ABSTRACT
There are many reasons why religion—any religion—and the East European political system are incompatible. The East European socialist states have a totalitarian political system that tolerates no competition and, in particular, no factor that may represent an alternative value system. The domination of the totalitarian system is total, as the name implies. It engulfs every area of life, controls every aspect of human activity, and refuses to relinquish the slightest hold on supremacy. The result in Eastern Europe is that there is no real or effective political opposition and no organization, political or social, whose existence does not serve the sole purpose of facilitating the implementation of the regime’s interests. This, however, is not enough for the totalitarian regime. Political and physical supremacy and lack of overt opposition and competition are only a part of the goal. Communist totalitarianism is a messianic political system, which claims to have a message for the whole world and to possess all the answers and solutions to all past, present, and future problems. The success of the communist system depends not only on its physical power, but also, and perhaps mainly, on its ability to convince the world, and first of all its own subjects, that its message is real, applicable in every situation, and—most of all—that it is the only correct message. This means that not only is it the political opposition that must perish but also any factor that is capable of presenting alternative solutions and a competing set of values—thus capable of exercising a certain spiritual influence on the people (at least those who believe in the alternative set of values) and diminishing the effectiveness of the totalitarian message.
