There’s a tired old, nasty assertion amongst some that pre-World War II Germany’s Lutheran population did not do anything, or enough, to stem the tide of the rise of the Nazi Regime and Hitler’s noxious policies that resulted in the horrific murder of multiple thousands of people. This is purely Monday morning quarterbacking from those who did not live in the times or are not learned enough about those times.
As absurd as these views are, unfortunately they can be pervasive and when uttered by those in a position of authority, such as a minister, they tend to hold more weight for those under the influence of such a minister. Then they are repeated until they are generally believed to be true. I believe in Christian circles this would technically be known as gossip, repeating something unsavory without verification. In our Lutheran Catechism, this is discussed in the 8th Commandment.
Those folks need to do some serious study of history and bring light to their hurtful, untruthful, divisive arguments. Some might want to review the historical claims that President Roosevelt, the big and powerful leader of this “Christian” nation, along with other Christian leaders of free countries, did nothing to alter the course of the Holocaust machine, allowing much suffering to occur. Questions 5 and 6 from the Frequently Asked Questions at the National Holocaust Remembrance Museum in Washington, DC (which we had the privilege of visiting in October 1999) addresses these issues.
While, I’m at it, there’s quite a good article I commend to you by John Fea of Touchstone Magazine. The article considers the perils of providential history and those Christians who seek to assert that America is a Christian nation by that notion. History shows us that America was founded on the ideals popular during its formation, which includes a Judeo-Christian emphasis. One need only look at the formulating documents and those written in support of it or against it as well as the plethora of letters of those intimately involved to know that while one of the highest ideals of the formation of this country was the free exercise of religion, we are NOT a Christian nation. In fact, the idea that such a nation could be formed, I posit, would be abhorrent to those who put their lives and liberty at stake to form these United States of America.
It is sad to me to see our culture become so hedonistic, rejecting of the doctrines of Christianity, sometimes with the aid of those who work for the government (at local, state and national levels). But I have no illusions that this is a Christian nation, for it never was. The fact that as a culture our nation’s inhabitants exhibited Christian morals for a period of time does not mean that we were a Christian nation. To mix our theology with this is to misunderstand the concept of the left and right hand kingdoms and will lead to tyranny no different than what we see in the Middle East (or other places) with their mixing of theology and government.
I wonder if this is a doctrinal issue within particular Christian denominations? If so, I would heartily encourage them to study again the issues of the Reformation. It seems to smack of the old Pelagian (or semi-Pelagian) heresy whereby we constantly doubt ourselves and whether or not we've truly done enough to "earn" our salvation. Maybe that's a leap in logic...?
All this posturing about the sinfulness of men and the suffering and ugliness it has caused us since the fall of Adam seems to me to be such a waste of time. What does it benefit us? Too much navel gazing. Would we be up to the same type of scrutiny?
Here are some articles, links, etc. that may aid one who is looking into this:
The Institute for Creation Research has a short review titled “Hitler’s Evolution Verses Christian Resistance” about the book The Ascent of Racism, specifically discussing the Pastor’s Emergency League with mention of Pastor Martin Niemoller, and of which Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer was an active participant.
This link is from the series “Cambridge Perspectives in History. I recommend these shorter treatments of wider issues for high school students and beyond as a jumping off point for further study since they rely heavily upon original sources, documents, etc. and have little personal bias injected into the prose. The particular one deals with Pre-WWII Germany.
Gleichschaltung was the policy implemented in Nazi Germany whereby citizens were required to adhere to totalitarian control over all aspects of life, and where specific insertions of particular wording into church documents was required.
Both the “good” and the “bad” on Pastor Niemoller, probably most famous to those today for his poem “First They Came” quoted below:
When the Nazis came for the communists,I remained silent;I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,I remained silent;I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,I did not speak out;I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,I remained silent;I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,there was no one left to speak out.
A beginning place to learn about the complicated Bonhoeffer who was martyred for his resistance to the Nazi Regime.
A rather extensive online database of matters concerning World War II.
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