choke and squeeze

breakingeggstomakeanomelet
This is about choke and squeeze church and state. (That was what my dad used to say the initials of the C&S bank stood for)
There is a blogswarm going on about theocracy, patriotism, and entertainment. I encourage you to read the other posts, and to heed the message about the dangers of mixing church and state.
This essay is about how the Soviet Union became atheistic.
Now, I have never read the communist manifesto, so I don't know if communism is atheistic by design. Of course, the way that communism evolved in the Soviet Union has a few differences between the original theory.

The Russian Orthodox Church was in bed with the Czars. They were a part of the "establishment". During World War One, There was a rebellion against the Russian Government. After the initial revolution, there was a bloody civil war, with the "white Russians" fighting against the "red Russians". Much of the idealism of the original revolution was lost in the murderous struggle to survive. The church fought on the side of the aristocracy against the communists. (It is largely forgotten that Allied troops, including the United States, fought on the side of the white Russians.) Finally, the red army prevailed, and when they threw out the aristocrats, they threw the church out with it.
Of course, history is not considered cool, and a white Russian is a drink. But, the commies loved vodka.

There was a movie called "Battleship Potemkin" which is moved loved by those who take an intellectual approach to movie watching. At one point after the mutiny begins, an Orthodox Priest waves an Icon at the sailors and says, " you are fighting against God"

This is the danger of a church getting too close to the government. When the government falls, the church falls along with it.