Jack, FreeThinkers do not make up data. That's religious propaganda.

The Soviet Union did not realize the ambitions they set out for themselves because they created the god of Stalin and the religion of Communism. Karl Marx was not a politician but an economist and they used his ideas to further their own political ambitions.

Karl Marx is often misunderstood by his statement "Religion is the opium of the people:"
and no it is not clear enough. He never intended that statement to be derogatory. He made an observation about the role of religion but actually never condemned it ideologically. Many people who quote Marx have never read him and have missed much of what he really had to say.

What needs to be understood, here, is that when an ideology takes over a country, any other "religion" needs to be abolished as an enemy. Communism is a "religion", an ideology that has worshipers and followers who blindly adhere to its precepts. Remember also that Lenin's role in the USSR has gone through various changes in terms of his acceptance as a result.

The only reason that modern religions and every kind of religious organization is rejected by Communist ideology is the same way that Christians reject Muslims, Islam rejects Christianity, Judaism rejects Islam and vise versa, it's all a kind of "religious" ideology that guides this exclusionary thinking.

It is wrong headed to think that USSR was trying to save souls from religion. They were merely trying to supplant their ideologies for other "religions".

Atheists, or as I prefer, FreeThinkers are not Soviet style Communists but are skeptics and question any ideology that covets mass thinking. They are like the speaker in Monty Python's "Life of Brian" who exhorts his followers to "think for themselves" creating the irony of the crowd chanting the same idea parroting the speaker. FreeThinkers do not chant ideologies. That is pure unadulterated religious propaganda. To use Marxian applications by the Soviet Union as an example of true FreeThought is specious thinking.

Apparently, Jack, you don't know many real what you call atheists or your claims would be risible. You should really get to know them.

The problem with religionists is that they try to make complex issues simplistic to defend their viewpoints without really successfully examining them for their validity or veracity.