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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Hitler Was Not An Atheist

by John Patrick Michael Murphy for Free Inquiry

December 4, 2005

In George Orwell's 1984, it was stated, "Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past." Who is going to control the present-fundamentalism or freedom? History is being distorted by many preachers and politicians. They are heard on the airwaves condemning atheists and routinely claim Adolph Hitler was one. Hitler was a Roman Catholic, baptized into that religio-political institution as an infant in Austria. He became a communicant and an altar boy in his youth and was confirmed as a "soldier of Christ" in that church. Its worst doctrines never left him. He was steeped in its liturgy, which contained the words "perfidious jew." This hateful statement was not removed until 1961. "Perfidy" means treachery.

In his day, hatred of Jews was the norm. In great measure it was sponsored by two major religions of Germany, Catholicism, and Lutheranism. He greatly admired Martin Luther, who openly hated the Jews. Luther condemned the Catholic Church for its pretensions and corruption, but he supported the centuries of papal pogroms against the Jews. Luther said, "The Jews deserve to be hanged on gallows, seven times higher than ordinary thieves," and "We ought to take revenge on the Jews and kill them." "Ungodly wretches" he called the Jews in his book Table Talk. Hitler seeking power, wrote in Mein Kampf, "... I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews. I am doing the Lord's work." Years later, when in power, he quoted those same words in a Reichstag speech in 1938.

Three years later he informed General Gerhart Engel: "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so." He never left the church, and the church never left him. Great literature was banned by his church, but his miserable Mein Kampf never appeared on the index of Forbidden Books. He was not excommunicated or even condemned by his church. Popes, in fact, contracted with Hitler and his fascist friends Franco and Mussolini, giving them veto power over whom the pope could appoint as a bishop in Germany, Spain, and Italy. The three thugs agreed to surtax the Catholics of these countries and send the money to Rome in exchange for making sure the state could control the church. Those who would make Hitler an atheist should turn their eyes to history books before they address their pews and microphones. Acclaimed Hitler biographer John Toland explains his heartlessness as follows: "Still a member in good standing of the Church of Rome despite the detestation of its hierarchy, he carried within him its teaching that the Jews was the killer of god. The extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of god. ..."

Hitler's Germany amalgamated state with church. Soldiers of the vermacht wore belt buckles inscribed with the following: "Gott mit uns" (God is with us). His troops were often sprinkled with holy water by the priests. It was a real Christian country whose citizens were indoctrinated by both state and church and blindly followed all authority figures, political and ecclesiastical. Hitler, like some of the today's politicians and preachers, politicized "family values." He liked corporeal punishment in home and school. Jesus prayers became mandatory in all schools under his administration. While abortion was illegal in pre-Hitler Germany, he took it to new depths of enforcement, requiring all doctors to report to the government the circumstances of all miscarriages. He openly despised homosexuality and criminalized it. If past is prologue, we know what to expect if liberty becomes license.

As a young child, I remember my late father, Martin J. Murphy, practicing a speech and loudly quoting the following: "Light up the mountain. Bring out the wild and fiery steed. Let it be known, that I, Gustavus, have insulted the King." Thinking for yourself and speaking your true thoughts - now that's a real family value.

2 comments:

Ken Comer said...

As a proud non-member of the SCA (there was a big deal a few years back when they were contemplating implementing a "pay to play" policy which would restrict events to paid members), I can safely say that he doesn't really fight with that cute two-handed Landsknecht sword. He uses a stick wrapped in duct tape that is gussied up to look like a sword.

Although I think the school administration is being stupid and they are putting themselves up for a lot of harassment and trouble for impinging on clear freedom-of-speech grounds, the principal would really have a cow if he read this:

http://emporium.turnpike.net/Z/zen/SCA/AUNTIE/STOhara.html
This version of the tale isn't as fun as the version I heard before...

The short version is, in the Society's first Kingdom's first big event, they got a permit to hold a tourney in Golden Gate park. Somebody from a soccer team showed up and started demanding that the SCA people leave because he had a permit for the place. The King listened to him rant for a while, then sent for the guy in charge of the event (I believe this is called the "autocrat", but that sounds wrong. Seneschal? Let's call him the autocrat.)

The autocrat whips out their permit and shows it to him, but the guy won't have it and starts yelling and cursing. Some of the fighters came over to investigate, still wearing armor and carrying their (wooden) weapons. The autocrat asked that the man be escorted from the tourney, so they obliged him. The guy exits, yelling things like "You can't scare me!" and "I'm calling the cops!"

At this point, the stories merge briefly. A guy named Ohara shows up with about 25 cops in riot gear: shields, helmets and batons. The King calls for a shield wall, and about 40 fighters line up. One of the marshals yells, "Salute!" and all of the fighters who are carrying shields bang their (wooden) weapons on their shields, making a noticeable noise and apparently bringing the slowly closing line of blue to a halt.

A bullhorn starts saying things like "This is the San Francisco police. You are ordered to disperse at once!" The King responds by having one of the heralds yell back something that equates to "the King wants to talk to you" but which probably took about 40 seconds to say. You know the drill: "His most glorious majesty Ivan, King of the Western Kingdom, Knight Peer of the realm, blah blah blah."

So Ohara and the King meet and the autocrat flashes the permit, which is duly compared to the permit held by the other guy, Ohara sides with the 40 guys in armor with really big sticks, and everything comes out okay for the good guys.

I wasn't there and I am sure the tale grew in the telling, but my version is more fun...

CyberKitten said...

Thanks for that Ken... Good story, even if you posted it in the wrong thread... The posting you responded to was about Hitler not being an atheist. Good try though! [grin].

..oh, and welcome back. I can't remember if I've extended a greeting yet? Forgive me if I haven't.