Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

ho attempted to deal with the subject from an evangelical perspective. A few AUCECB leaders have attended conferences where this subject was discussed, but their own Soviet situation does not enable them to make a fruitful contribution. Beating the Odds-Maker Soviet atheists expect to win the competition for Soviet youth. It is merely a matter of time; the laws of history are on their side. That is their professed conviction. Like Lenin at the time of the Revolution, they are impatient with the course of history and feel that decisive measures must be undertaken to speed up the process of history. That is why the massive atheist educational program is enforced with such heavy-handed exercises of power. All the ad- vantages are on the side of atheism. The Soviet citizen weighing the options could surely conclude that only a stupid person would opt for religion. « And yet, atheist officials constantly complain about the inadequacy of their work, the lack of fervency on the part of their cadres, and are forced to admit that religion is not dead but apparently experiencing a revival. To quite an extent the failure is due to their own making. Soviet citizens speak of atheism as having “‘torn across our land like a hurricane.” In its wake it has left many ruins. The father of one school child was asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire. For the last question concerning his wishes for the school, he wrote the following: I wish that you would sit down and consider that you are living in the land of the Soviets, in which there exist fundamental laws on freedom of religion and conscience, the right to work and education, to equality and brotherhood. I wish you would not listen to the evil orders of the KGB, that you would understand that children come to school to get an educa- tion, but not to have your viewpoints injected into them. Otherwise you Children and Youth 333 are going to disrupt this land if you continue further s i Boi ‘ uch act oa children. And all the blood that has been shed for the peta of this land you will tread underfoot.... Find your way back to the d ae fas and follow it. If you will do that, you will strengthen our The presbyter, the other side of this life-and-death competition for So- viet children and youth, has no education, no access to theological iret tions, no library or visual aids and no money. What he has in bunds i state opposition. But what the presbyters have which the atheists a . unable to match is moral charisma. That is why he is stil pies though the odds are stacked so heavily against him. The key factor that will settle the competition is courage. Atheists lack the courage to attempt a fair competition with the presbyter. Rather. | winning even ae ae use our fear of suffering to stifle our spirit, our free thoughts mh eelings. And they in turn frighten us. We must overcome our fear of suffering. Only then will we become really free, activ