dyl (05/11/83)
Relay-Version:version B 3/9/83; site harpo.UUCP Message-ID:<1505@floyd.UUCP> Date:Wed, 11-May-83 08:38:47 EDT LONDON(UPI) - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the exiled Soviet writer, railed against the decline of religion in both East and West yesterday, saying the catastrophe of the 20th Century is that "men have forgotten God." "The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been determining factor in all the major crimes this century." In the Soviet bloc, hatred of religion is a principal driving forcing of communism, Solzhenitsyn said, and the West is in decline because the meaning of life is reduced to the pursuit of happiness. The West has put its faith in "the Satanic temptation of the nuclear umbrella," the author said. "In reality, the defense of peace reposes chiefly on stout hearts and steadfast men." Reviewing the history of the Russian Revolution, Solzhenitsyn said, "The world had never before known a godlessness as organized, militarized and tenaciously malevolent as that preached by Marxism. "Hatred of God is the principle driving force (of Marxist philosophy), more fundamental that all their political and economic pretensions," he said. "The meaning of life in the West ceased to stand for anything more lofty than the pursuit of 'happiness,'" Solzhenitsyn said. "The concepts of good and evil have been ridiculed for several centuries ... They have been replaced by political or class considerations of short-lived value. Star-Ledger NJ