaijani SSR were as an independent country until incorporation into the Transcaucasian SFSR , along with the Armenian SSR and the Georgian SSR . In December 1922, the Transcaucasian SFSR became part of the newly established Soviet Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan SSR was approved by the 9th Extraordinary All-Azerbaijani Congress of Soviets on 14 March 1937. On 5 February 1991, Azerbaijan SSR

9546-486: The restoration of Azerbaijan's territorial extent to that which it had held as a Soviet Republic. On 28 April 1920, Temporary Revolutionary Committee took control over the country, and formed a government named Council of People's Commissars of Azerbaijan SSR . After the approval of the Constitution of Azerbaijan SSR by the All-Azerbaijan Congress of Soviets in 1921, Azerbaijan Revolutionary Committee

9657-441: The revolutionary movement, and Armenian literature. He began writing reviews for theater in 1906. His works about Armenian literature include the article " Mikael Nalbandian " and pamphlets on the poetry of Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and Hovhannes Tumanyan . In literature, Miasnikian criticized apolitical approaches to literature and the concept of "art for art's sake" in articles like "Philanthropy and its Lackeys" (1912). Miasnikian

9768-636: The rule of Kim Il Sung from 1948 to 1994, three churches were built in Pyongyang . Foreign residents who regularly attend services at these churches have reported that the services which are performed there are staged for their benefit. The North Korean government promotes the cult of personality of Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung, described as a political religion , as well as the Juche ideology, based on Korean ultranationalism , which calls on people to "avoid spiritual deference to outside influences", which

9879-472: The shortcomings of the Communist Party as a champion of national interests and, in the spirit of glasnost , independent publications and political organizations began to emerge. Of these organizations, by far the most prominent was the Popular Front of Azerbaijan (PFA), which by the fall of 1989 had a lot of popular support. The movement supported independence from the USSR. The unrest culminated in

9990-573: The status of Karabakh for future Kavbiuro meetings. At a Kavbiuro meeting on July 4, 1921, Miasnikian and a majority of members voted to conduct a referendum in the Armenian-populated mountainous part of Karabakh and make it part of Armenia. Just the next day, Kavbiuro decided to revise the decision and adopt a new one whereby Mountainous Karabakh would become an autonomous region within the Azerbaijani SSR . The Central Committee of

10101-467: The strict enforcement of anticlerical laws, people in strongly Catholic states, especially Jalisco , Zacatecas , Guanajuato , Colima and Michoacán , began to oppose him, and this opposition led to the Cristero War from 1926 to 1929, which was characterized by atrocities on both sides. Some Cristeros applied terrorist tactics, including the torture and killing of public school teachers, while

10212-559: The supposed truce was Calles' insistence on a state monopoly on education, suppressing Catholic education and introducing socialist education in its place: "We must enter and take possession of the mind of childhood, the mind of youth." Persecutions continued as Calles maintained control under the Maximato and did not relent until 1940, when President Manuel Ávila Camacho took office. Attempts to eliminate religious education became more pronounced in 1934 through an amendment of Article 3 of

10323-516: The violence was suppressed. In an attempt to end the growing structural crisis, the government in Moscow appointed Heydar Aliyev as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan in 1969. Aliyev temporarily improved the economic conditions and promoted alternative industries to the declining oil industry, such as cotton. He also consolidated the republic's ruling elite, which now consisted almost entirely of ethnic Azerbaijanis, thus reverting

10434-747: The world. Theodore Roosevelt condemned the Kishinev pogrom in 1903, establishing a history of U.S. presidents commenting on the internal religious liberty of foreign countries. In Franklin D. Roosevelt 's 1941 State of the Union address, he outlined Four Freedoms , including Freedom of worship, that would be foundation for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and future U.S. diplomatic efforts. Jimmy Carter asked Deng Xiaoping to improve religious freedom in China, and Ronald Reagan told US Embassy staff in Moscow to help Jews harassed by

10545-590: Was Sergo Ordzhonikidze . In December 1922 TSFSR agreed to join the union with Russia , Ukraine , and Belarus , thus creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which would last until 1991. The TSFSR, however, did not last long. In December 1936, the Transcaucasian Union was dismantled when the leaders in the Union Council found themselves unable to come to agreement over several issues. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia then each became

10656-455: Was a "nominally independent organization established by the Communist Party to promote atheism". It published its own newspaper, and journals, sponsored lectures, and organized demonstrations that lampooned religion and promoted atheism. Anti-religious and atheistic propaganda was implemented into every portion of soviet life from schools to the media and even on to substituting rituals to replace religious ones. Though Lenin originally introduced

10767-575: Was an Armenian Bolshevik revolutionary, military leader and politician. During the Russian Civil War , he served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia from 1918 to 1919. As the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of Armenia from 1921 to 1922, he is credited with rebuilding the Armenian republic at the beginning of Lenin 's New Economic Policy (NEP). Miasnikian

10878-461: Was an atheist state until 2019, when a change in its constitution declared it a secular state . In contrast, a secular state officially purports to be neutral in matters of religion ; it does not support religion, nor does it support irreligion . In a review of 35 European states in 1980, 5 states were considered "secular" in the sense of religious neutrality, 9 considered "atheistic", and 21 states considered "religious". A communist state

10989-557: Was arrested and exiled to Baku that same year. Between 1912 and 1914, Miasnikian worked as an assistant to a lawyer in Moscow while continuing his political activities. After the start of World War I in 1914, he was drafted into the Russian Army. He was a member of an underground party cell in the army and promoted revolutionary ideas among the soldiers. After the February Revolution of 1917, Miasnikian became

11100-579: Was born in the Armenian-populated city of New Nakhichevan (now a part of Rostov-on-Don ) to the family of a merchant. He graduated from the faculty of law of Moscow University in 1911. As a student in New Nakhichevan and later in Moscow, Miasnikian was active in underground groups starting in 1901. He took part in the 1905 Russian Revolution and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1906. He

11211-843: Was chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia that briefly existed in January and February of that year. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party for the short-lived Lithuanian–Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic . When Nikolai Krylenko was appointed Supreme Commander in Chief of the Red Army , he appointed Miasnikian as his deputy. In March 1921, following

11322-529: Was directed against the ethnic Cham Muslim minority." China has adopted a policy of official state atheism. Art. 36 of the Chinese constitution guarantees freedom of religion but it only allows members of state sanctioned organizations to practice religions. The government has promoted atheism throughout the country. In April 2016, the General Secretary , Xi Jinping , stated that members of

11433-433: Was interpreted as including religions which originated outside Korea. Since 2001, the U.S. State Department has designated North Korea as a "country of particular concern", due to its violations of religious freedom. Cardinal Nicolas Cheong Jin-suk has said that, "There's no knowledge of priests surviving persecution that came in the late forties, when 166 priests and religious were killed or kidnapped," which includes

11544-531: Was killed in a mysterious plane crash on 22 March 1925, along with Solomon Mogilevsky , Georgi Atarbekov , the pilot and flight engineer. They had been on their way to Sukhumi for a communist conference in Abkhazia . Shortly after taking off from Tiflis , the Junkers F 13 aircraft caught fire. According to eyewitness reports, people were seen jumping to their deaths to escape the burning plane. The cause of

11655-476: Was never fully trusted by Stalin, soon died under mysterious circumstances. Apart from the Oil Rocks , Azerbaijan's first offshore oil field was opened in the early 1950s. Policies of de-Stalinization and improvement after the 1950s led to better education and welfare conditions for most of Azerbaijan. This also coincided with the period of rapid urbanization and industrialization. During this period of change,

11766-753: Was officially known as the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic . When the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic was abolished, the name was changed to the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic according to the 1937 and 1978 Azerbaijan SSR constitutions. Upon independence, it was renamed to the Republic of Azerbaijan (or Azerbaijani Republic ) in 1991. The current official name

11877-477: Was reduced to 500 by 1940. Overall, by that same year 90 percent of the churches, synagogues, and mosques that had been operating in 1917 were either forcibly closed, converted, or destroyed. Since the Soviet era, Russia , Armenia , Kazakhstan , Uzbekistan , Turkmenistan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Belarus , Moldova , Georgia , Ukraine and Lithuania have diverse religious affiliations. Russians have primarily returned to identifying with

11988-724: Was renamed the Republic of Azerbaijan according to the Decision No.16-XII of Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan approving the Decree of the President of Azerbaijan SSR dated 29 November 1990, remained in the USSR for the period before the declaration of independence in October 1991. The Constitution of the Azerbaijan SSR ceased to exist in 1995, upon the adoption of the new Constitution of Azerbaijan . The name "Azerbaijan" originates as

12099-603: Was retained after the new Constitution of Azerbaijan was adopted in 1995. The Azerbaijan SSR was established on 28 April 1920 after the surrender of the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to local Bolsheviks led by Mirza Davud Huseynov and Nariman Narimanov and the invasion of the Bolshevik 11th Red Army. On 13 October 1921, the Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed an agreement with Turkey known as

12210-509: Was revoked and Central Executive Committee was selected as a supreme legislative body. According to the Constitution Azerbaijan SSR in 1937, the legislative body switched to a new phase. Central Executive Committee was replaced with Supreme Soviet. Under the military structure of the former Soviet Union, Azerbaijan shortly before gaining independence, was host to over 60,000 Soviet military personnel deployed throughout

12321-701: Was subjected to persecution). Most seminaries were closed, and publication of religious writing was banned. A meeting of the Antireligious Commission of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party ( Bolsheviks ) that occurred on 23 May 1929 estimated the portion of believers in the USSR at 80 percent, though this percentage may be understated to prove the successfulness of the struggle with religion. The Russian Orthodox Church, which had 54,000 parishes before World War I,

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