Publication Details

Abstract

In the article the myth on the culture-formative function of religion, elaborated within the framework of theology, philosophy of religion and bourgeois culturology, is characterized. Criticism of these views is based on the Marxist-Leninist solution of the relationship of religion and culture. Religion is a historical product of mankind, whose prerequisite is a low stage of development of material and spiritual culture. The standing and function of religion within culture is implied in the substance of religion as a perverted reflection of human reality and in its basic illusionary-compensatory social function. The level of material and spiritual culture, its structure and rich forms determine the content and appearance of religion is a deformed, mystified expression and form of human culture. In the end the starting-points of understanding of the place and function of atheism in socialist culture are outlined.