>Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 16:38:08 -0900
>From: "John M Grigg" <starman125@mailcity.com>
>Subject: What was the religious/ideological foundation of Nazism?
>
>Spike Jones wrote:
>Contradiction in terms. The Nazis were Christian. Evil for sure, but not
Satanist or atheist. Equating Nazi to atheist is an insult to all
atheists. spike
>(end)
>
>Hitler and the Nazi's were "Christian" to the extent it was a cloak they
wore to ingratiate >themselves with the public and consolidate their power.
This was not the first time this >was done in history! Later, the
Christian trappings were phased out for an approach of >Nazism as a cult of
personality religion with Hitler as the savior. I have read stories of
>Nazi youth party members actually being taught to pray to Hitler.
>
>best regards,
>
>John
>
>
Once he actually had power, then he did believe himself to be a God to some
degree or other. However there is every indication that he did believe in
God as defined by the Bible, and that belief certainly was important in the
construction of his personal philosophy in the early years. Later on, once
he'd followed through on that philosophy, it didn't matter so much whether
he justified it with God or not.
Christians can't be blamed for Hitler, he is certainly NOT representative
of all of them, in fact he's not representative of the vast majority of
Christians. But that doesn't mean he wasn't a Christian nonetheless (I
believe he was more driven by hatred, and used his Catholicism as a tool to
justify it). He certainly did drop the religious justification once the
whole cult of personality set in.....
If some lunatic went around hacking ppl up in the name of Extropianism, it
we would all agree that he wasn't representative of Extropianism. NEITHER
your average atheist nor theist would say Hitler was representative of most
Christians, or that Christianity justified his actions.
Atheists call him a Christian because that is historical fact. Most
Christians call him a Christian because that is historical fact. But a few
Christians call him an atheist because they hate atheists, and for that
reason alone. Ultimately, his religion wasn't a big issue for the millions
who fought to stop him, and the millions who died trying...
>Equating Nazism with Christianity OR atheism is insulting.
Agreed. And more importantly as I hope I've made clear above, incorrect.
Note however, that the Bible provides easier justification of his crimes
than atheism does. Not a judgement, just an observation.
>Should we compare them to something biological... like cancer?
Who, the Nazis? Perhaps, haven't given much thought to that....
>
>best regards,
>
>John
>
>
J & J Corbally ~ Eire
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