TY  - JOUR
TT  - Stalin’s Church Policy in the Context of Political Religion Influence
AU  - Dualı, Şir Muhammed
PY  - 2017
DA  - December
DO  - 10.18505/cuid.327223
JF  - Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi
JO  - CUID
PB  - Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2528-9861
SP  - 1305
EP  - 1322
VL  - 21
IS  - 2
KW  - Stalin
KW  - Laiklik
KW  - Stalin
KW  - Politik Çıkarlar
KW  - Ortodoks Kilisesi
N2  - Abstract: Undoubtedly, in the formation of history,relations between religious structures and political powers, which are shapedwithin certain principles, have an important place. The course of these relationsdetermines the strength and domain of both sides. This form of relationship, insome cases, evolves in favor of political power, and sometimes manifests itselfas a political direction of religious interests. It is possible to see politicsas a direction of religion or to use it in the direction of its own interestsin the politics that the Soviet Union has implemented since the Second WorldWar. As a matter of fact, the Soviet Union, which has embraced the ideology ofofficial atheism and struggled against religious beliefs, did not stop usingreligion/church for conjuration in its own interests. In this context, TheSoviet leader Stalin has almost reconstructed the Russian Orthodox Church,which he had been trying to destroy since the early years of the Second WorldWar. Even, Moscow has made serious attempts to make Patriarchate the pioneer ofthe Orthodox world. In this article, we aim to emphasize Stalin’s church politics and reasons. We will alsostress the reasons behind the Council of the Orthodox Churches, which Stalinsought to achieve through the Moscow Patriarchate in 1947. Finally, we willtouch on the policy of the Fener Greek Patriarch against these developments. Summary: Throughout history, politics of states havebeen under the influence of religion. Likewise, religions have directedpolitical authority in the direction of their own interests. Sometimes a religiontakes the state under its influence; sometimes under a state takes a religionunder 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 influenceof experiences experienced over time. Secularism is at the head of the conceptsthat determine religion-state relations today. What secularism is and how it ispracticed is much debated in the scientific circles. Despite all thesestruggles, however, no binding definition has been reached for all politicalissues. Certainly, the subjective structure of states plays an important rolein regulating religion-state relations. The political ideology adopted by thispolitical structure and the world view varies. Sometimes political structureswith official atheist ideology can break the principle of secularism. Whilethese ideologies are ungodly in their nature, they benefit from politicalinterests. As an example, it is possible to show the Soviet Union with anatheist ideology. Because the Soviet regime used religion in the direction ofpolitical interests between 1943-1948. The Russian Orthodox Church, which was veryactive and competent during the reign of Tsarist Russia, lost its power withthe Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The Soviet regime has made the RussianOrthodox Church an illegal institution. The struggle against the church by theregime continued until the Second World War. With the Second World War,Stalin's church politics changed.There is no doubt that this politicalchange has become more than one reason. The first is that the state has enteredinto a war. Stalin did not want to continue the struggle with religion whilethe war was going on. Another reason for pushing Stalin for a policy changetowards the Church is the anti-Soviet propaganda carried out by the Germans. Asa matter of fact, the Germans defined themselves as the savior of the Russianpeople. It was also alleged that Germany was waging a war against the Sovietsin order to free Russian people from communism. Even brochures were taken fromthe airplanes in this frame. The Germans aimed to break the resistance of theRussian people with this method. Stalin acted to ward off this propaganda ofthe Germans. Stalin therefore had to keep an eye on church politics and stoppedthe oppression against the church. In this framework, opportunities wereprovided for the Russian Orthodox Church. For example, have been approved toorganize rites in churches. The priests are encouraged to strengthen hand thepeople. Also closed churches have been reopened by Stalin. In this way the Germanpropaganda has been wasted.The Second World War ended with the victoryof the Soviet Union. Stalin, however, continued to use the church after the warwas over. So why did Stalin continue to support the church as an atheist? Whatwere the reasons for pushing Stalin into this policy? Stalin's post-war churchpolicy has multiple causes. The most important of these is spreading the Sovietinfluence over the entire Balkans and Middle East geography through the RussianOrthodox Church. Undoubtedly this is related to the long-term policies of theSoviets. Because the war has changed all the balances in the world. This hasgiven new opportunities to the Soviets. At the beginning of these, the Orthodoxworld comes to the Soviet influence. It seems that the steps towards this havebeen started to be started from 1945. In this context, the Russian OrthodoxChurch found important activities. For example, the Moscow Patriarch hasestablished relations with other Orthodox Churches. Jerusalem, Athens, Cyprus,Antakya churches were visited. In the end, an attempt was made to collect theOrthodox Council.The struggle of the Western and Easternbloc emerged after the Second World War divided the Orthodox world into twocamps. In this process, the Greek, Cyprus and Jerusalem Orthodox churches underthe leadership of the Fener Patriarchate were under American influence. TheSerbian, Bulgarian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches under the leadership of theMoscow Patriarchate were under Soviet influence. For these reasons, the Sovietregime, which has been fighting for the Church since the Bolshevik Revolutionin 1917, has given up its position. It is understood from this historical factthat a regime adopting irreligion as an official ideology uses religion in itsown interests as needed. This indicates that secularism is relative. This studywill try to show how the Soviet Union uses the Russian Orthodox Church in itsown interests despite the atheism ideology.
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UR  - https://doi.org/10.18505/cuid.327223
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/372703
ER  -