One of the members of my Toastmasters club forwarded an email to me today. It was a collection of posters from WWII, with some commentary. I felt obliged to respond.
Most of the posters you sent are honorable, and many apply even today, but this one is particularly dishonest:
Here are some quotes by someone you might recognize. Care to guess who?
“I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.”
“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison.”
“Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.”
“I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lords work.”
“We are a people of different faiths, but we are one. Which faith conquers the other is not the question; rather, the question is whether Christianity stands or falls…. We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity… in fact our movement is Christian. We are filled with a desire for Catholics and Protestants to discover one another in the deep distress of our own people. ”
“We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.”
Here’s a hint: he was an angry Austrian with a tiny mustache and a Sanskrit symbol for a logo.
I guess we are the last generation to see, or even remember anything like these. Whatever happened? Political correctness (or “re-education”) happened, lack of God’s name happened, lack of personal responsibility happened, lack of personal integrity and honesty happened, lack of respect and loyalty to our country happened, lack of being an American happened.
I can understand, and almost agree with, the original author’s sentiment, but not his/her specific statements. “Political correctness” and lack of religion aren’t responsible for what has happened. In fact, political correctness lets us understand how the world actually works, and lack of religion makes us less likely to wage war needlessly. What many see as “political correctness” is merely seeing your fellow human being as a human being, and not some pawn in a giant meaningless game.
Loyalty isn’t the same as obsequity. Loyalty is speaking up when your loved one is doing wrong. Loyalty is recognizing both the greatness and the faults in the one you’re loyal to. If you’re loyal to your country, you don’t sit idly by while the corrupt grow rich off the sacrifices of the many; you stand up and let your leaders know that you disapprove.
What’s more, there are things in the world more important than one’s country to be loyal to. First and foremost, we must be loyal to the human race. As a Christian, you should be familiar with this:
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Matthew 25:37-40)
When your leaders claim that your loyalty to your country demands betrayal of the human race, are you truly honoring your country?
#1 written by Mike H September 24th, 2009 at 15:02
“The Führer is deeply religious, but deeply anti-Christian. He regards Christianity as a symptom of decay.” – Joseph Goebbels
Hitler’s public views on faith are quite different than his privately held beliefs. Many volumes have been written on the subject, and it might do you some good to introduce yourself to them before coming off as such an ignoramus in the future.
#2 written by Benjamin Geiger September 24th, 2009 at 15:28
Hardly.
(link)
And with “many volumes” out there, you pick a single unsourced quote?
#3 written by Mike H September 24th, 2009 at 15:58
Wow, a Wikipedia article most likely written by a collective of basement dwelling, hot pocket subsisting, virgins is definitively the trump card I would play if I was in the hole you just dug for yourself.
I realize that you fancy yourself as some kind of clever pseudo intellectual for your parroting of the attempt to dovetail German fascism – Hitler – and Christianity, but it’s a highly flammable straw man.
Hitler publicly embraced Christianity because it was an institution that nearly all Germans held some allegiance to. Privately he despised it because it undermined the authority of the state.
“All of the confessionals are the same. Whichever one you choose, it will not have a future. Not for the Germans anyway. Fascism (Italian) may in the name of God make its peace with the church. I will do that too. Why not! It wont stop me from eradicating Christianity from Germany root and branch. You are either a Christian or a German. You cant be both.” – Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII, pg 105
Care for some more volumes?