So, atheists are Nazis according to Pope Benedict, speaking in Edinburgh today. This is just a little rich coming from a former member of the Hitler Youth. I don't believe that the Pope is or was a Nazi, but I think it was a peculiarly inept and thing to say. It was offensive, also, to the majority of people in this country who do not believe in god.
This is very dubious history. Adolf Hitler was a Christian, a Catholic who remained so all his life, though he wasn't very devout. Nevertheless, he repeatedly invoked god and Christianity in his war against "faithless communism" and the jews. In his Proclamation to the German Nation in February 1933 Hitler said that "The National Government regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality and the family as the basis of our national life". German soldiers were required to wear belts bearing the legend "Gott Mit Uns", "god with us". The SS was supposedly based on the Jesuits. In the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of 1933 Hitler agreed to outlaw secular schools and have all teaching based on faith.
Now, just because Adolf Hitler believed in god, I don't conclude that Roman Catholics are Nazis. But the pontiff really does suggest that atheists are morally responsible for fascism. Following the remarks from, Cardinal Walter Kaspar, one of the Pope's senior advisers about Britain being "a third world land" full of "aggressive secularists", where Christians are victimised for wearing a cross, it rather suggests that this state visit is turning into a public relations disaster. The Holy Father and the Roman Catholic leadership is becoming detached from reality.
The Pope's exact words were these: "Even in our own lifetimes we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live. As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus a reductive vision of a person and his destiny."
This is very dubious history. Adolf Hitler was a Christian, a Catholic who remained so all his life, though he wasn't very devout. Nevertheless, he repeatedly invoked god and Christianity in his war against "faithless communism" and the jews. In his Proclamation to the German Nation in February 1933 Hitler said that "The National Government regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality and the family as the basis of our national life". German soldiers were required to wear belts bearing the legend "Gott Mit Uns", "god with us". The SS was supposedly based on the Jesuits. In the Nazi-Vatican Concordat of 1933 Hitler agreed to outlaw secular schools and have all teaching based on faith.
Now, just because Adolf Hitler believed in god, I don't conclude that Roman Catholics are Nazis. But the pontiff really does suggest that atheists are morally responsible for fascism. Following the remarks from, Cardinal Walter Kaspar, one of the Pope's senior advisers about Britain being "a third world land" full of "aggressive secularists", where Christians are victimised for wearing a cross, it rather suggests that this state visit is turning into a public relations disaster. The Holy Father and the Roman Catholic leadership is becoming detached from reality.
