«In the periphery»: Scientific atheism in the structure of the Institute of Philosophy

The article deals with the activity of the department of scientific atheism based on archive materials and interviews with former employees. The author concludes that the department had two types of activity: 1) research, which, in spite of the limited methodology and negative reception of religion, we can call religious studies; 2) cooperation with the Communist Party organizations in the field of antireligious propaganda and atheistic education. Due to the specifics of its problematic the department of scientific atheism was only nominally integrated to the Institute of philosophy.