The Christian Roots of the Holocaust

Today's Christofascists are know best for who they hate and their contempt for others who do not subscribe to their toxic religious beliefs.  Sadly, this is not a new phenomenon among the "godly folk" and too many Christian denominations ignore the evils that they have perpetrated over time and perhaps deliberately ignore the misdeeds of their early leaders.  As Bob Felton notes at Civil Commotion, soon Hitler's Mein Kampf will again be available in bookstores.  Some ponder way the views of a man synonymous with evil should be publicly available.  In part I share that view.  On the other hand, if we are going to censor the publication of Hitler's anti-Semitic views, then there should be consistency in that policy.  Felton rightly points out that much of Hitlers views on the Jews traces directly back to what was long Christian policy: contempt for and mistreatment of Jews.   Don't believe this?  Felton offers some examples of the foul anti-Semitics views of Martin Luther.  Here are some highlights:

Hitler remains a sort of perverse ‘gold standard’ for evil. The sort of people who find reason in that sort of thing, who find an explanation for their unhappy, resentment-filled lives, will find a way to read it. Suppressing it will accomplish nothing but stimulating interest in it; better to drag it out to the light of day, where it can be laughed at.

Here is what I have always found interesting about the suppression of Nazism-related ideas: Martin Luther’s On the Jews and Their Lies uses anti-semitic language that is vastly more brutal than Hitler’s language in Main Kampf, and it is never mentioned in connection with Germany’s anti-semitism.

What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate their conduct, now that we are aware of their lying and reviling and blaspheming. If we do, we become sharers in their lies, cursing and blasphemy. Thus we cannot extinguish the unquenchable fire of divine wrath, of which the prophets speak, nor can we convert the Jews. With prayer and the fear of God we must practice a sharp mercy to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames. We dare not avenge ourselves. Vengeance a thousand times worse than we could wish them already has them by the throat. I shall give you my sincere advice:

First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we tolerated in the past unknowingly ­ and I myself was unaware of it ­ will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know.

Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.

Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. (remainder omitted)

Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: “what they teach you in accord with the law of the Lord.” Those villains ignore that. They wantonly employ the poor people’s obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope also held us captive with the declaration in Matthew 16 {:18], “You are Peter,” etc, inducing us to believe all the lies and deceptions that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach in accord with the word of God, and therefore he forfeited the right to teach.

Fifth, I advise that safe­conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let they stay at home. (…remainder omitted).

Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for such a measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than usury, and by it they have stolen and robbed from us all they possess. Such money should now be used in no other way than the following: Whenever a Jew is sincerely converted, he should be handed one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as personal circumstances may suggest. With this he could set himself up in some occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and the maintenance of the old or feeble. For such evil gains are cursed if they are not put to use with God’s blessing in a good and worthy cause.

Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19]}. For it is not fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all, boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No, one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants.

Hitler merely plowed ground prepared by Martin Luther, so why is Luther so little discussed and so readily available?

Bob is all too right.  And the Catholic Church was no better than Luther.  Yet we continue to see special deference given to conservative Christians in America and elsewhere in the world despite the evils that their world view has caused.  Reading the quoted passages above, one could argue that all Hitler did was implement Luther's recommendations.  Religion continues to be one of the great evils in the world today - just as it has been throughout history.