Who was forced to practice Atheism?

Answer 1

Well this question has a lot of bad assumptions in it:

1) Atheism is not something you practice. Atheist dont have beliefs about a god or in gods. Its hardly a belief.

2) Atheism is usually never forced. Most atheist tend to come to the conclusion of not believing in any deities.

Then again it all depends on circumstance. If someone was raised in a household where the idea of not believing in gods was taught to a child then yes I would agree that probably is close to being forced on someone. But that could then be said is done in all religious house holds.

Answer:

There really isn't a "practice" of atheism, much like I don't "practice" not playing tennis; I just don't do it. That said, it is very difficult to force people into atheism due to the fact that you can't force people to think one thing or another. Some societies such as China, or the USSR in the 70s and 80s have made practicing certain religions illegal and in a way have "forced" atheism because unless people have strong convictions otherwise, they tend to go with the flow of their society, raise their children with the same beliefs, etc. People with stronger convictions tend to try to practice their beliefs in secret in these instances.