Origins of Civil Religion in the United States Comparison with the Political Religion of the USSR

Abstract

The idea of Nietzsche (1882) that “God is dead” lies in the foundations of both American Civil
religion and the political religion of the Soviet Union. The idea was perceived differently by
two different civilizations according to their cultural and ideological backgrounds. The American
perception imposed God as being something abstract from now on. Under God we can
understand democracy, unity, freedom or civil rights. The political religion of the Soviet Union
denied the acceptance of God even as something abstract bringing him a clear opposition in
the face of Communism, where the state worked both as an institute of power and implemented
the symbolism and morality of the religion.
In this article the main differences between the approaches to Christian religion in the USA
and USSR, together with the conception of civil religion of the U.S. and the political religion
of the USSR will be analyzed, and, based on the historical-cultural approach, the major interpretation
of the American tolerance and Soviet rejection in the early periods of the formation
of both states will be viewed.