This thesis is an historical examination of the most radical antireligious policy in Eastern Europe under Communism. It will document the Albanian government's religious policy during the Communist period between 1944--1991, devoting special attention to the policy initiated during the Albanian Cultural Revolution (1967) which outlawed all religious practice of Islam and Christianity, public and private, for a period of twenty-three years. Historical factors which had bearing on the Albanian regime's militant atheism will be surveyed. The ideology of the Albanian Communist Party, the main component of which is nationalism, will be cited as the foundation of the "World's First Atheist State." This research will further address the he vulnerabilities of Albanian religious institutions, making possible their vulnerabilities of Albanian religious institutions, making possible their abolition by the state, as well as the significant amount of popular resistance to the state's official atheism, ensuring the return of Islam and Christianity to Albanian society.

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