• Yes or No: Was Christianity Part of Nazi Ideology? Bring Your Supporting Evidence….

    On another forum, I participated in a discussion about the sources of Nazi ideology. Many other participants, lauding historian Richard Weikart’s “The Role of Darwinism in Nazi Racial Thought” (German Studies Review, Oct. 2013), see a direct line from Darwinism to Nazism. That is, they claim that the very idea of evolution permits — and perhaps even sanctions — such human cruelty as represented by the Nazi assault on people they considered (politically, religiously, sexually, ethnically, culturally) undesirable.

    My initial contribution to the thread was to quote the following from Weikart’s article (p. 552) —

    Nazi racial ideology — and the many policies based on it — were profoundly shaped by a Darwinian understanding of humanity. Certainly many non-Darwinian elements were synthesized with Darwinism: Aryan supremacy, antimiscegenation, antisemitism, and many more.

    — and then I commented that Christianity and Lutherian views of Jews were “critical non-Darwinian elements mixed in as well.”

    I felt I was saying something uncontroversial: Nazi ideology included (a) a self-serving version of Christianity and (b) views of Jewish people/religion similar to those publicly expressed by Martin Luther.

    Naturally, the Christians blew up. No True Christian would act toward others as the Nazis did, Nazism violates the core teachings of Christianity, etc.

    Now I ask you, dear readers: Was or was not Christianity a part of Nazi ideology? Did the Nazis profess to be followers of Jesus Christ and his teachings? Can you support your views? Of course you can, but please do.

    Category: Atheism

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    Article by: Larry Tanner