Reply #9: Was Stalin an atheist? Yes, in later life, after he had studied at [View All]

[stopbush]

the Georgian Orthodox Seminary in his youth, where he learned the importance of religious indoctrination and the worship of religious systems and icons. He later put these types of systems to good use in his Soviet state, replacing worship of gods with worship of the state.

I believe that he was very much a "real" atheist when he was at his worst. But I don't think one can say that he did his evil "in the name of atheism." He did his evil in the name of the Soviet state, which is to say he did it in his name. Atheism was not a rallying cry for the Soviets, whereas Xianity certainly was a rallying cry for the Nazis.