The Nazis and Christianity

American Thinker: The Nazis and Christianity: “My recent American Thinker article ‘The Godless Delusion’ generated a substantial volume of email and comment from atheists. Although I have directly responded to some of the people, assertions they have made — some politely and others rudely — require a detailed response. I have decided to focus on one particular theme that was most common: Many atheists presume that the Nazis were a weird variation of Christianity.”

Christianity had declined severely in Germany at the time the Nazis came to power, which is why the Nazis were able to come to power. In his book, The Dictators, Richard Overy states that in the decades preceding the First World War Germany was becoming increasingly secular, and that after that war, from 1918 to 1931, 2.4 million Evangelical Christians formally renounced their faith as well as almost half a million Catholics. In Prussia, only 21% of the population took communion and in Hamburg only five percent of the population took communion. Before Hitler, German religious leaders were publicly condemning the rise of moral relativism and decline of traditional religious values.

Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi theoretician, said that there was no place in the Third Reich for Christianity in any form. Christian ceremonies surrounding births, marriages, deaths and other solemnities ceased to be performed by Christian clergy. His ponderous tome, The Myth of the Twentieth Century, not only called for banning crucifixes from churches but also from village streets, and also for banning medieval images of Christ as the Lamb of God. In the training camps of the Nazi Party it was repeatedly stated that National Socialism has three enemies: Judaism, Masonry and Christianity. Martin Bormann hated Christianity even more than most Nazi leaders. Goebbels frequently made fun of Christian morality. Nazis in general considered Christianity a “soul malady,” “foreign” and “unnatural.” Heinrich Himmler despised Christianity and members of the SS had to formally renounce their Christian faith and formally become agnostic in order to become a member of the Schutzstaffel.

Great article. Most of the Left in the US who keep talking about the far right Nazis haven’t a clue that they are becoming just like them.