"Imagine no religion..."

This topic made me research a bit of our communist past. Now I am sure Bulgarian communists(and all the eastern bloc) raised communism to a status of religion where the nationals of the respective country would bow down at the sight of their leader. The communists were smart enough to ban all other mind controlling bullshit ideologies like Christianity and Islam, because they simply didn't want another false doctrine stealing attention from the utopia of communism. They reserved the right to be the only brain-washing agent and ousted religions out of their way.
In that context, I don't have to imagine no religion, i just have to think back of the old days. And banning religion was not felt so bad at all, as some of you make it out to be. Edited by Agobot, : No reason given.

No, GULAG was in north Russia. Nobody was sent to prison or concentration camps for their religious views. It's just that if you were religious, you didn't get the same opportunities to make a career. You wouldn't be able to be a member of the party and get additional benefits. But people were not secretly preaching religion either, which makes me think that if you are able to fully control people, like the communists did, the "propaganda" against religious dogma pays off and people stop believing in gods, miracles and deities. So i'd say propaganda is stronger than religion(just see the arab world - but they have it vice versa, the propaganda is pro-religion).

Yep, our lives changed so dramatically within a week at the end of 1989, it's unbelievable. Bulgaria was considered the 16 state of the Soviet Union and we were ALL speaking Russian as a second language. But yes, propaganda against religions made people feel humiliated about their religious views. It was almost like people were ashamed to concede their belief in god, as other people would often laugh at them. But propaganda is widespread everywhere, in every country, on every continent. It just takes different forms according to the interest being served.Edited by Agobot, : No reason given.Edited by Agobot, : No reason given.