Comprehension of the Problem of Correlation between Religion and Culture in the Ukrainian Religious Studies of Soviet Period

Abstract

The article deals with the transformation of comprehension of the problem of correlation be-tween religion and culture in Ukrainian scientific atheism. The author found out that the initial po-sition for Soviet atheists was the Marxist thesis that religion as a part of spiritual culture depends on social and economic relations. Only negative assessment to religion was given in early 1970’s. Relations between religion and culture were defined as conflict, and cultural progress was associated with secularization. Religion was understood as outdated, retrograde, remnant of the past, incompat-ible with any progress.The author of the article found out that in the texts of the mid-80’sthe development of culture in historical perspective was connected with religion. But such a statement can’t be defined as a step ahead, because scientific atheism admitted the existence of religion in the past through social reasons. These reasons – as it was believed – will vanish in the future, in the time of communism. The authors who wrote on the influence of religion on culture in the past had to show its negative impact. In the book Culture. Religion. Atheism (1991) the author of the article found critical state-ments toward some “atheistic dogmas”, revision of methodological bases and rejection of some ideological thesis. Attitude towards religion of the authors had changed. In some way it reflected the changes in Soviet society in general. The author concludes that being permanently researched by the Soviet scientific atheists the problem of correlation between religion and culture has transformed radically during the Pere-stroika.