Christian Fascism

I have just finished reading Doris L. Bergen's interesting historical study Twisted Cross: The German Christian Movement in the Third Reich .  The German Christians (Deutsche Christen) managed to fuse Jesus (albeit an aryanized Jesus) with National-Socialist ideology.  For this movement God revealed himself not just through Scripture or Jesus but also in nature and history.  Race was part of God's divine plan, so the establishment of a purely Aryan church was crucial before the racial degeneration of the German Volk progressed too far. So the German Christians were willing participants in the persecution of Jews.  Bergen describes in some detail the grotesque lengths the church leaders would go to in "de-judaicizing" the Bible and "Christian" doctrine. She also discusses how the German Christians clashed with both the Confessing Churches (Bekennende Kirchen) - who rejected the racial teachings - as well as the German Catholics.  Interesting also is how most of the German Christian leaders were able to assimilate easily into post-war Germany, and some of their teachings lived on. 

Coincidentally I also happened to pick up the May issue of Harper's Magazine which covers "The Christian RIght's War on America".  Unfortunately, the content is not available online.  There are some interesting parallels between the American evangelical Christians and the German Christian movement analyzed by Bergen.

In one article the journalist Jeff Sharlet writes about America's most powerful megachurch in Colorado Springs which includes the ministry of Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family.  This group is able to reach more than 200 million people worldwide through its radio programs, magazines, videos, and books.  Pastor Ted, the founder of the megachurch, is a confidant of President Bush, and uses his pulpit to advocate support for the Republican agenda.  The message is pro-war, anti-gay, anti-United Nations, anti-Europe, etc...  Just as the German Christian movement believed in the destiny of the aryan race the American evangelicals believe that God has a special covenant with America, and the covenant will be broken unless America becomes a true Christian nation.  Like the German Christians, the evangelicals prefer to cite passages from the Bible that glorify war and killing: they are engaged in a "spiritual battle"  (with gays, Islam and liberals) for the future of mankind.  In Twisted Cross Bergen Bergen writes about the "manliness" of the German Christian movements.  The leaders were all male; they wore uniforms, marched, conducted drills.  Women played a subservient role in the Church.  Similarly the American evangelical movement is male-dominated.  Men are the "herders" within the familiy unit.  Mainstream Christian denominations are derided as "effeminate".  The Harper's writer Sharlet finds a group called the Royal Rangers - a Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts.  The Rangers wear khaki military unifroms and black ties.  They study rope craft and learn to shoot, while also studying "American Cultures" and the Bible.  Pastor Ted preaches about how the relation of God and Man is reflected in the marriage between a man and woman. "Just as we conform ourselves to       God's will, so, must the Woman take on her man's calling, her man's desire."

The other article in Harper's worth reading is "Feeling the hate with National Religious Broadcasters" by Chris Hedges. Hedges attended the convention of evangelical Christian broadcaster in Anaheim and his report is chilling. The blog Seeing the Forest has helpfully transcribed section of Hedges article.  Two passages worth quoting here:

I can’t help but recall the words of my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School, Dr. James Luther Adams, who told us that when we were his age, and he was then close to eighty, we would all be fighting the “Christian fascists.”
(...)
Adams told us to watch closely the Christian right’s persecution of homosexuals and lesbians. Hitler, he reminded us, promised to restore moral vlues not long after he took power in 1933, then imposed a ban on all homosexual and lesbian organizations and publications. Then came raids on the places where homosexuals gathered, culminating on May 6, 1933, with the ransacking of the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin. Homosexuals and lesbians, Adams said, would be the first “deviants” singled out by the Christian right. We would be the next.

This recalls the warning of Martin Niemoeller - a leader of the German Confessing Church who fought against the German Christian Movement.  The warning is worth repeating over and over:

Als die Nazis die Kommunisten holten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Kommunist. 

Als sie die Sozialdemokraten einsperrten,
habe ich geschwiegen;
ich war ja kein Sozialdemokrat. 

Als sie die Gewerkschafter holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Gewerkschafter. 

Als sie die Juden holten,
habe ich nicht protestiert;
ich war ja kein Jude. 

Als sie mich holten,
gab es keinen mehr, der protestierte.

(First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.)

Comments

[quest]

All those elements listed by the traitor Niemoeller are basically unnecessary and harmful to the survival of a society. Somehow derived from Jewish and masonic subversive ideologies and think thanks that are the root of the ruins of Europe and now the whole world. This Global corona tyranny and Great Reset are a result of those forced being free to fulfill their agenda. Why would they be suppressed otherwise? Hitler tried to stop that from advancing. And those sentimental quotes from the opponents of the time are simply too narrow minded to see the big picture. Look EUROPA - the Last Battle documentary.

[Gottfried]

You are correct: Niemoeller was a traitor to the Nazi cause - which makes him a hero in my book.

Do you consider yourself Christian? Have you even read The New Testament?