Making use of newly-available archival material, this book provides the first systematic and accessible overview of church-state relations in the Soviet Union. John Anderson explores the shaping of Soviet religious policy from the death of Stalin until the collapse of communism, and considers the problems in this area facing the newly-independent states of the former Soviet Union. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Soviet and post-Soviet studies, religious history, and the politics of church-state relations.