Attacks on the Church

Lenin, a diehard atheist, had plans for how to destroy the church’s influence during the Communist Revolution. He banned the teaching of religion in schools and he set up civil marriage. The Russian Orthodox Church, which had long been the state church, had all funding cut off. Whatever one thinks of the close alignment between the church in state in pre-communist Russia, the lesson to note is that radicals always seek to cut off resources to the church as a prelude to further persecution. Radicals did the same during the French Revolution. The confiscation of church property was followed by attacks on church leadership and faithful Christians. The secularization of schools and the stripping of financial support are often harbingers of worse to come.

See Lenin: The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror by Victor Sebestyen