Origins of Civil Religion in the United States Comparison with the Political Religion of the USSR

The idea of Nietzsche (1882) that “God is dead” lies in the foundations of both American Civilreligion and the political religion of the Soviet Union. The idea was perceived differently bytwo different civilizations according to their cultural and ideological backgrounds. The Americanperception imposed God as being something abstract from now on. Under God we canunderstand democracy, unity, freedom or civil rights. The political religion of the Soviet Uniondenied the acceptance of God even as something abstract bringing him a clear opposition inthe face of Communism, where the state worked both as an institute of power and implementedthe symbolism and morality of the religion.In this article the main differences between the approaches to Christian religion in the USAand USSR, together with the conception of civil religion of the U.S. and the political religionof the USSR will be analyzed, and, based on the historical-cultural approach, the major interpretationof the American tolerance and Soviet rejection in the early periods of the formationof both states will be viewed.