SUPPRESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

MEANS USED BY THE NAZI CONSPIRATORS IN GAINING
CONTROL OF THE GERMAN STATE

Snip>

(a) Statements of this aim. Martin Bormann stated in a
secret decree of the Party Chancellery signed by him and
distributed to all Gauleiters 7 June 1941:

"Our National Socialist ideology is far loftier than
the concepts of Christianity, which in their essential points
have been taken over from Jewry ***. A differentiation between
the varios Christian confessions is not to be made here *** the
Evangelical Church is just as inimical to us as the Catholic Church. *** All influences which might
impair or damage the leadership of the people exercised
by the
Fuehrer with the help of the NSDAP must be eliminated.
More and more the people must be separated from the
churches and their organs the pastors. *** Just as
the deleterious influences of astrologers, seers and
other fakers are eliminated and suppressed by the
State, so must the possibility of church influence also
be totally removed. *** Not until this has happened,
does the state leadership have influence on
the individual citizens. Not until then are the people
and Reich secure in their existence for all time."

Snip>


"The Fuehrer considers his efforts to bring the
Evangelical Church to reason, unsuccessful and the
Evangelical Church with respect to its condition
rightfully a useless pile of sects. As you emphasize
the Party has previously carried on not only a fight
against the political element of the Christianity of
the Church, but also a fight against
membership of Party Members in a Christian confession.
***

"The Catholic Church will and must, according to the
law under which it is set up, remain a thorn in the
flesh of a Racial State ***." MORE

http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/imt/nca/nca-01/nca-01-07-means-02

I couldn't get the text to work right on DU! It's easier to read this at the webpage!

The Wolves in the PNAC have the sheep right where they want them if the GOPers can override the senate and install the judges they want! The MORAL MAJORITY might be in for a BIG surprise!

It's true the Nazi's had a hand in the suppression of the church during the Third Reich. But in Germany, the Evangelical Church was NOT what we call the Evangelicals. In Germany at that time, and even now, the Evangelical Church was what we call in the USA the LUtheran Church. IN fact, Evangelical was the first name of the Lutheran church - Martin Luther did NOT want it named after him.

In the USA, the Evangelicals are an offshoot of fundamentalism.
Radical fundamentalism. In-your-face fundamentalism.
The LUtheran CHurch is politically and socially very liberal, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are LUtheran members, Lutheran clergy here as members of DU. They usually support liberal and democratic causes.

A Lutheran pastor, Dietrich Boenhoeffer, led a conspiracy of German Evangelicals against Hitler, but were found and executed.

person like Hitler did! I think all God has ever meant to Bush was a ticket to the White House! The Evangelicals I've seen on TV and talked to around here, are mostly in it for what ever they can grab too! I grew up going to a straight laced protestant church and they never taught, nor would they have upheld, any of the things I'm seeing these people do today!

I have some friends here who go to the Lutheran church and I think they voted for Bush! I know they did in 2000! I played guitar and sang for one of these folk's wedding at the Lutheran church and they seemed like very nice people! But that was about twenty years ago!

It is the Church's response.

TY!

The Great Scandal: Christianity's Role in the Rise of the Nazis

“You know what happens when atheists take over—remember Nazi Germany?” Many Christians point to Nazism, alongside Stalinism, to illustrate the perils of atheism in power.1 At the other extreme, some authors paint the Vatican as Hitler’s eager ally. Meanwhile, the Nazis are generally portrayed as using terror to bend a modern civilization to their agenda; yet we recognize that Hitler was initially popular. Amid these contradictions, where is the truth?

A growing body of scholarly research, some based on careful analysis of Nazi records, is clarifying this complex history.2 It reveals a convoluted pattern of religious and moral failure in which atheism and the nonreligious played little role, except as victims of the Nazis and their allies. In contrast, Christianity had the capacity to stop Nazism before it came to power, and to reduce or moderate its practices afterwards, but repeatedly failed to do so because the principal churches were complicit with—indeed, in the pay of—the Nazis.

Most German Christians supported the Reich; many continued to do so in the face of mounting evidence that the dictatorship was depraved and murderously cruel. Elsewhere in Europe the story was often the same. Only with Christianity’s forbearance and frequent cooperation could fascistic movements gain majority support in Christian nations. European fascism was the fruit of a Christian culture. Millions of Christians actively supported these notorious regimes. Thousands participated in their atrocities. More...

http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/paul_23_4.html

There are so many things lining up in this country like they did in prewar Germany! Scary!!! I see zero morality in the things Bush has done and Zero Compassion for anyone but the wealthy and the powerful! Just like Nazi Germany!