Yes, like Putin is doing in Russia.
One huge difference between the U.S. and Russia is that we have a diversity of Christian groups. While Protestants were until very recently a majority religion for America, it is split into numerous and often conflicting denominations. Catholicism and Mormonism are minority religions with local majorities in places like Rhode Island and Utah. Judaism and Eastern Orthodoxy are smaller minority religions. However, Russia had been Orthodox for 900 years before the rise of Communism. There were breakaway sects and small groups of other faiths, but Orthodoxy had the allegiance of most Russians before 1917. Despite intense persecution and the murder of thousands of clergy and millions of believers, often in brutal manners, the faith persisted.