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What influence did religion have on the Cold War?
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Religion significantly influenced the Cold War by serving as a key ideological battleground. The U.S. promoted Christianity to counter the atheistic stance of communist nations like the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea. This dichotomy between "godless" communism and "god-fearing" democracy was used to galvanize American support against communism, with measures like adding "In God We Trust" to currency. This religious framing helped reinforce the U.S. position both domestically and internationally.
Christianity was used to galvanize Americans against communism during the Cold War.
Communism rejects all religious belief as false and, in places it controlled, did its best to eradicate religious institutions. Communists see religion as inherently corrupt. They believe the ruling class uses priests or clerics as tools to tell the working classes that they will get their reward in heaven, therefore depriving them of their rewards on earth.
Communism's harsh view of religion was used by the US to differentiate between "them" and "us." The US made a point of proclaiming itself a nation that believed in God, putting "in God we trust" on its currency and adding "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.
To many devout believers, the idea that they could be deprived of their places of worship and forced to declare themselves atheists should the communists take over was a frightening idea. It hardened them...
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in their view that the Soviet Union must be held in check and, if possible, defeated. It also reinforced the idea that the communists lacked a moral center and did not value human life. All of this worked quite well for promoting US interests at home and abroad.
The above answer omits pointing out the reaction of Americans during the Cold War to the atheism of the Communist Bloc. Americans were frequently reminded of the atheistic nature of Communism and Marx's reference to religion as the "opiate of the masses." Several actions and events marked the American religious reaction to the Cold War threat:
- President Dwight Eisenhower promoted religion and church attendance as every American's patriotic duty. He commented in a speech:
Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, most basic, expression of Americanism. Without God, there could be no American form of government nor an American way of life.
Eisenhower called himself "the most intensely religious man I know," although he did not join a church until 1953.
- J. Edgar Hoover, then Director of the FBI commented that parents did not give their children a choice about going to school; therefore they should not be given a choice about going to church. He admonished Americans that:
Since Communists are anti-God, encourage your child to be active in the church.
- Church membership and attendance and sales of Bibles increased sharply.
- Congress authorized the addition of the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag in 1954.
- Congress further authorized the addition of "In God We Trust" to all American coins and currency in 1955.
All of this was a response to and direct reaction to the perceived threat of "Godless communism," the great evil which many Americans believed was intent on destroying their way of life.
This a fantastic question, because when people discuss the Cold War, religion is not really mentioned as something important. But the truth of the matter is that one of the great differences between the two sides of the Cold War was religion and this played a huge role in the Cold War. Countries like the former Soviet Union, China, and North Korea were officially atheistic. They sought to stamp out religion in general and Christianity in particular. This fact played right into the hands of countries like America. There was a strong line of demarcation between the "godless" communist and the "god-fearing" non-communist nations. This was part of the psychological warfare on the part of the Western countries.
In light of all these point, astute historians have pointed out that Christianity, in part, lead to the demise of communism. Even in staunch communistic countries, they could never really stamp out Christianity. For example, the Russian Orthodox church remained strong, even if persecuted. The same can be stated in China, where there is an estimated 100,000,000 Christians today. I will add an excellent article on this topic; see the second link.