People all over the globe were faced with the prospect that they would be exterminated if the USSR and Soviet Union came into conflict after the Soviet Union obtained nuclear weapon technology. The government’s perception of the Soviet Union conflict as spiritual and moral during the Cold War was influenced by the revival of religious activity in the United States. Although this renewed religious activity was initially a very weak form of Judeo Christian civil religion, it became a major part of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority. My argument is that after World War II religion served as one explanation for the US and Soviet Union’s differences and was also used as one of America’s weapons of war. While the American religious landscape influenced American foreign policies in many ways, it was not predictable nor consistent.
While the Cold War often focuses less on the religious aspect, it’s not unimportant. Religion was an integral part of the ideological conflict between America and the Soviet Union. Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik party passed numerous laws following the October Revolution in 1917 that significantly reduced the power of Russian Orthodox churches. Marxists considered the ideal communist state to be removing the Russian Empire from religion and other institutions. The Soviet government destroyed most of the Russian Orthodox Church’s institutional structure after the Great Terror in the 1930s. Stalin held an official meeting with the remaining four Russian Orthodox clergymen at the Kremlin and made concessions to them that contradicted his policy for the church over the past three decades. Nikita Chrushchev would have not condemned Stalin’s opening of relations to the church, and instead reinstituted militant atheism. The Soviet Union was seen as an ideological opposition to the United States due to its history of persecuting religious believers. The founding documents of America stated that the nation was to promote freedom and civil liberties. However, the USSR was determined to suppress religion. This was part of the Cold War’s strategy. Dwight Eisenhower was the first Cold War president to use highly religious and moral terms in describing the conflict. Truman, America’s first Cold War president, once stated to an audience, “The international Communist movement… denies God… God has created US and brought us up to our present position for power and strength and for some great reason.” Harry Truman, the first Cold War president and a prominent figure in the faith community, claimed that religion could be used to defeat the Cold War. The nation’s leaders saw their actions not as an act of intervention in the civil wars between Korea and Vietnam but as a part in a moral responsibility towards those at risk from communist militant atheism.
It wasn’t just presidents that were involved with the moralization the Cold War. George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” was founded on the basis of religion. Kennan, a devout Presbyterian was led to the conclusion that the United States was not united in its values and aims. This made it impossible for the superpowers to negotiate. Kennan argued that containment was America’s best foreign strategy option, despite the impossibility of negotiation or a military defeat by the USSR. In 1959, thirteen year after his famous 1946 Moscow telegram, Kennan spoke out to reiterate that communism was an “abomination of God” and an ‘apocalyptic menace.”
NSC 68, one among the most important documents in the Cold War era’s history, shows America’s belief that the Cold War was a moral conflict. This document, which is full of religious language, portrays America and the Soviet Union as virtuous countries of freedom. The authors claim that the USSR is, unlike previous aspirants for hegemony, animated by a new fanatic belief, which is antithetical to ours.
NSC68 was also influenced by a religious aspect. This belief was reflected in the political discourse of America during WWII. Although the end of the world will not be literal if Marx’s global communist revolution is realized, American leaders frequently made it appear that the world would end. NSC-68 was a policy suggestion, but it contained vague references to morals and no policy directives. On page 29, the authors stated that “we must be strong… in how we affirm our values in conduct of our national lives.” However, NSC-68 was a policy proposal. It contained vague references to the morals of the nation and no clear policy directives. The authors keep referring to “moral strength” but are unsure of where it should be placed in a policy report. The authors conclude that the only way to win is to frustrate the Kremlin’s design through steady development of the material and moral strength of the world free of any interference and project it into the Soviet world so as the Soviet system undergoes internal changes.
Eisenhower recognized the importance of the country’s struggle against its Cold War foe. Eisenhower made frequent public statements describing his country’s war with the Soviet Union like a crusade. He once asked “what is our fight against communism?” to clarify the distinction between the USSR, and America. Eisenhower believed democracy had no meaning unless it was founded on deep religious faith. He used religious rhetoric to describe America and its people to draw a clear distinction between the US and the Soviet Union. Eisenhower noted that he signed the legislation to add the Pledge. The 1962 Supreme Court landmark Engel v. Vitale ruled school prayer unconstitutional. However, school-sponsored Biblereading was not made illegal until Abington District v. Schempp the year after. Even though the Constitution established the separation of church & state, school prayer was not made legal until the 1962 landmark Supreme Court case Engel V. Vitale. However, school-sponsored Bible reading was still allowed to continue in schools until the Abington School District v. Schempp decision of the following year.
Billy Graham, an evangelical minister, was a key figure in the development of the Cold War’s religious rhetoric. Graham was well-known among evangelicals for a while but it was only after his Los Angeles crusade in 1948 that Graham achieved national recognition. Graham drew attention to the Soviet’s recent acquisitions in nuclear weapons and the victory of Mao’s Communist Party in China. This gave a grim picture about the future for the world. Graham reminded Americans that Communism was not just an economic view of life. He also warned them that Communism was a religion that is directed and inspired by Satan, who declared war on Almighty God.
Although the Soviet Union’s state-sponsored atheism was opposed, not all Soviet citizens complied. Many Soviet citizens continued to follow their religious beliefs, even if they had to do so in private. Concern was expressed by the Americans about the situation of Christians in Russia during World War II. The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, (CSCE) published a 1994 government report titled “CSCE To Study Repression Against Evangelicals in Former Soviet Union.” It found that, “although state-sponsored atheism and religion repression have, apparently, been eliminated in many ways,” and that religious persecutions continued after the fall. The Russian American Institute for Adaptation wanted to see the killings in Russia and the US in the media and sought help from the US government. In addition, the report contained a list with two years worth of “martyrs.” This document shows that there was substantial interest among Americans in helping Christians in Soviet Union. This report also shows that relations between USSR & US are not always simple.
The Cold War’s use of religion to combat “godless communism”, strengthened the Judeo-Christian alliance that had long been missing. Truman reached out famously to Pope Pius XII following WWII to seek his support in the fight against communism. The nation’s leaders did more than just preach about religion. They worked to establish a new civil religion in America that included people from JudeoChristian traditions and was strongly against communism. Truman observed that “minor, and sometimes major, differences between how we worship God strike me to be of relative little importance in light of an aggressive foethreatening to destroy all freedoms of worship.” Religious leaders and the communities they served embraced the Cold War-inspired revivals of faith that were spreading across the country. However, the government’s endorsements of Christianity changed over time to more broad and ambiguous endorsements of religion all around.
The recognition of Israel as a state in 1948 was perhaps the most important faith-based US foreign policy initiative during the Cold War. Israel’s case demonstrates, more than any state else, that it is impossible to clearly separate politics from religion. Since the Middle Ages, the Israeli state’s land has been at the center of intense dispute. It is home to three of the most sacred sites of Abrahamic religions. The State Department was not able to support President Truman’s decision to recognize the Israeli state as diplomatically recognized. But, Truman’s faith in himself and overwhelming support from the American people for Israel after WWII led to him recognizing it. However, Eisenhower, a similarly religious man, was skeptical about aligning his government with the Israeli cause. Despite their common faith, the US presidents arrived at vastly different decisions regarding the Cold War’s relationship with Israel. While religion played a significant role in many Cold War foreign policy initiatives, it was not always the same. Both men freely admitted that their faith had an influence on their respective policies. However, in the Cold War context with changing religious landscapes and the myriad of possible outcomes for any one decision, religion did not always have a predictable effect on foreign policy.
America’s tradition of treating the Cold War as if God sent it, the role that religion played is not that surprising. The US government could retain domestic support by calling on the American people to join a religious crusade against Soviet Union. This would justify the long-running Cold War. John Foster Dulles claimed that the Americans could make the “most important demonstration” of their resolve to defeat the Soviets at the “religious level.” This is not surprising, given the questions it raised about the nature and purpose of human existence. Humankind ended up in an untenable position due to the actions or nonhumans. The existence of God was answered through religions of all kinds during the Cold War. A direct war with the USSR would have resulted in the end of all life on Earth. Religion was therefore an alternative to culture.
Bibliography
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The US National Security Council is responsible for ensuring the security of the United States. “NSC68.” American Cold War Strategy. Edited by Ernest May. 23-82. Boston: St. Martin’s Press, 1993.