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[[Image:Stalin-140508 27880t.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The brutal proponent of [[atheism]] [[Joseph Stalin]]. ]]

[[Image:Stalin-140508 27880t.jpg|right|200px|thumb|The brutal proponent of [[atheism]] [[Joseph Stalin]]. ]]

'''Soviet atheism''' refers to the [[Soviet Union]]'s policy of eliminating [[religion]] in the [[communism|communist]] state.

'''Soviet atheism''' refers to the [[Soviet Union]]'s policy of eliminating [[religion]] in the [[communism|communist]] state.

The [[persecution of Christians in the USSR|persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union]] was the result of the violently atheist [[Soviet]] government.  In the first five years after the [[October Revolution]], 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were murdered, many on the orders of [[Leon Trotsky]].  When [[Joseph Stalin]] came to power in 1927, he ordered his secret police, under [[Genrikh Yagoda]] to intensify persecution of Christians.  In the next few years, 50,000 clergy were murdered, many were [[torture]]d, including [[crucifixion]].  "Russia turned red with the blood of martyrs", said Father Gleb Yakunin of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].<ref>Ostling, Richard N. (December 4, 1989).  [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,150718,00.html "Cross meets Kremlin: Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II"]. ''Time''. Time magazine website.</ref>  According to Orthodox Church sources, as many as fifty million Orthodox believers may have died in the twentieth century, mainly from persecution by [[Communists]].<ref>Moore, Rev. Fr. Raphael (October 1999). [http://www.serfes.org/printerVersion2.asp?URL=/orthodox/memoryof.htm "In memory of the 50 million victims of the Orthodox Christian Holocaust"], Spiritual Nourishment for the Soul, Serfes, Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios, compiler.</ref>

The [[persecution of Christians in the USSR|persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union]] was the result of the violently atheist [[Soviet]] government.  In the first five years after the [[October Revolution]], 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were murdered, many on the orders of [[Leon Trotsky]].  When [[Joseph Stalin]] came to power in 1927, he ordered his secret police, under [[Genrikh Yagoda]] to intensify persecution of Christians.  In the next few years, 50,000 clergy were murdered, many were [[torture]]d, including [[crucifixion]].  "Russia turned red with the blood of martyrs", said Father Gleb Yakunin of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]].<ref>Ostling, Richard N. (December 4, 1989).  [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,150718,00.html "Cross meets Kremlin: Gorbachev and Pope John Paul II"]. ''Time''. Time magazine website.</ref>  According to Orthodox Church sources, as many as fifty million Orthodox believers may have died in the twentieth century, mainly from persecution by [[Communists]].<ref>Moore, Rev. Fr. Raphael (October 1999). [http://www.serfes.org/printerVersion2.asp?URL=/orthodox/memoryof.htm "In memory of the 50 million victims of the Orthodox Christian Holocaust"], Spiritual Nourishment for the Soul, Serfes, Rev. Archimandrite Nektarios, compiler.</ref>