God's whispers in a “godless” literature

Abstract

This is an unusual admission in a land where atheistic journalism of the tabloid variety flourishes throughout the media and where almost 50,000 members of the Zinija association a branch of the Russian Znaniye (knowledge) Society and countless freelancers eagerly seeking financial and professional advancement are engaged in propagating militant atheism. A more optimistic, but not very convincing, assessment was made in a book published in 1984, which set out to prove that free-thinking and atheism are an inseparable element of our culture. 2 In a series of articles, Lithuanian folklore and literature were ransacked for examples of materials, including what could be called the fakelore of the Stalin area, which are then proudly presented as evidence of an antireligious culture. The infinitely richer religious folklore and literature ate simply disregarded. But even in this book there are admissions that Lithuanian writers are reluctant to join the anti-religious crusade: