RELIGION IN RUSSIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21115, 24 February 1932, Page 12

RELIGION IN RUSSIA.

DESTRUCTION BY SOVIET. YOUTH LOST TO THE CHURCH. '•A RACE OF ATHEISTS." The impressions gained by Professor A. G. B. Fisher, of Otago University, on a recent visit to Russia were commented on yesterday by Bishop Liston, Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland. Dr. Liston made special reference to the professor's impressions of the Church. "Professor Fisher informs us that tlie Church is still functioning and that when he paid very brief visits to two small churches he found them open and some worshippers present," said Bishop Liston. "Whether the visitor from Dunedin saw more of the working of religion in this land of 140,000.000 people or heard anything worth while, we are not told, but be docs not hesitate to tell us that the Church is functioning. There is no indication from the returned traveller that iheio is any unusual activity on tlie religious front' in Russia. The matter is, I believe, of vital importance to Christian faith and Christian civilisation itself in Europe and therefore throughout the world; hence 1 submit some facts and observations. "Let it be remembered that Leningrad, Moscow and other large cities of Russia to which visitors as a rule go, or arc allowed to go, arc but a small fraction of the immense territory of Soviet Russia. And even in these cities the traveller can only visit the churches that still stand or are open. Professor Fisher speaks of only two that lie visited. What of the thousands upon thousands—Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish and Moslem —that during the past 14 years have been demolished, dynamited, closed, or turned into museums, warehouses, picture theatres, dancing halls, circuses? And why this wanton destruction and desecration ? Roman Catholics Suffer. "The priests of the Orthodox Church or the Catholic Church, whom the visitor may have seen at the altar, arc those who are still alive or at liberty. lhe professor, according to his own statement, had no opportunity of inspecting Solovctsky Island, or the cells of the Ogpu, or the prison camps where so many suifer a living death as virtual slaves. And the worshippers whom Professor l'isher saw in his two churches—apparently his only contact with religious life in huge Russia—l wonder if they are at liberty to-day? I do know that the lay members, like the ministers, of all churches who remain loyal to their faith do so at peril of their lives, their liberty and their happiness." "Here are some facts. Before JJI ( there were some 13.000,000 Catholics in the, Russian Empire, served by 4600 priests. Within the existing Soviet Russia there were in 1917, the xcai of the revolution, 614 Catholic churches open and in use; to-day 182 remain. ' There were also 581 chapels; today not one of these remains. There were 810 priests; to-day 110 are at liberty, while over 200 are known to be in Bolshevik prisons. The remaining 500 have died from privation and starvation or have been exiled and executed. In 1917 there were seven colleges for the training of students for the, priesthood; to-day not one remains. There were eight bishops; today they are in exile or have died through want. Five bishops have .since been consecrated; of these two are still at liberty, while the, other three are in prison at forced labour. Massacre of Leaders.

"Let it be added that from 1918 to 1920 no fewer than 26 archbishops and bishops and 1200 priests (Orthodox and Catholic) were massacred. 1 submit that a rasual visitor like Professor Fisher has failed to see that the Soviet attitude to religion is to be judged, not by what remains of religious liberty, but by what has been destroyed, and by the character of the agencies and laws sanctioned by the Government to wipe out what does remain. Christian faith functioned, of course, during the first three centuries of our era, but no credit for that is ever given to the Roman Government that put to death its Founder, every I'ope, innumerable men, women and children and outlawed the religion itself. "The whole attitude of the Soviet Government toward religion is as clear as the noonday sun. Hclief in God is incompatible with Communism. God is a personal enemy. 'The God-idea' must be completely liquidated. 'Our programme,' declared Comrade Zinoviev, when president of thp Third International, on Juno 17, 1923, 'is based on scientific materialism, which includes unconditionally (he necessity of propagating atheism.' Again at Christmas. 1924, lie spoke: 'We shall pursue our attacks on Almighty God in due time and in an appropriate manner. We are confident we shall subdue Him in his empyrean.' Forced to Atheism. "Lenin's widow has this to say: 'We must make our school hovs and girls not merely non-religious, but actively and passionately anti-religious.' Lunacharskv, when Minister of Public Instruction, set. the powerful and subsidised 'Association of the Godless' on its way in 1925: 'With all niv heart I wish the "Godless" every success in its fight against the repugnant spectre of God which has caused such diabolic harm to all humanity throughout history.' "The list of formal laws embodying these principles is lengthy, comprehensive and utterly destructive of the most elementary rights of man, but that is another story. Suffice it to say that the present generation of Soviet youth, taken by and large, must be reckoned not merely as lost to religion, but as won over or forced into militant atheism. The present probabilities are that the Bolshevik Government will succeed in its purpose of turning the Russian people into a race of atheists. Only (iod can avert that calamity to Europe and the world, and knowing that He has made the heart of man religious, all of us who believe in Him are confident of the issue."