@article{article_327223, title={Stalin’s Church Policy in the Context of Political Religion Influence}, journal={Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi}, volume={21}, pages={1305–1322}, year={2017}, DOI={10.18505/cuid.327223}, author={Dualı, Şir Muhammed}, keywords={Stalin,Laiklik,Stalin,Politik Çıkarlar,Ortodoks Kilisesi}, abstract={<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin:3pt 0cm;line-height:150%;"> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us"> <b>Abstract: </b> </span> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us"> <b> </b>Undoubtedly, in the formation of history,
relations between religious structures and political powers, which are shaped
within certain principles, have an important place. The course of these relations
determines the strength and domain of both sides. This form of relationship, in
some cases, evolves in favor of political power, and sometimes manifests itself
as a political direction of religious interests. It is possible to see politics
as a direction of religion or to use it in the direction of its own interests
in the politics that the Soviet Union has implemented since the Second World
War. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Union, which has embraced the ideology of
official atheism and struggled against religious beliefs, did not stop using
religion/church for conjuration in its own interests. In this context, The
Soviet leader Stalin has almost reconstructed the Russian Orthodox Church,
which he had been trying to destroy since the early years of the Second World
War. Even, Moscow has made serious attempts to make Patriarchate the pioneer of
the Orthodox world. In this article, we aim to emphasize Stalin </span> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us">’ </span> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us">s church politics and reasons. We will also
stress the reasons behind the Council of the Orthodox Churches, which Stalin
sought to achieve through the Moscow Patriarchate in 1947. Finally, we will
touch on the policy of the Fener Greek Patriarch against these developments. </span> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin:3pt 0cm;line-height:150%;"> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us"> <b>Summary: </b> </span> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us">Throughout history, politics of states have
been under the influence of religion. Likewise, religions have directed
political authority in the direction of their own interests. Sometimes a religion
takes the state under its influence; sometimes under a state takes a religion
under the influence and they try to use the other one in the interests of itself.
Concepts that define religion-state relations have emerged under the influence
of experiences experienced over time. Secularism is at the head of the concepts
that determine religion-state relations today. What secularism is and how it is
practiced is much debated in the scientific circles. Despite all these
struggles, however, no binding definition has been reached for all political
issues. Certainly, the subjective structure of states plays an important role
in regulating religion-state relations. The political ideology adopted by this
political structure and the world view varies. Sometimes political structures
with official atheist ideology can break the principle of secularism. While
these ideologies are ungodly in their nature, they benefit from political
interests. As an example, it is possible to show the Soviet Union with an
atheist ideology. Because the Soviet regime used religion in the direction of
political interests between 1943-1948. </span> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin:3pt 0cm;line-height:150%;"> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us">The Russian Orthodox Church, which was very
active and competent during the reign of Tsarist Russia, lost its power with
the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Soviet regime has made the Russian
Orthodox Church an illegal institution. The struggle against the church by the
regime continued until the Second World War. With the Second World War,
Stalin’s church politics changed. </span> </p> <p> </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;margin:3pt 0cm;line-height:150%;"> <span lang="en-us" style="line-height:150%;" xml:lang="en-us">There is no doubt that this political
change has become more than one reason. The first is that the state has entered
into a war. Stalin did not want to continue the struggle with religion while
the war was going on. Another reason for pushing Stalin for a policy change
towards the Church is the anti-Soviet propaganda carried out by the Germans. As
a matter of fact, the Germans defined themselves as the savior of the Russian
people. It was also alleged that Germany was waging a war against the Soviets
in order to free Russian people from communism. Even brochures were taken from
the airplanes in this frame. The Germans aimed to break the resistance of the
Russian people with this method. Stalin acted to ward off this propaganda of
the Germans. Stalin therefore had to keep an eye on church politics and stopped
the oppression against the church. In this framework, opportunities were
provided for the Russian Orthodox Church. For example, have been}, number={2}, publisher={Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi}