When I visited <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Moscow on behalf of IHEU before the collapse of the communist regime, I was the guest of the Institute of Scientific Atheism and was taken to atheist museums and ceremonial palaces for atheist weddings and other atheist celebrations. At the institute a large staff of competent atheist scholars did research in the history of freethought and the shortcomings of all the world religions. Every person I met claimed to be an atheist, which really was astonishing for someone coming from the Western side of the iron curtain – where you in a mixed company usually would find different attitudes to religion and beliefs.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

"Are there no religious people in the Soviet Union?" I asked one of the leading atheists at the Institute.

"No", he answered. "May be in some of the Muslim republics, but not in Moscow, except for a few old women".

What a misconception! On a train journey in Russia 20 years later – a few months ago – I talked to a group of young students, and none of them looked at themselves as atheists. Most of them had some kind of supernatural leanings and some were churchgoers. On TV and in newspapers priests are regularly quoted on ethics and existential matters.

"Actually the situation is not that bad", said the leader of Russian Humanist Association, Valerii Kuvakin, a well known professor of Philosophy at Moscow University and the author of several books, also translated into English. "The situation for atheists, freethinkers and humanists is approximately the same as in Western Europe. Not more than 15% of the population are religious believers. Since the concept of atheism was so closely connected to communism and the old regime, we were afraid that freethought would be wiped out in the new society. But there is no doubt that Russia today is a secular society, and we have 14 groups of organized humanists in the country, mainly connected to the universities".

Russian Humanist Association, a member of IHEU, publishes a high quality quarterly magazine, with summaries in English. Valerii Kuvakin is mainly working with Humanism as an academic subject, lecturing and writing textbooks for students. Quite surprisingly for me Russian Humanist Association and Moscow State University have together published a textbook called Basics of Contemporary Humanism, which is formally recommended by the Union of Russian Universities and used in the curriculum for students of Philosophy.

"But is this the same kind of ‘Humanism’ that IHEU stands for, Humanism as a conviction, a life stance without beliefs in the supernatural?", I asked. "Absolutely", answered Professor Kuvakin.

"What about the school system, is there compulsory religious instruction?"

"This has become one of our main targets. The school authorities have succeeded to introduce a subject called The Basics of Orthodox Culture, where pupils have to learn dogmas and prayers, even if they are not expected to pray or take part in religious services. We are now trying to introduce Humanism and non-dogmatic moral education as an alternative choice".

"What are your strategies?"

"We send letters to the authorities and write articles in the newspapers. Some Christians become very upset, and one of our honoured members, the Nobel prize winner Vitalii Ginzburg was reported to the police for ‘attack on religious people’".

The pendulum has made a swift turn in the old homeland of atheism. Professor Kuvakin is hoping that a closer cooperation can be developed between Russian Humanist Association and the other IHEU member groups. He feels that more should be done to strengthen the democratic freethought and humanist groups that exist in the former Eastern block, among other means by arranging regional and international meetings where all these groups should be included.

Levi Fragell is former President of IHEU and currently

Chair of the IHEU Committee for Growth and

Development