Are you offended by this political statement?

'Today Christians … stand at the head of this country … I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press—in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … [few] years. '

Do you believe that a politican should make this statement?

Publicly, Hitler used Christianity during his rise to power. Privately, he seems to have had negative views of both the Protestant and Catholic churches, and the impact of Christianity overall on European culture. By the time he had firmly siezed power in Germany, he openly began to eradicate the church's political influence, both in the Protestant north and the Catholic south.

Hitler had religious views, and although they were influenced by Christianity, I wouldn't call him a Christian in the traditional sense. He believed in the God of the Bible, and he believed in an Aryan Christ. He believed God had blessed the Aryan race and charged it with bringing the benefits of civilization.

What is interesting are the parallels between the Christian Social movement that Hitler inspired and used to get into power, and the American Religious Right that exists today.

All I KNOW iS tHAt AM MORMON!!

Eech. Who said that?

A politician is welcome to say what she or he chooses, but I would distance myself from any who said that.

Anyway, 'past few years'? Literature etc has always had 'immoral' elements. The ancient Romans complained (quite rightly) about the decadence of their 'whole life and culture'. Immorality is not caused by political belief or controlled by political action.

No, there is a thing called 'separation of church and state'. Have you heard of it? And, No, I am not offended by your 'political statement'. That's your statement. Why would anyone else care enough to be offended by it?

I care enough to be offended by it, because politicians, in our system, are supposed to represent the people. That does NOT represent my beliefs, or the separation of church and state that I think is so important to this country.

Politicians often inject their personal religion into their decision making which I think can really skew their judgment.

I would never knowingly vote for anyone who said something like that, but I bet a lot of people from the religious right would!

...heh, nice one by the way.

Sounds kinda like Hitler in my opinion.

xox
Sika

well I am a bit bothered by it for sure

what makes christianity better than the other religions!?
but unfortunately MOST I repeat, MOST of conservative middle/southern america will feel empowered by this and vote

all I have to say is thank god (pardon the pun) that Huckabee didnt win

I mean he wanted to like send aids patients to the moon lol

Just looked it up... it was in fact Hitler who said this.

xox
Sika

has anyone seen that vh1 documentary
its called 'sex: the revolution'

in your face you crazy die hard liberals!

I don't know...

Yep I knew it was Hitler...just wondering what peoples' opinions would be if they didn't know who said it.

So you people are trying to somehow judge Christians by tying them in with Hitler? How far will you go to destroy this country? Lets not forget that a country with an 85 percent Christian population helped defeat Hitlers nazi Germany. Quit trying to rewrite history!

I was offended because I honestly thought it was said recently by some American politician. I should have realized it was something Hitler said. After all, Hitler was a Christian. (Not to imply that all Christians think this way but Hitler quotes are quite common and many times reflect his religious beliefs).

oh pls, hitler was not a christian...I dont know where you got that from but he wasn...he is the complete opposite of a christian...he might had said he was but he was lyin anybody that is christian wouldn kill all those jews, jews is God's people and you harm them in anyway, God will punish you...he was no christian, that statement is more offensive than the political statement!!

rickd - quoting Hitler is not rewriting history. It is just an example of religious fanaticism...
and that is a slippery slope...
I don't think that it would surprise any of us if that statement were made today...
the political climate being what it is...

Mjax1979's comments are, as usual, bang on the nail. While Hitler would use Christian-type comments if it helped him gain power, his personal beliefs seem to have been quite different.

What scares me is that many Christians were taken in then, and can perhaps be taken in now...

Seems like lish needs to do some reading on Hitler's life and his views. Hitler did claim to be a Christian although he did not follow orthodox teachings. I'm well aware that his actions were most unChristianlike but that doesn't change the fact that he made the claim. For any of us to claim that he was not a 'true' Christian leads us right into the No True Scotsman fallacy.

As for lish's declaration that God will punish me, I couldn't be less afraid. Unlike lish, any god that exists will probably not care about my opinion. Gods, you see, are supposed to be powerful and are not so insecure as to get their panties in a wad over an opinion.

And as for lish's statement that s/he is offended, let me be clear. I couldn't care less. The comment was not a direct attack on lish so any offense taken is indicative of a personal problem and not any wrongdoing on my part.

Hitler used religion and patriotism to get the people to go along with war. Anyone who opposed war was called unpatriotic and immoral.

Does this tactic sound familiar?

Eleni is right Hitler was some what of a Christian but he had a distorted view of Christianity. He wasn't really a true Christian. He was trying to kill off the race of the Jews to work his way into heaven. He thought if he got back at the Jews for Crucifieing Jesus he would have a one way ticket to heaven. I bet he was surprised.

Matt18091 -
'He was trying to kill off the race of the Jews'

Though many consider Jews to be a race, I do not. Being Jewish is not a race because Jews do not share one common ancestry or biological distinction. People of many different races have become Jewish over the years. Being Jewish is a religion.

Hitler thought of Jews as a race, foremost. I think of Jews as a religion, foremost.

And your statement that Hitler was trying to 'get back at the Jews for Crucifieing Jesus' is incorrect.

Jews, to Hitler, were a germ within the bloodstream of Germany. Jews were virulent microorganisms within the body politic, it was necessary that every single one of them be destroyed, lest they begin again to divide and multiply. The SS men functioned as 'killer cells' within the national organism, assigned the task of identifying, tracking down and destroying the dangerous microorganisms.

Hitler Stated that 'The discovery of the Jewish virus is one of the greatest revolutions that has taken place in the world. The battle in which we are engaged today is of the same sort as the battle waged, during the last century, by Pasteur and Koch. How many diseases have their origin in the Jewish virus! We shall regain our health only by eliminating the Jew.'

Hitler conceived of the Final Solution from the perspective of immunology. As 'Doctor of the German people,' he would act to save the life of the body politic by destroying the pathogens that were the source of Germany's disease.

Hitler, as others have stated, used Christianity as an 'in' to achieve his initial goals...

Indeed I am
Religoin & politics should be kept seprete but it doesn't appear that they are being kept that way. If they dare try to start a war against Witches & such again or dare burn the books I like I will smite them down hard & strongue. I may not seem like much, but lets just say I know some things I shouldn't.