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

Dr. E. F. Milone

Fri, 5 Jul 2019 06:35:39 +0000

A powerful and largely correct account, but it makes no mention of the "Confessing Church," of Lutherans (Evangelische, in German) who opposed the hierarchy who largely supported the Nazis. The Confessing Church included Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niermoeller, among others. Indeed, Bonhoeffer was arrested and eventually hanged by the Nazi regime on the grounds that he supported the plot against Hitler.

Kimberly Dodson

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 01:41:55 +0000

First of all, Those are NOT Christians pictured there, they are Catholics, and it is no surprise when you consider their role in the killing of Christians in the first few centuries to try and establish their doctrines and abolish Christs. Today's Catholic example shows they are not Christian now either. Christians are followers of Christ. These are false teachers.

Mathavi

Tue, 25 Jun 2019 01:05:11 +0000

Please STOP converting Hindus to christianity. Why are the missioneries trying to destroy my religion . They come to India as a tourist and act like an angle and brainwash the poor Indians and tell them how evil is hinduism. Hinduism came more than 70000 years ago. Just leave us alone. These christian missioneries have converted so many millions for centurie. 99.9% of Nagaland, India population have converted to christianity. They bribe them. Today from my deepest heart curse these people. They are harvesting the hindu souls. Evil. Satun.

Gary Denham

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 22:07:33 +0000

This article is GROSSLY misleading. First, it incorrectly assumes and asserts that a person who identifies as a Christian is in fact a Christian. This is a GRAVE mistake and, as mistakes go, one which if promulgated could lead to a desire by non Christians to eventually rid the world of Christians. After all, if Christianity is a founding element in Nazism, Fascism, Slavery, and Genocide, shouldn't it be eradicated?

It's IMPERATIVE that the understanding be established that this article is grossly inaccurate in defining "Christian". If Christ Himself had not warned of these imposters who would claim to be Christian, perhaps I would not have a basis for the following argument, however, HE DID (Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 24:4-5, 23-24) and so did the apostle Paul (Galatians 1:8, 2 Corinthians 11:4).

So, having established that there are Christians and then there are people who claim to be Christian... why is that important in relationship to Nazism?

The message Christ preached was as follows:

[Paraphrased]

Put all your trust in God, through me, and become like me. If you do, I will give you eternal life. (John 3:16, 14:6, 14:15, 14:23)

So if we are REAL Christians, while not perfect, we will follow Christ. This means we are not seeking power. We are not killing those who don't believe (Roman's 12:19 applies here though it also applies to revenge). We are to be as sheep led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). We are to be at peace with all men (Roman's 12:18). Regardless of the role of The Jews in Christ's murder, they are still God's chosen people and are to be honored and respected. Jesus was a Jew. This particular matter is what REALLY separates Christianity from anything Nazi.

No real Christian questions Jesus' Jewish bloodline. He was of the bloodline of King David. This was predicted in the old testament and the fact that He was of David's bloodline is one of the reasons we know He truly is The Christ. To deny He is Jewish is to deny The Bible itself. To deny The Bibles authority, BY DEFINITION DEFINES A PERSON AS NON CHRISTIAN NO MATTER WHAT THEY CLAIM TO THE CONTRARY.

As such, no. Christianity played NO part in Nazism whatsoever, however, Catholicism most certainly did. Catholics loosely follow The Bible but have added to it and changed the message. We know that The Bible says that those who do such a thing are under God's curse, sooooo..

Don't lump Catholicism into Christianity. It's a damning mistake.

P J James

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 17:04:36 +0000

Vatican's close association with atheistic Mussolini and "anti-christian" Hitler is well-documented. For instance, Klaus Barbie was a Nazi officer(later he worked for CIA too) who worked with Church agencies. Very revealing was his statement: "The Vatican contact person told me, we have one thing in common, we are anti-communists." Quoted in, Sheel Bhadra Yayee, CIA, Manipulating Arm of the US Foreign Policy, Criterion Publications, New Delhi, 1987, p. 72.

Michael Odom

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 15:51:40 +0000

No surprise about Christianity, specifically the organized Roman Catholic Church, bending to the power of the Nazis. I remember as a child how weak Pious X!! was by turning his head to the immoral, grossly unhumane acts of Hilter's Germany. Had the church asserted the immorality of the Nazis by overtly opposing them history might have taken a different turn re WWII. But the Church and the Nazis, down deep, were two of kind as far as exerting control over society==both were authoritarian and totalitarian in nature and structural form and to have all-out opposition between the two would not have made sense politically. It would have been like asking the Italian mafia to step down to the Russian mafia! Further, unfortunately the Church was not sympathetic with the plight of the Jews--a scandalous atrocity since many Christians are the decendents (physically and theologically) of the Jewish people. There-in lies the true cause of the historical anomoly...Most Christians in the world sat, and still today, sit idly by while dictators and demagogues defy every decent Christian value and greedily assert a power they have no God-given right to.

Akaran

Mon, 24 Jun 2019 09:43:36 +0000

Please correct Hakenkreuz translation to Hooked Cross (English) for once. The missionary propaganda using Nazis as a tool to discredit and guilt trip Hindus for conversions to Christianity has gone too long without being challenged. Here’s the link for your consideration and possible rebuttal, if you feel the need to do so.

https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/swastika-is-hindu-and-the-hooked-cross-is-nazi-the-rest-is-conspiracy

Geoff Johnson

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:53:03 +0000

No mention of Pastor Dietrich Bonhoffer executed for involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler and the other leading nazis with a bomb.

Pat Mc Ginley

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 10:31:49 +0000

While the majority of religious believers are good and sincere in their beliefs, the religious institutions are firmly embedded with the ruling elites in every religious country. Church/state mutual back-scratching which dates back to Emperor Constantine. Humanity will be much better served when the majority accept the fact the Bible is based on a fictional 6,000 year-old Earth where Neanderthals never existed. In the real world, most people have some Neanderthal DNA because our human ancestors mated with Neanderthals. But religion still thrives because its very real attributes for its many powerful, wealthy vested interests i.e. mega cash-cow and powerful tool of political control. Plus, the fact no evidence is required by believers to support religious claims. Tragic for truth, facts, justice, peace, humanity.

David

Fri, 17 May 2019 05:31:32 +0000

Where is the mention of MARTIN NIEMOLLER ? Crickets ?

Mike Cain

Fri, 17 May 2019 00:15:28 +0000

What I read is Pappen was appointed by Hindenberg to watch Hitler, Hitler received about 31% of the vote. Pappen signed the concordat for Hindenberg. The concordat had been in negotiation for years. Hitler broke the accord, The pope had an encyclical sent into Germany, which was seized by Hitler and the printers were sent to prison. Another tract by the pope was ready to be sent by he died. You did not mention this. Cornwall is quoted but I believe he has retracted his book. Have you read the myth of Hitler's pope? If the people in Poland had rescued the Jewish people there, they the non-Jewish Poles would have been slaughtered. The Vatican had diplomatic relations which countries which were brutal colonial powers, not just with Germany. You left out a lot in your essay. I am not denying the role of the Catholic Church in Nazi Germany.

Ray

Wed, 15 May 2019 03:53:13 +0000

Another world is possible. Socialism or Barbarism

Rs

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 05:22:39 +0000

What can the author say about the hundreds of Catholic martyrs killed by the Nazi regime?

Carolyn

Tue, 4 Dec 2018 16:10:55 +0000

Lets please not forget the horrific genocide that we perpetrated against the Native Americans when taking over this land in the name of God and County. The percentages of natives killed are actually greater than the percentages of Jews killed in the German holocaust. We wrote history to make ourselves heroes and to this day have not fully acknowledged or apologized for what was done. At least the Germans at this point are trying to make amends. Very sad!!

Lars Arne H

Sun, 2 Dec 2018 15:16:04 +0000

The cahtolic church belive in the pope, Mary etc - but not in Jesus as saivior alone. We all know the contact between the Vatican and the 3. reich.

sszorin

Sat, 20 May 2017 08:10:05 +0000

The article is an example of genocidal mindset - a perfect example why men like Lenin, Hitler, Mao, Churchill, Roosevelt and a few israeli prime ministers could engage in genocides and be cheered on by their subjects.

sentient christian

Mon, 30 May 2016 08:49:30 +0000

It was obviously NOT Christianity that supported the Nazi's, it was the #Catholic so called church.
Please correct your headline.
thank You.

A. Colin Flood

Fri, 13 May 2016 14:08:07 +0000

A masterful and informative piece, this article repeats the German myth that WWI reparations were onerous, unfair and led to the rise of Nazism. This is factually false. It is Nazi propaganda, unsupported by the truth.

Germany’s war reparations were NOT large. They were normal. The payments were cut in HALF. Germany STOPPED paying them anyway and then spent far more on military escalation for war.

The actual causes of German fascism were far more complex that a simple debt for damage done. After his failed coup release in 1924, “Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda…Nazism arose from pan-Germanism, the Völkisch German nationalist movement and the anti-communist Freikorps after World War I… Hitler's aggressive foreign policy is considered to be the PRIMARY cause of the outbreak of World War II in Europe.”

This mistaken attitude is the direct result of blatant Nazi propaganda, which has entered our nomenclature. Nazis promoted this complaint after WW 1 to further their party dreams of rebuilding German military might.

The original penalty (almost one trillion dollars in today’s currency), was cut in half in 1924 and 1929, then spread out over 59 years. Yet with the collapse of their economy in 1931, Hitler’s Nazis stopped paying reparations altogether.

“Germany paid roughly 20 billion gold marks worth of reparations between 1921 and 1932, roughly 2.4 percent of Germany’s national income during that period. As Mantoux pointed out, immediately after repudiating the reparations, the new Nazi government began a re-armament program which consumed a significantly larger percentage of national income than reparations ever had.”

It is not unusual for the aggressive, and yet losing, side in a war to pay reparations. It is strange for the attacked and yet successful victors to adopt the aggressor’s excuse for provocation as reasonable and rational. Hitler, the Nazi Party and Germany planned to take over Europe. Paying for the previous failed attempt was NOT the cause for making a second one.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315869/Germany-end-World-War-One-reparations-92-years-59m-final-payment.html

Peter Grafström

Thu, 28 Apr 2016 18:28:22 +0000

The most important aspect of this dark period is that Wall Street and London financed the nazi rise and manipulated the scenario so people would see a saviour in Hitler. And that has little to do with the church. Moreover the nazis themselves praised a british agent of influence, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, for being the pathbreaker for nazism. Indeed he urged the germans towards the ultimate solution. British ideas about racial superiority was the origin of the nazi world view. Who was this Houston who spent many decades in this manner? Probably a round table agent. The deep state. Alfred Milner was in search for someone like Hitler to defend the idea of a racially based empire and Chamberlain found his man. And their circles were not particularly religious. This sort of info is censored not only in Britain but in Germany as well.

david4445

Sat, 16 Apr 2016 14:32:30 +0000

Good article but I disagree with painting atheists and the non-religious as completely innocent. I believe that millennia of antisemitism rooted in Christianity led to the Holocaust but that doesn't mean that atheists and the non-religious were not influenced by this prejudice, were not prejudiced themselves. The treatment of people of African descent as subhuman has its roots in religion but that doesn't mean that an atheist can't be a racist or in the past, even a slave trader.