Mikhail Gorbachev: the atheist whose leap of faith brought religion back into power

Sep 1, 2022 by Jill

By Dr Katie Kelaidis, Religion Media Centre:

The former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev died yesterday at the age of 91. As the leader of the world ‘s last officially atheist superpower, Gorbachev ‘s official and personal relationship towards religion was a subject of frequent speculation.

The Russian Orthodox Church, earlier an integral part of tsarist rule, experienced periods of persecution and accommodation in the Soviet Union. Like many born during Stalin ‘s regime — and the period immediately afterwards — Gorbachev was baptised in secret by grandparents who remained faithful to their ancestral religion, but came to embrace (at least publicly) Soviet atheism.

In late April 1988, in what would be the final years of his presidency and of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev met Patriarch Pimen at the Kremlin and apologised for the intense persecution of the Stalin era and promised “a new law on the freedom of conscience … [to] reflect the interests of religious organisations”.

The US President Ronald Reagan had speculated to aides after a meeting in the 1980s that Gorbachev was “a closet believer”. In 2008, his personal faith once again became a subject of speculation when he expressed admiration for St Francis of Assisi during a private visit to Italy. As rumours of Catholicism began to circulate — rumours more damning than accusations of atheism in some eastern Christian circles, one might argue — Gorbachev felt the need to confirm his atheism.

While Gorbachev’s personal faith frequently was the subject of public debate, it will ultimately be his public position towards the Russian Orthodox Church that will have the greatest consequence.

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