19

19. Philosophic Parallels Between Religion and Nazism
March 6, 1998

In a message dated March 6, 1998, VvJUSTINvV writes:

Quoting AirwaveBoy: "Too bad that later Christians (like Hitler - and I am not backing down from that position) tried a little too hard to emulate your God, and a few million people got killed."

Justin responds: "This isn't even worth discussing if you're going to assimilate Hitler with me. You can call it a copout if you want. But unless you can somehow figure out that there is some sort of difference between my beliefs and Hitler's, I don't care to discuss much of anything with you."

No, Justin, I can't figure out any essential difference between your philosophy and Hitler's, come to think of it.

Keep in mind that most historians have completely missed the mark when trying to explain the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1920's and 1930's. The more common explanations are nothing more than evasions of the true cause of Nazism, which I explain below:

Evasion #1: "Germans embraced Nazism because they lost World War 1."

è "Austria lost that war also, but this did not cause it to turn to Nazism (it went under only when invaded by Hitler in 1938). Italy, on the other hand, one of the victorious powers at Versailles in 1919, went Fascist in 1922."

Evasion #2: "It has been said that the cause of Nazism was the Great Depression."

è "All the industrial nations suffered the ravages of the Depression. Few turned to Nazism."

Evasion #3: "It has been said that the case of Nazism was the weakness of the non-totalitarian parties in the Weimar Republic, the pressure-group warefare which they encouraged, and the governmental paralysis that followed."

è "This does not explain why or in what respect the non-totalitarians were weak, nor does it take into account the many countries in which social clashes and government drifting have not led to Nazism.

"There is no direct causal relationship or even any approximate correlation between specific practical crises (single or in combination) and the development of Nazism. Practical crises confront a country with the need for action. They do not determine what the action will be. In the face of military ruin, economic strangulation, or governmental collapse, men may choose to investigate the disaster's causes and to discover a more rational course of action for the future, i.e., they may choose to think. Or they may choose to hate, ro to pray, or to beg, or to kill. On such matters, the crisis itself is silent."

Evasion #4: "Religious writers often claim that the cause of Nazism is the secularism or the scientific spirit of the modern world."

è "This evades the facts that the Germans at the time, especially in Prussia, were one of the most religious peoples in Western Europe; that the Weimar Republic was a hotbed of mystic cults, of which Nazism was one; and that Germany's largest and most devout religious group, the Lutherans, counted themselves among Hitler's staunchest followers."

Evasion #5: "There is the Marxist interpretation of Nazism, according to which Hitler is the inevitable result of capitalism."

è "This evades the facts that Germany under Bismarck was the least capitalistic country of Western Europe; that the Weimar Republic from the start was a controlled economy, with the controls growing steadily; and that the word 'Nazism' is an abbreviation for 'National Socialism'."

Evasion #6: "There are the Aryan racists in reverse, who say that the cause of Nazism is the 'innate depravity' of the Germans."

è "This evades the fact that 'depravity' is a moral concept, which implies that man is not predetermined but has free choice. It also evades the fact that regimes similar to Hitler's, regimes differing only in the degree of the brutality they perpetrate, have appeared in our century across the globe - not only in Italy, Japan, Argentina and the like, but also in the form of communism, in Russia, China and their satelites."

Evasion #7: "Then there is the Freudian interpretation, according to which the cause of Nazism is the Germans' Oedipus complex, or their death wish or their toilet training, etc."

è "This evades the fact that the arbitrary constructs, such as Freud was famous for, can be manipulated to 'explain' anything, and therefore explain nothing."

"WE DARE NOT BRUSH ASIDE UNEXPLAINED SUCH A HORROR AS NAZISM"

All quotes taken from Dr. Leonard Peikoff, The Ominous Parallels, pp. 20-21.

So, WHAT LED TO NAZISM in Germany?

Answer: ERRANT PHILOSOPHY.

The philosophy of Nazism is very elaborate, and a full-blown, detailed investigation into its every doctrine is not necessary.

A brief analysis of the philosophy of Nazism will show considerable similarities to its parent philosophy: RELIGION.

All religions (religion being broadly defined as: any system of god-belief) are built on the following positions to the major philosophic branches:

BRANCH ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES

METAPHYSICS Subjectivism

The Primacy of Consciousness

The Malevolent Universe Premise

Determinism

Man's Innate Depravity

The 'Soul/Body Dichotomy'

Redemption through God

(Redemption through the State)

EPISTEMOLOGY MYSTICISM (whose method is FAITH)

Subjectivity

Feelings as Authority of Knowledge

(e.g., "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom")

"Just knowing"

"Instincts"

FORCE AS THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY FOR KNOWLEDGE

Fear of Hell

(Fear of the Gas Chamber)

MORALITY ALTRUISM/PIETISM

Sacrifice and Obedience as the Cardinal Virtues

Service to God

(Service to the State, or to "the People")

Man's Purpose as SELFLESS SERVILITY

POLITICS COLLECTIVISM

The Church Establishment

Man is depraved and therefore can have no individual rights

Individuality (SELFISHNESS) is CONDEMNED

THE BAN ON MAN'S RIGHT TO EXIST FOR HIS OWN SAKE

Nazism shares EACH of these primary doctrines throughout its philosophy.

The essential tie-in between RELIGION and tyrannical political philosophies like Nazism, Fascism and Communism is the belief that MAN DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXIST FOR HIS OWN SAKE under these systems.

Under Religion, man must sacrifice himself to his God.

Under Nazism, man had to sacrifice himself to his Fuhrer.

Under Religion, man is compelled to obedience by the fear of HELL.

Under Nazism, man was compelled to obedience by the fear of the OVEN.

Under Religion, man's primary means of knowledge is FAITH in his God.

Under Nazism, man's primary means of knowledge was FAITH in his Fuhrer.

Under Religion, man's innate depravity is absolved though conformity to the CHURCH.

Under Nazism, man's innate depravity is absolved through conformity to the REICH.

ON EVERY ESSENTIAL, RELIGION AND NAZISM ARE IDENTICAL. ONE MERELY SUBSTITUTES A 'FUHRER' FOR THE OTHER'S 'GOD'.

Nazism in Germany developed as a result of centuries of overwhelming religious influence in its well-documented history. (Remember that the Reformation started in Germany, too.)

Remember, whenever someone advocates that you sacrifice yourself, that someone INTENDS TO COLLECT IT!

So, Justin, to address your question, I DO fail to see the essential difference between your religion and Nazism.

I will have PLENTY more to say on this topic.

Tindrbox

[For a well-crafted article that includes an ironclad argument for the fact that Hitler aligned his Nazi philosophy with specifically Christian theism, click here.]

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