Some described the atrocity as a “wake-up call” – but what sort of sleep was America in that required a catastrophe to end it? This was not elaborated on. Also, once awakened, what was America supposed to do? Were we “awakened” only so that we might go back to sleep, and resume shopping and our individual pursuits of happiness as usual? Or to attack Iraq and Afghanistan maybe?

Others described 9-11 as a lesson teaching us that we are not guaranteed any length of life, and can be called to leave this world at any time – but that lesson can be learned from a car crash or a heart attack. Was such a spectacular manifestation of horror necessary to teach us this simple truism?

Still others blamed 9-11 on America’s open and flagrant sins, and pointed to abortion, pornography, the ACLU, and immorality of various sorts – but weren’t many innocent people killed in the attacks? And, didn’t Jesus condemn false religious teachers more than he condemned anyone else? Some of the most iniquitous places in America today include church pulpits and seminaries where the truths of God in Christ are trampled underfoot and openly despised. Why didn’t the hijackers crash their planes into a more obviously sinful place, if it was God’s intention to punish America for its most notorious evils?

One well-known church leader prayed that God would give us victory in our struggle for liberty, and “God bless America” was a theme commonly sounded in those dark days – but wasn’t 9-11 a very conspicuous demonstration of the absence of God’s blessing? And is America such a nation today that we can ask God to bless us, as if we deserve it just because we are Americans, no matter what the moral and spiritual state of our nation might be?

Finally, some referred to 9-11 as part of the larger problem of evil: How can a good God create a world with evil in it, and how can he sit on the sidelines when evil is done? This is something we Christians do not claim to fully understand – but still, cannot we say something more relevant to this problem? To what extent are our biblical teachings (if we really believe in the Bible), our Spirit of God (if we have the Spirit), and our mind of Christ (if we have the mind of Christ) able to enlighten us on this problem? Is biblical Christianity relevant to specific issues, or are we confined to general truisms that could apply to many different situations?

Biblically, we can attribute this evil deed to Satan. To the prince of darkness, catastrophes and horrors are things to be desired as good in and of themselves. Secondly, we can describe the perpetrators of 9-11 as servants of Satan. This does not mean they are excusable because “the devil made them do it.” They chose of themselves the path of destruction, and were of themselves suitable agents of the devil’s wiles. They imagined they would earn God’s favor by their wicked deeds, but in fact earned his condemnation, and will have their part in the lake of eternal fire prepared for, among other people, murderers. There will be no paradise for them, only everlasting destruction.

Yet, the question of God still remains. We as Christians do not need to consider the possibilities of God’s impotence, or lack of awareness, or indifference, or full approval. We know that God was not helpless to prevent the tragedy; that the event did not take him by surprise; that he was not remote and uncaring, like the ancient philosophical idea of the unmoved mover. We also know that the terrorist acts were not carried out by men acting in faithful obedience to the teachings of Christ, and hence meeting with God’s approval.

So, where was God? He could easily have frustrated the conspiracy in many ways, had he chosen to do so. That he chose not to do so means that it was his will that Satan be given some power and authority to act. But how can this be!? No, let’s ask a much better question: What right did America have, on September 11, 2001, and in the days preceding, to ask for protection from God? And what right did we have to expect to automatically receive such protection without even asking, as if it were our birthright? Are Americans so special? Is God’s blessing something we deserve because America used to be so religious a long time ago?

If the president of the United States in the preceding years was more concerned with chasing women than he was with national security, was God obligated to intervene? And hasn’t America consistently and systematically sought to remove God from its courts, its government, its entertainment, its news media, and its educational systems? Haven’t practices, entertainments, and attitudes that would have offended unbelievers 50 years ago become the norm among us? Haven’t even many outwardly bible-believing churches fallen asleep, and failed to adequately represent the Christ of scripture and the straight and narrow biblical way of the cross to a lost world?

Instead of the pathetic spectacles of the United States Congress singing “God bless America”; of theologians and spiritual leaders floundering out of their depth; of people trying to understand “Why do they hate us?”, a much more suitable response would have been that found in the book of the prophet Daniel.

Daniel, considering the devastation that had been wrought upon God’s chosen people, their great religious heritage notwithstanding, sought wisdom from God with fasting and deep self abnegation (practices unknown to many Christians today). He then confessed his nation’s sins, and stated “we have sinned . . . we have rebelled . . . we have disobeyed God . . . Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us . . . we have done wickedly.”

Many times in his prayer he says “we.” He did not point to notorious evil doers, but to the nation as a whole, including its religious people, and of course himself. In the same spirit Christians after 9-11 might have said “We have sinned . . . we have failed to die to self and take up the cross of Christ . . . we have failed to be light and salt . . . we have dozed in front of our TV sets while the culture went down the wrong path . . . we have not been concerned with God’s righteousness, but have been happy with our material comforts. We have been asleep while false teachings swept through the church; while iniquities were institutionalized as the law of the land; while our children were corrupted with the most contemptible and ignorant entertainments and educational programs.”

Some will object that America is not ancient Israel, that God dealt with Israel in a special way, and that is undoubtedly true – but do they want to say that the events of the Old Testament are not relevant to us? That contradicts the New Testament, which directly states that Old Testament events are for our example. Do they want to deny that God governs the nations? Just what sort of a God is it many Christians have nowadays anyway? A God who saves individual souls and deals with specific requests, while he allows the world to go on its way independently, and does not interfere because we humans are the sovereign lords of the earth?

God in the past gave America liberty, prosperity, and security – and he that gave them can also take them away. He is taking them away even now. We have less of those blessings than we had in the past, and without significant change we can expect further diminishing in the future, because America today is not a country that deserves God’s blessings.

Discussions of Kant usually focus on his main philosophical ideas – empiricism, rationalism, ethics, epistemology and whatnot. These ideas place him in the front rank of modern Western philosophers (though far below the ancients, in my opinion). If we look at Kant from a different angle, however, another picture emerges.

Concerning his militarism, people who run across such statements of Kant as the following will assume he was opposed to war, a reasonable man, the epitome of the finest tendencies of rationalism: “the barbarous expedient of war”; “reason, as the highest legislative moral power, absolutely condemns war as a test of rights and sets up peace as an immediate duty”; “war, the source of all evils and moral corruption,” and so on.[1]

It is necessary, though, to read the fine print. In so doing, we learn that war promotes “that close association of social classes within the commonwealth which promotes the well-being of all” [102]. War stimulates social cohesion which helps towards a greater degree of freedom [102]. Thus, “so long as human culture remains at its present stage, war is therefore an indispensable means of advancing it further” [102-03].  Peace will only be possible “when culture has reached its full development – and only God knows when that will be” [103].

So, war is bad, and someday we will progress beyond it, but for the present it is necessary and even beneficial. This explains Kant’s sympathy for the French revolution. True, much blood was shed in wars and massacres, but that was necessary for the progress of mankind.  This idea of war as necessary and beneficial, as “natural” and part of nature’s plan was to become over the next fifty years and more one of the cornerstones of German militarism.

Kant was also a racist, and in his Physical Geography expressed his philosophical belief in the superiority of the white race. [2] Moreover, he presented a concept that was later to become an important justification of totalitarianism – the idea that there was more real democracy and representation of the will of the people in the rule of an enlightened despot like Frederick the Great, than there was under a parliamentary system like that of Great Britain, which (in Kant’s view) was only a swindle [81-82].

Thus, Kant could enthusiastically explain that “our age is the age of enlightenment, the century of Frederick” [9]. The Poles were less enthusiastic about Prussian warlords furthering the progress of humanity with their enlightened wars and conquests. By “uniting the collective will of the people in his own” [8], the monarch derives real authority. The people don’t need democracy because their ruler represents them faithfully.

Significantly, Kant thought progress would come “from the top downwards” [84]. The state and its enlightened leadership would guide the common people on mankind’s upward progressive path. This would require a comprehensive system of national education “designed on the considered plan and intention of the highest authority in the state” [84-85].

Concerning Kant’s anti-Semitism, there is a very interesting book called German Idealism and the Jew: The Inner Anti-Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses by Prof. Michael Mack. This book shows, convincingly I believe, how Kant helped to introduce a new kind of anti-Semitism into German Kultur. Kant was not concerned about the Jews being under God’s wrath for the crucifixion of Christ. He had no interest in such unreasonable ideas. He objected to Jews because their rigid adherence to unchanging divine laws alienated them from the progress of humanity, and isolated them from natural human feelings.

Kant also missed clear references in the Old Testament to the afterlife (Daniel 12:2-3; Psalm 23:6; Psalm 16:11; Isaiah 65: 17-18). Out of this misunderstanding, he reasoned that Jews were only materialists, interested in serving God just for the sake of material gain and earthly benefits (Genesis 28:20-21). These misguided ideas became standard themes of more radical anti-Semites who, later in the 19th century, added yet other ideas (including racial purity and hostility to Jewish-inspired Christianity) to portray Jews as an unhealthy and even dangerous cultural influence. The following quote from Mein Kampf reflects Kant’s enlightenment anti-Semitism (expressed of course by many others as well): 

Due to his own original special nature, the Jew cannot possess a religious institution, if for no other reason because he lacks idealism in any form, and hence belief in a hereafter is absolutely foreign to him . . . Indeed, the Talmud is not a book to prepare a man for the hereafter, but only for a practical and profitable life in this world (Vol. I Chapter 11, “Nation and Race”).[3] 

Kant is an excellent example of the truth of that saying of Christ’s, “That which is highly esteemed with men is an abomination with God.” In the eyes of men, Kant was a brilliant philosopher, but from the biblical point of view his philosophy is folly, delusion, and a complete waste of time. If I were stranded on a desert island with nothing to read but the complete works of Kant, I would sit next to that pile of books wishing I had something to read.

It would take too long to elaborate on the many errors, misconceptions, and outright falsehoods that vitiate Kant’s philosophy and render it null and void. His beliefs that the highest cause was inaccessible to us [80]; that man was nothing but “a mere trifle” relative to “the omnipotence of nature” [80]; that mankind was on an upward course of moral progress and improvement [78-79]; that human reason was the highest source of knowledge and that human instinct was a reliable guide, and even a ‘voice of God” [80]; that God “will make up for our own lack of righteousness so long as our attitude is sincere” [114]; that it is “absurd” to claim “theoretical knowledge of the transcendental” [114] – these and other errors reveal a system of thought totally opposed to biblical Christianity.

Kant’s “categorical imperative,” his attempt to provide a foundation for human ethics on human reason alone, was a complete failure. For example, someone could reason: “Jews are a menace to mankind. If everyone did as I am doing and killed Jews, the world would be a better place. Therefore, killing Jews is ethical.”

Kant’s pontifications on human knowledge and perception lacked a solid foundation. If we are nothing but matter and our knowledge and perceptions are thus nothing more than chemistry and biology, or if we have immortal souls created by God and can perceive and reason as we do because we are made in the image of God, in either case Kant’s epistemological guesswork was very wide of the mark, superfluous, and irrelevant.

Someone who spent one year diligently studying Kant in the pursuit of wisdom would at the end of that year be farther from his goal than he was when he started. At best, a brief examination of Kant can be useful in understanding the many evils of modern thought – especially in Germany, which was deeply infected by Kant’s poisonous and foolish ideas.[4]

[2] For a quote as well as more information see “Kant and racism,” Philosophical Misadventures: The Thin Ice of Reason; http://www.philosophicalmisadventures.com/?p=20

[3] http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch11.html; accessed Sept. 2010. Collections of sayings about the Jews were published so anti-Semites could get ideas from various thinkers without having to bother with a lot of tedious and extraneous philosophical ideas.

[4] A useful analysis of some problems with Kant’s thought as well as of his relevance to current philosophical trends is found in Stephen R.C. Hicks’ Explaining Postmodernism: Scepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Phoenix AZ, 2004).

It is necessary to look at some other ideas about the Jews expressed by Nietzsche in his book. For one thing, he stressed the racial toughness of the Jews: “Psychologically, the Jews are a people gifted with the very strongest vitality . . .” (24). The Jews have “the most profound national instinct, the most powerful national will to live, that has ever appeared on earth.” (27). Hitler had the same idea:

The mightiest counterpart to the Aryan is represented by the Jew. In hardly any people in the world is the instinct of self-preservation developed more strongly than in the so-called ‘chosen.’ Of this, the mere fact of the survival of this race may be considered the best proof. Where is the people which in the last two thousand years has been exposed to so slight changes of inner disposition, character, etc., as the Jewish people? What people, finally, has gone through greater upheavals than this one-and nevertheless issued from the mightiest catastrophes of mankind unchanged? What an infinitely tough will to live and preserve the species speaks from these facts! [Mein Kampf vol. I chapt. 11].

This was by no means unique to Hitler and Nietzsche. How else to explain the mysterious survival of the Jews in strictly human terms? Christians and Jews can explain the mystery as the result of the will of God and his covenant with Abraham. Let those who scoff at this try to present a more credible empirically verifiable and falsifiable alternative. They can’t.

Although I have confined myself so far almost exclusively to one of Nietzsche’s books for the sake of clarity and simplicity, some of Nietzsche’s comments from Beyond Good and Evil are useful in this context. This book too, by the way, was published by Nietzsche before his collapse, so his sister’s influence is not relevant. Anyway, Nietzsche says “But the Jews are undoubtedly the strongest, most tenacious, and purest race now living in Europe. They understand how to assert themselves even under the worst conditions (better even than under favourable conditions) . . .” (Part Eight, 251).[i] In the same context Nietzsche added that it was necessary for thinkers concerned about the future of Europe to “take the Jews as well as the Russians into account as, for the time being, the surest and most probable factors in the great interplay and struggle of forces” (251).

This is rather peculiar. The Jews are the strongest race in Europe? They know how to assert themselves? A sure factor in the great struggles of the day? Even before his breakdown, Nietzsche revealed himself here as a man with a very strange way of looking at things. Significantly, Nietzsche says in this same section that no more Jews should be allowed into Germany because they were a threat to the survival of Germany:

That Germany has a richly sufficient number of Jews, that the German stomach and German blood have difficulty (and will still have difficulty for a long time to come) absorbing even this quantum of “Jew” in the way the Italians, the French, and the English have absorbed them, as a result of a stronger digestive system—that is the clear message and language of a general instinct which we should listen to and according to which we must act. “Let no more Jews in! And especially bar the doors to the east (also to Austria)!” So orders the instinct of a people whose type is still weak and uncertain, so that it could be easily erased, easily dissolved away by a stronger race (251).

Nietzsche’s strangeness becomes even more evident when he says “That the Jews, if they wanted to—or if people were to force them, as the anti-Semites seem to wish to do—could even now become predominant, in fact, quite literally gain mastery over Europe, is certain; that they are not working and planning for that is equally certain” (251).

The Jews could gain mastery over Europe if they wanted to? No sensible person would claim that Jewish butchers, bakers, candle-stick makers, Talmud scholars, lawyers, and teachers had the ability to gain mastery over Europe. Nietzsche is here showing an idea of the Jews that was completely divorced from reality. Within a few years he would progress in his understanding from the perception that the Jews could have the mastery of Europe but were not aiming for it, to the perception, stated in The Antichrist, that they were undermining European civilization to ensure their own survival.

Maybe someone who studied Nietzsche in more depth (not that I recommend this) could show how the progression of his insanity was evident in his writings. That seems to be the case, in this instance at least. Obviously, the man was not the picture of mental health one month and stark raving mad the next month. But, such speculations aside, let us examine Nietzsche’s final view as expressed in The Antichrist. There Nietzsche wrote that the Jews used decadence to ensure their own self-preservation by undermining and weakening people who would otherwise be a threat to them:

Psychologically, the Jews are a people gifted with the very strongest vitality, so much so that when they found themselves facing impossible conditions of life they chose voluntarily, and with a profound talent for self-preservation, the side of all those instincts which make for decadence–not as if mastered by them, but as if detecting in them a power by which “the world” could be defied (24).

The cunning, tricky, and devious Jews are not decadent themselves—they are, after all, “gifted with the very strongest vitality.” No, they use decadence to achieve their goal of domination:

The Jews are the very opposite of decadents: they have simply been forced into appearing in that guise, and with a degree of skill approaching the non plus ultra of histrionic genius they have managed to put themselves at the head of all decadent movements (–for example, the Christianity of Paul–), and so make of them something stronger than any party frankly saying Yes to life. To the sort of men who reach out for power under Judaism and Christianity,–that is to say, to the priestly class–decadence is no more than a means to an end. Men of this sort have a vital interest in making mankind sick . . . (24).

Notice that the Jews are at the head of all movements of decadence. This was the view stated by Wagner, whom Nietzsche deeply admired for a long time. Democracy, a free press, socialism, bad music, capitalism, worker unrest, failure to admire Nietzsche, Christianity—anything that conflicted with an imaginary ideal could be attributed to Jewish corruption. Of course, Bolshevism was unknown in Nietzsche’s day, but someone who could blame the Jews for all forms of decadence, including socialism, would have no difficulty in linking them to whatever else might come up.

Nietzsche went on to point out that the Jewish problem was a racial problem: “The whole disaster was only made possible by the fact that there already existed in the world a similar megalomania, allied to this one in race, to wit, the Jewish . . .”(44). All of this “is not an accident due to the chance talents of an individual, or to any violation of nature. The thing responsible is race. The whole of Judaism appears in Christianity as the art of concocting holy lies . . .” (44).

Defenders of Nietzsche ignore or minimize his comments about the Jews, sometimes even stating the exact opposite of the truth in this matter—whether through ignorance, or through sincere inability to recognize their hero’s faults, or through deliberate deception to protect Nietzsche’s reputation I won’t presume to guess.

It is interesting that the Chinese Communists also saw Christianity as a trick devised to oppress people. They claimed that the American imperialists were “using the Bible to anaesthetize people in order to enslave them.”[ii] This does not mean that they were influenced by Nietzsche—though some Chinese intellectuals were (and are) more well informed about Western philosophical trends than many realize. That religion was used by the capitalists to keep people satisfied with their oppressed state was a basic idea of Marxism long before Nietzsche. He had a similar idea, only he blamed not the capitalists, but the Jews.

[ii] Stephen Wang, The Long Road to Freedom: The Story of Wang Mingdao (Tonbridge 2002), p. 32.

For Nietzsche, Christianity began with Paul. The rabbi Paul, whose Jewishness is stressed by Nietzsche (25)(23), wanted only power for himself (22). To gain power, he invented a false philosophy so as to bring people under his control. This was identical to the earlier methods and motives of the Jewish priests when they fabricated the Bible (26)(29). Paul’s rewriting of history to suit his own ends was a typically Jewish trick (24). In short, Paul was not only a Jew, he was “the Jew, the eternal Jew par excellence . . .” (58).

Paul then used his new doctrine to mobilize the losers, the failures, the people at the bottom, to bring down the Roman Empire. His motivation was resentment and hatred “against everything noble, joyous and high spirited on earth . . .” (43). Since Nietzsche uses the word “us” in that context, “against us,” it is clear (as if evidence were needed) that Nietzsche considered himself among the spiritually favored few—indeed, elitist contempt for common people is a recurring theme of the book. In other words, Paul and the Christians set out to destroy the Roman empire just because it represented real life. If Nietzsche considered the Christian destruction of Rome as revenge for the crucifixion of Christ, that is not stated in this particular book.

In elaborating on these ideas, Nietzsche has comments referring to the Christians as vampires, parasites, and bloodsuckers (49) (58). It needs to be stressed that this included Jews and applied to Jews (except for the few independent spirits acceptable to Nietzsche). He makes this clear when he states that, although the original God of one chosen people became the God of the whole world, the democratic God, the cosmopolitan God, yet nevertheless “ . . . he remains a Jew, he remains a god in a corner, a god of all the dark nooks and crevices, of all the noisesome quarters of the world!” (17).

Unlike some today, Nietzsche understood that there was such a thing as the “Judaeo-Christian moral system” (24). That there is one God, a God of moral laws and rules that we must submit to and obey; that happiness in life comes not from exaltation of the self but from obedience to God; that God is a moral God who rewards good and punishes evil—often in this life but certainly in the next—Nietzsche understood that, in the European context of his day, this came from Christianity and initially from Judaism.

Nietzsche declared war on these concepts and sought to destroy them. Although his ideas are more acceptable now, they will fail in the end—and his own personal campaign ended in his destruction. As Jesus said, “. . . whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” None of his contemporaries exalted themselves more highly than Nietzsche, the overman, the spiritual elitist who despised common people, the first man to speak the truth in many centuries—and none were more horribly abased (as the sordid descriptions of an insane Nietzsche amply illustrate). Howling, raging, weeping, singing, smashing windows, writing nonsense, making barking noises, groaning, raving and making wild gestures, dancing naked, uttering long incoherent monologues, roaring, begging for help, childlike and docile, silent with vacant eyes, moaning, and unable to control his bodily functions—such was the fate of this pitiful loser who thought of himself as an “overman,” a superior being.

I hope no one will imagine I am gloating. I am stating the facts, and would have been much happier if Nietzsche could have repented of his sinful ideas, come to a real understanding of life, and found the happiness that always eluded him—but, Nietzsche did not want to do that. He fought against God, and he lost. I can agree with Stefan Steinberg’s comment that “In a certain respect Nietzsche’s tragic end is itself a metaphor . . .”—though Steinberg did not mean this in a Christian context, and explained his metaphor in a secular way.[i]

Also examined is the secular nature of Hitler’s thought. Hitler’s hostility to Jewish-inspired Christianity is shown, and his philosophical roots in German philosophy, secular racial anti-Semitism, and German interpretations of Darwinism are explored. It was human wisdom, not the Bible, that opened the door to Hitler.

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Title: Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible: A Scriptural Analysis of Anti-Semitism, National Socialism, and the Churches in Nazi Germany Author: Joseph Keysor Release Date: Hitler’s Birthday, April 20th, 2009. Updated Hard Cover: March 8th, 2010. Soft Cover ISBN: 978-0-9822776-5-2 Hard Cover ISBN: 978-0-9822776-4-5 Pages: 488 Publisher: Athanatos Publishing Group Amazon Link – Hard Cover: Order on Amazon Amazon Link – Soft Cover: Order on Amazon Order soft cover from Publisher: Click Here Order hard cover from Publisher: Click Here Cover Design: Sojourner Design

Author’s Biography:

Joseph Keysor currently teaches English at a private school in Oman, where he has been for over five years. He taught English at private schools, a college, and a university in mainland China for eight years. He has a BA in Russian and East European Studies from MacMurray College and a masters degree in adult education from Northern Illinois University.

Attempting to dispel criticisms of his remark, Harris first gives on the internet the relevant passage from The End of Faith. Then he concedes that he did not express himself as well as he might have-”Granted, I made the job of misinterpreting me easier than it might have been”-and goes on to claim that saying he wants to kill people for their ideas “remains a frank distortion of my views.” He explains:

When one asks why it would be ethical to drop a bomb on Osama bin Laden or Ayman Al Zawahiri, the answer cannot be, “because they have killed so many people in the past.” These men haven’t, to my knowledge, killed anyone personally. However, they are likely to get a lot of innocent people killed because of what they and their followers believe about jihad, martyrdom, the ascendancy of Islam, etc.

At this point we can breathe a sigh of relief-if he only wants to kill some terrorists then it’s alright-and Harris (who wears a white hat) can go back to his hobby of demonizing theists (who wear black hats). A closer examination of his explanation reveals, however, a couple of difficulties.

For one thing, millions of people share Osama bin Laden’s ideas. Should they be killed? If Sam Harris says “Yes,” then he wants to slaughter millions of people not because they have done anything wrong, but because they might do something wrong someday. That was Lenin the atheist’s reasoning in a nutshell. It’s easy for people who deny the immortal soul to advocate-and do-such things. If, on the other hand, Harris says millions of people should not be killed for their ideas, but should only be killed if they put their ideas into practice, or if they enable and cause others to put those ideas into practice, then he has shifted ground considerably, and did express himself poorly.

A second problem with this is that in his aforementioned book The End of Faith, Harris has repeatedly identified not only Islamic extremists, but also Christians who believe in the Bible, as threats to the survival of humanity. According to him, belief in the Bible is a threat to civilization and Christians, not just Osama bin Laden, could easily be included among those whose dangerous ideas require their elimination.

Many quotes could be given to show that Harris sees theism, including biblical Christianity, as a danger.

our religious differences-and hence our religious beliefs [emphasis in original]-antithetical to our survival [emphasis added]. We can no longer ignore the fact that billions of our neighbors believe in the metaphysics of martyrdom, or in the literal truth of the book of Revelation . . .Words like “God” and “Allah” must [emphasis added] go the way of “Apollo” and “Baal,” or they will unmake our world. “[iii]

. . . faith is still the mother of hatred . . . The only salient difference between Muslims and non-Muslims is that the latter have not proclaimed their faith in Allah, and in Mohammed as his prophet. [Harris is imprecise in his use of language here-he says "non-Muslims" when he means "non-Muslim theists like Christians and Jews," not "all non-Muslims"-but his meaning is clear from the preceding words and from the whole thrust of the chapter.][iv]

Words like “the fall of civilization,” “could ultimately destroy us,” “driving us toward the abyss,” “life-destroying gibberish” (this of both the Koran and the Bible)[v] tell us that Sam “The-sky-is-falling” Harris wants to save the human race from religion-and what might not be done if the fate of humanity is at stake? Wouldn’t it be justified to kill some people to save humanity-especially if they have no immortal souls and are nothing but matter?

Harris does not just want to save humanity-he wants to “create the world anew.” This requires “the building of strong communities”[vi] where everyone will think the way Sam Harris wants them to. Wouldn’t life be so much easier in a “unified” community where everyone marched to the beat of the same drum? That was Hitler’s and Lenin’s dream exactly. To achieve this secular paradise religion, especially Christianity and Islam, needs to go. It is urgent for the future well-being of humanity. Religious faith “must” disappear. “Religious tolerance . . . is one of the principle forces driving us toward the abyss.” Along with this clear call for intolerance, Harris advocates “uprooting” religion, which he falsely describes as “the most prolific source of violence in our history.”[vii] Somehow he blames the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the War of 1812, drug related ghetto violence and World Wars I & II on religion.

Sam Harris has a strong incentive to “uproot” the ideas that “must” disappear-the salvation of the human race. Do I need to point out that the word “uproot” has connotations of violence? Harris openly said people with dangerous ideas should be killed, and then, when questioned, said “Oh, I just meant a few terrorists.” He has identified theists, including Bible believing Christians, as people with dangerous ideas that menace the human race. That Christianity is dangerous is one of the main themes of his Letter to a Christian Nation. What is to prevent him, or those with his “values,” from believing that killing Christians, or any other believers, is necessary for the good of mankind?

“The world would be a much better place if we could just get rid of (a) the capitalists and kulaks; (b) the Jews; (c) people who believe in God. They are to blame for all our problems. They are enemies of humanity, and we are doing the world a favor by getting rid of them.”

Once an atheist accused me of “paranoia” on this point-but I am not the least bit paranoid about Sam Harris. I realize he may just be talking without knowing what he is saying-though I doubt it. I realize he will probably never get his hands on the levers of power. I only want to suggest that he may, like Hitler, be pointing at other people as the source of evil when he is a source of evil himself. Certainly the atheists Lenin, Stalin, and Mao make Osama bin Laden look like a Boy Scout. Hitler also gave plausible explanations to those who were concerned about his radical statements.

Perhaps, since the idea that bloodshed follows from secular ideas is one of the main ideas of this study, it might not be too much of a digression to look at another place where Sam Harris advocates a policy that could lead to the deaths of millions. Referring to the SARS scare that emerged out of China in 2003, Harris states that the consequences of China’s irrational and politically motivated policies did not lead to catastrophe-that time. He goes on to say that it is “not difficult to imagine” a situation where inability to properly handle such a health crisis would be too dangerous for the entire world. In that case, “There is little doubt we would ultimately quarantine, invade, or otherwise subjugate such a society.”[viii]

This is a remarkable statement. If a truly world-threatening epidemic were to emerge from China, the Sudan, Burma, Mexico, Rumania, or some other country whose health-standards were less than adequate, Harris thinks it might be necessary to “invade” or “subjugate” such a country. Oh, he allows for the possibility of a quarantine as well, but he can calmly and rationally advocate a policy-including subjugating China or, who knows, even Russia-that would cause unimaginable suffering and slaughter.

Sam Harris has a vision of an ideal world. In this world, there would be no irrational health policies and no security threats, because everyone would have basically the same ideas (his ideas naturally). In order to attain this vision, some people will have to go. Religious people have to go, and threats to the general well-being must be subjugated, by force and invasion and full scale war if necessary. Sam Harris is a good example of how the road to secular Utopias leads through swamps, bogs, and quagmires of human blood and bones-and in the end proves to be unattainable, so all of the suffering was in vain.

[ii] Sam Harris, “Response to Controversy,” http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/response-to-controversy2/; accessed September 2008.

[iii] Harris, The End of Faith, pp. 13-14.

[iv] Ibid., p. 30.

[v] Ibid., pp. 26, 26, 15, 23.

[vi] Ibid., pp. 24, 21.

[vii] Ibid., pp. 14, 15, 27.

[viii] Ibid., p. 233

The belief in the animal nature of man explains some of the more bizarre and seemingly inexplicable aspects of the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of cattle or poultry can be legally and ethically slaughtered to prevent the spread of cattle disease or bird flu. If people are essentially animals, who-except a born weakling, a pacifist windbag, or someone who thoughtlessly parroted Jewish nonsense-would allow poetical ethical notions to interfere with the need to eliminate harmful human beings for the good of society? By the way, I could slaughter a hundred thousand chickens to prevent the spread of bird flu and then go home and enjoy a normal life with my family-and so could someone who rid the earth of some noxious and harmful subhumans.

Also, we breed better forms of cattle or horses, and there is nothing wrong with that. Himmler was being perfectly logical and reasonable in trying to breed better and more advanced types of humans-if, that is, people are essentially no more than animals as Darwinists claim. We use the hair and skin of dead animals-why not do the same with people? To waste the skin and other useful by-products of dead people makes no sense at all-if people are the same as animals.

One of the most weird and difficult aspects of Nazi ideology and actions to comprehend is that they followed logically from certain presuppositions. The Nazis had a clear, consistent, and coherent world-view and acted accordingly. Much of their world view-thought not all of it of course-can be found in the writings of Haeckel, and of many other less prominent German social Darwinists who shared his views.

Returning to our comparison, both Haeckel and Hitler had a sense of hierarchy. Some human animals were higher than, superior to, and worth more than others. This follows logically from an evolutionary scenario-and which group of people, according to secular standards, was the most highly developed in the world? Who had the most advanced technology, and were able to dominate other groups most easily? The Europeans. And who dominated among the Europeans? The Spaniards, the Greeks, the French, the Italians had had their day. The Eastern Europeans were dismissed as backward. It was the northern Europeans, the Germanic peoples, who occupied by right the highest place on the evolutionary tree-all others were beneath them.

Haeckel and Hitler also had an authoritarian and hierarchical view of government. Haeckel never advocated National Socialism-that was (in its final form) inconceivable given the stability of the imperial government. Nevertheless, a shared philosophical hostility to democracy as unhealthy and unnatural, with a strong emphasis on the right of the stronger to dominate, is significant.

Also significant is the very similar concept of God shared by the two men. This was not the God the Judaeo-Christian tradition. It was a god that emerged out of a modern and uniquely German philosophical tradition, a god that was merely the projection of man-made ideas onto the cosmos as a whole. Hitler was not a systematic thinker outside of the limited confines of his ideology, though within those confines he was rigorously logical. Basically his concept of god was a peculiar hybrid: a combination of a Folkish spirit that advanced the human race through the instrumentality of conflict with the German people as its chosen group, and a scientific naturalist view of God as working through, and being understood by, scientific and natural law.

“God” for Haeckel and for Hitler, and for many others of that day, was thus merely an abstract and impersonal concept. It could be described with language borrowed from religion-”Almighty,” “Supreme Being,” “the Creator,” “Providence”-but it was a god invented by human reason and working within the confines of human reason. This is clearly illustrated by Martin Bormann’s concept of God.

It is worth noting how perfectly Bormann’s concepts match Haeckel’s. Some of those concepts are (quoting a Nuremberg document written by Bormann):

National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable . . . National Socialism is based on scientific foundations . . . National Socialism on the other hand must always, if it is to fulfill its job in the future, be organized according to the latest knowledge of scientific research . . .

. . . the concepts of Christianity, which in their essential points have been taken over from Jewry.

When we National Socialists speak of a belief in God, we do not understand by God, like naïve Christians and their spiritual opportunists, a human-type being, who sits around somewhere in space . . . The force of natural law, with which all these innumerable planets move in the universe, we call the Almighty or God.

. . . we National Socialists impose on ourselves the demand to live naturally as much as possible, i.e., biologically. The more accurately we recognize and observe the laws of nature and of life, the more we adhere to them, so much the more do we conform to the will of the Almighty.[i]

That Hitler valued science is insufficiently appreciated. Some quotes from his Table Talk could easily have been made by such apostles of the New Atheism and enemies of Christianity as Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, or Richard Dawkins. For example, he reportedly stated that people were attracted to religion by fear of the unknown or by intellectual simplicity, but the time would come “when science can answer all the questions.”[ii]

This source has many comments to that effect. Religion would “crumble” before the “advances of science”; science cannot err too much because it is non-dogmatic and self-correcting. Hitler is quoted as saying, “science postulates the search for, and not the certain knowledge of, the truth.” Religious dogma was in conflict with research, and would collapse “under the battering-ram of science.”[iii]

In what became a minor internet controversy, the aforementioned Richard Dawkins compared one of his opponents, Shmuley Boteach (a Jewish rabbi), to Hitler. Elaborating on his comment, Dawkins was careful to explain that he did not mean Boteach thought like Hitler, or acted like Hitler, only that he sounded like Hitler, or spoke like Hitler.[iv] Not enough people have pointed out that, on the level of ideas, Dawkins can also be compared to Hitler-although Dawkins is far too humane and decent a man to really try and live by the evolutionary theory he professes to believe in. Hitler was much more consistent.

[ii] “Excerpts from Hitler’s Table Talk,” see note 7 above.

[iii] Ibid.

In his book A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People 110 B.C. to the 21st Century (London 2004), Prof. Steven Ozment uses the Table Talk to document Hitler’s belief in evolution and in the superiority of science over religion (p 282). He also states that it was the decline of traditional values and the emergence of modern ideology that opened the door to Hitler (pp. 252, 276, 286).

[iv] Richard Dawkins, “My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach,” The Huffington Post; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-dawkins/my-response-to-rabbi-shmu_b_100910.html; accessed September 2008.

The present situation

Christianity is being attacked in America today as never before. On TV shows and in movies, in the news media, in academia, in best-selling books, etc., Christians are being increasingly portrayed as narrow-minded, intolerant, ignorant, hypocritical, and even evil. This goes beyond mere ridicule. The basic teachings of Christianity are being condemned to an extent previously unimagined in this country.

It is being increasingly said that Christianity has had a negative impact on America’s history and culture-not just because of abuses, but because of fundamental characteristics of the religion. It was the Christians, it is argued, who enslaved the blacks, exterminated the Indians, oppressed women, burdened people with guilt and denied them sexual freedom, and forced the gays to stay in the closet.

Christianity has even been blamed for pollution and the destruction of the environment. God’s commandment in Genesis to “subdue” the earth and “have dominion” over the creatures is said to be a license for ecological plundering and pillaging. Never mind that the destruction of the environment only emerged as a serious problem in the modern era, nearly two thousand years after Christ died and rose again. Never mind that those who make the most noise about the destruction of the environment continue to enjoy their wasteful and environmentally destructive modern lifestyles while they attack the Bible.

Part of this negative trend has been increasing attempts to link Christianity and the Bible to Adolf Hitler and the crimes of the Nazis. While it will seem incredible to some that the teachings of Christ and the Bible should be linked to Aryan supremacy, German militarism, the horrors of the death camps, and the extermination of six million Jews, such is sadly the case.

Christianity linked to Naziism

In the recent past, it was much more commonly assumed that Christianity had nothing to do with National Socialism. It was believed that Christianity was basically benevolent, while National Socialism was basically evil, that Hitler was as far removed from the Sermon on the Mount as it is humanly possible to get. The great majority of Americans would have assumed that the Jewish experience in America was the norm, the result of the Christian influence on American culture.

The cultural climate has changed in the last fifty years, however, and the growing power of secularism makes people less inclined to view Christianity so tolerantly. The well-known support of German Christians for Hitler; statements about God, Christianity, and the churches by Hitler and by leading Nazis, including strong opposition to atheism; Hitler’s Catholic upbringing and his Concordat with the Vatican; the fact that Hitler never officially withdrew from the Catholic Church; the official support for “positive Christianity” in the Nazi party platform; the supposed fact that Hitler came to power in an overwhelmingly Christian country; centuries of Christian anti-Semitism; verses in the New Testament that seem hostile to Jews; the massacres of the Canaanites in the Old Testament-all of these and even other arguments have been emphasized by those who see more and more evidence of connections between Hitler and Christianity.

Reputable scholars and historians have studied Hitler’s ideology more objectively. George Mosse’s The Crisis of German Ideology: Intellectual Origins of the Third Reich; Daniel Gasman’s The Scientific Origins of National Socialism; Peter Viereck’s Metapolitics: The Roots of the Nazi Mind; Richard Weikart’s From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany; Michael Mack’s German Idealism and the Jew: The Inner Anti-Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses; Paul Lawrence Rose’s Revolutionary Antisemitism in Germany from Kant to Wagner-these all show from different perspectives and with different emphases how the 19th century’s secular philosophies opened the door to the emergence of horrors unprecedented in the history of the human race. John Conway’s The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-1945 does not deal with the origins of National Socialism, but it demonstrates that Hitler viewed Christianity as a rival for the allegiance of the German people and sought to eliminate its influence as much as possible, his devious political rhetoric notwithstanding.

The work of these and other authors too numerous to name have had a significant impact, but unfortunately there remain those who seem to relish attacking Christianity. Oblivious to historical realities and misinformed or even hopelessly ignorant of biblical teachings, they continue to try to link Christianity to Hitler. They have had an impact as well, and we should not underestimate them. Too few Christians understand the extent to which what they perceive as a beneficent religion of grace, peace, and forgiveness is increasingly associated by many with the cruelties of the Third Reich.

A Holocaust video checked out from the local library asserts that centuries of Christian anti-Semitism made Jews Hitler’s natural target (completely omitting all of 19th-century secular and racial anti-Semitism). A popular biography of Hitler agrees with a Holocaust scholar that Hitler was just carrying out the policies of the Roman Catholic Church when he slaughtered the Jews. An in-depth academic analysis of the Holocaust published by a prestigious university press and acclaimed by scholars from top American universities refers to the false and “venomous” anti-Jewish teachings of the New Testament and asserts that by demonizing the Jews Christianity played a significant role in laying the foundations for the Holocaust.[i]

The debate over what Hitler believed and where he got his ideas has not merely continued over the years, it has intensified. This is true to such an extent that Richard Evans, editor of the prestigious Journal of Contemporary History has written, “The relationship of German National Socialism to religion in general, and Christianity in particular, has recently moved to the forefront of historical inquiry.”[ii] Partly this is due to a natural human desire for deeper spiritual understanding that the countless secular books about Hitler have not satisfied and will never satisfy. Partly it is due to the fact that linking Hitler to Christianity is an increasingly common tactic in the culture wars. If Naziism can be convincingly blamed on Christian influence, then obviously Christians are potentially dangerous fanatics who deserve to be marginalized or even excluded from the political process as much as possible. This reasoning explains why some believe they are protecting American liberty and democracy by working to eliminate Christian influence. There are those who sincerely believe that they are defending democracy by attacking and marginalizing Christianity.

…

As groundless as such arguments are, they are effective with people who know little about history and nothing about Christianity. In more than one internet debate, I have been referred to Walker’s website for proof that Christianity leads to hatred, cruelty, and fascism. Such accusations have gone for far too long without a direct response. As was the case in Germany, the Christians in America have been too passive and inert while the forces of darkness grow in strength and intensity. The spread of such ideas will affect us directly and has already begun to affect us. We are mistaken if we think that because God has blessed America with liberty in the past, we are therefore guaranteed of this blessing forever.

[ii] Richard Evans, “Naziism, Christianity and Political Religion: A Debate,” Journal of Contemporary History 42, no. 1 (2007), p. 5

Keysor’s book is thought-provoking in the extreme, extensively researched and referenced and written from a clearly intellectual, rather than polemical standpoint. It is a welcome addition to a wide and controversial historiography and is worthy of serious consideration. READ THE WHOLE REVIEW

From the Messianic Times:

On the face of it, the premise that Hitler was a practicing Christian seems to reside in the gutters of the same dark, dead-end road as eugenics, Holocaust denials, and The Protocols of Zion. The conclusion seems so absurd, that an entire tome dedicated to its dismantling feels like overkill. Unfortunately, a modicum of investigation shows that it is necessary to refute this notion.

In the last fifteen years or so, the idea that from birth to bunker, Hitler was a Christian, has gained enough traction as to be taken seriously in academic circles— so much so, that author Joe Keysor felt compelled to definitively counter this absurd misconception in his new book, Hitler, The Holocaust, and The Bible.  [Full review available only to subscribers.]

From Don Hank writing at the John Birch Society:

Keysor notes something that no other historians seem to have noticed despite the fastidious research into the Third Reich, namely, the salient effect of secular influences on Hitler and the major secularizing influence of modernist theology on biblical Christianity in Germany long before Hitler emerged. Keysor points out that the secular philosophers who influenced Hitler most were Kant, Fichte and Hegel, as well as certain others. But the Folkish tradition, “with its uniquely German interpretations of Darwinism, added immensely to the respectability of the movement” as “…articulated in the writings of the eminent German Darwinist Ernst Haeckel.”

Keysor writes that, while historians constantly point to supposed religious fanaticism (Crusades, Inquisition) as a dangerous ingredient in politics, no one points out that “the atrocities of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro and Pol Pot, are much more relevant to our own times and even some centuries ago, and much greater in terms of the numbers slain…” and yet they “are not held up as examples of the dangers inherent in trying to organize society by reason alone.”

From Sntjohnny.com:

Extensively researched with an immense bibliography to boast, Mr. Keysor’s book exhaustively mines the writings that Hitler himself cited as influential (if anyone care’s about Hitler as an authoritative source on the matter, of course) and writings that perhaps were not expressly cited but clearly reflected in Hitler’s ideology.

Mr. Keysor astutely observes, “Odd, that for so many people the 16th century and the 1st century had so much to do with the Holocaust, and the 19th century had nothing to do with it.” (pg 70)

This completely jibes with my assessment of the situation, too.

From Atheism is Dead (an exhaustive review!)

Overall, Joe Keysor’s “Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible” is a great read which combines the excitement of a thriller, the intellectual satisfaction of carefully considered historical information and logic, the dichotomous nature of polemics, along with an emotional roller coaster.

This is a very serious book on one of world history’s most serious subjects and yet, I have never laughed so often whilst reading such seriousness as Joe Keysor’s commonsensical approach exposed the sheer nakedness of the pseudo-skeptic propagandists time and time, and time and time again with a touch of gentle “irreverent” whit with an occasional touch of sarcasm.

Surely, it is an important contribution to the historical study of Adolf Hitler and Nazism, the discernment of polemics and propaganda, the sensitive nature of multi-cultural relationships, and the essential importance of treating the Bible and Christianity in a fair and hermeneutically appropriate manner.

From James Hannam at Quodilbeta:

I’m no specialist on the Nazis but luckily I know a man who is. My friend Edward Bartlett-Jones, while certainly no Nazi himself, does appear to know far more about them than might be considered healthy. Some say he has the score of Wagner’s Die Walküre embroidered into his bathrobe, others claim that he leaves copies of Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra in dentists’ waiting rooms. Needless to say, he lives in Berlin. He is also an agnostic and so I thought I should send him Keysor’s Hitler, the Holocaust and the Bible for an expert opinion. He replied,

Overall I think it’s a good book but it has a strong Christian bias. The research is commendably thorough and without going back through the original sources, I didn’t see anything that struck me as being taken out of context. There is a good summary of Hitler’s philosophy (p48-49) and anyone who still thinks Hitler was a Catholic should be persuaded otherwise by page 87. There is also a good explanation of what Hitler meant by “God” on pages 93 to 94.

From Chris writing at AtheismisDead:

In Joe Keysor’s well-timed book, “Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Bible,” the reader is taken into the intriguing but sobering worldview that drove the machinations of Hitler’s regime. The timing is right, because Joe Keysor recognizes that when Reductio ad Hitlerum arguments against Christianity are packaged in philosophical sophistry and served up by the disarming bespectacled professor, that it is time to call the bluff.

9

95 Theses, Martin Luther, 67, 84

A

abortion, 41, 138, 176, 203, 379, 391, 392, 394, 449, 450

another holocaust, 451

Adams, John, 239, 240

Adolf Hitler:  The Making of a Fuhrer (Who was Responsible?), Walter S. Frank, 235, 324

Age of Reason, The, Thomas Paine, 431

Ahasuerus, 319

Al Qaeda, 442

American Eugenics Society

Case for Sterilization, 379

American Friends Service Committee, 221

Anthropologie, H. S. Chamberlain, 336

Antichrist:  Curse on Christianity, The, Friedrich Nietzsche, 399, 400, 403–4

anti-Semitism. See also Christian:anti-Semitism

Christian, 5, 7, 9, 11, 15, 209–13, 239

modern racial, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 88, 94, 97–100, 117, 152, See also German anti-Semitism

beginnings, 239, 250

not a biblical concept, 195, See also biblical teaching and the Jews

Archbishop of Canterbury, 183

Archbishop of Cologne, 62

Archbishop of Mainz, 62

Arndt, Ernst Moritz, 276

Aryan Christianity, 183, 289, 315, See also Germanic Christianity, See also Folkish Ideology

Aryan supremacy, 2, 10, 43, 94, 98, 117, 129, 138, 177, 187, 193, 214, 311, 321, 334, 357, 389, 438

Augustine, 56, 57, 359

Auschwitz, 20, 28, 42, 56, 262, 285, 384, 435

Austrian churches

Nazi policies towards, 121–22

Avrich, Paul, 232, 233

Russian Rebels:  1600-1800, 232

B

Barmen Declaration, 193–95

Bauer, F.C., 198

Bayreuth circle, 286, 321, 335, See also Wagner circle

dedicated to popularizing Wagner’s ideas, 321

Beer Hall Putsch, 75, 168

Behrens, Pastor Johann Gerhard, 175

Benedict XII, 62

Berlin Embassy, William Russell, 220

Bernhardi, General Friedrich von

war a biological necessity, 277

Bertram, Cardinal Adolf, 140, 150, 175, 189, 202, 208

Beyond Good and Evil, Friedrich Nietzsche, 410, 413, 416, 421

biblical concept of death, 373

biblical concept of evil

Holocaust not new in the context of, 231

Satan, 16–17

two pronged, 16

biblical concept of freedom, 275

biblical concept of government, 215–20, 266, 423, 436–38, See government:biblical concept of

biblical concept of man, 274

original sin, 19–22

biblical teaching and the Jews

Apostles, 64–65

Paul, 6, 14, 22, 23–26, 27, 29, 30–32, 32–33, 39, 40, 52, 54, 57, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 72, 76, 82, 85, 86, 136, 141, 143, 155, 156, 177, 184, 197, 207, 209, 213, 216, 217, 286, 289, 290, 295, 348, 354, 360, 412, 413, 414–15, 417, 419, 424, 437

all humanity equally unable to earn God’s favor, 30–31

future redemption of the Jews, 62

guilty of the blood of the Lord by communing unworthily, 64

on being a Christian, 23–26

righteousness of God obtained through faith in Christ applies to all humanity, 31

servants of the Lord must be meek and gentle towards those who oppose, 66

shared Christ with those who attacked him, 64

though enemies of the gospel Jews are beloved, 32

went to synagogue after synagogue teaching of Christ and forgiveness of sins, 64

wicked people claiming to be Christian to be put out of the church, 27

New Testament, 32–33, 39, 41, 42

the crucifixion, 34, 35, 38, 39

Gentile culpability, 35, 38

Old Testament massacres, 45–47

Bishop Jean of Speyer, 62

Bishop of Bavaria, 208

Bishop of Trier, 62

Bismarck, Otto von, 104, 141, 144, 171, 292, 377, 412

Blavatski, Madame, 293

Blood Purge, 102, 105, 190, 198, 322

Bolotnikov, Ivan, 232, 233

Bolshevism, 89, 121, 141, 151, 182, 188, 196, 418, 436

Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther, 67

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 212, 213, 226

Boris III, King of Bulgaria, 221

Bormann, Martin, 22, 100, 105, 110, 123, 136, 141, 142, 175, 180, 181, 182, 184, 212, 386, 402, 425

Braune, Pastor, 176

Brownshirts. See SA (Sturmabteilung, storm troopers, Brownshirts)

Buch, Walter, 22, 118

Buechner, Ludwig, 273

Bulavin, Kondrati, 232

Bultmann, Rudolf, 199, 200, 355

Bungardt, K.M., 271

Bunyan, John

Pilgrim’s Progress, 266

C

Calvin, John, 437

Case for Sterilization, American Eugenics Society, 379

Catholic Centre Party, 113, 139, 169, 177

Chamberlain, Houston Stewart, 10, 81, 88, 101, 102, 150, 198, 248, 250, 258, 287, 289, 311, 319, 321, 334–60, 366, 368, 380, 390, 410, 411, 414, 422, 423, 430, 441

advocated purging Jewish influence from Christianity, 410

Anthropologie, 336

early member of Nazi party, 335

hailed as a prophet and founder of National Socialism, 335

Jewish historical understanding identical to Nietzsche, 410

obsessed with racial purity, 366

on Christ and the Bible, 350–60

on the Jews, 335–50

Race and Nation, 335

The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, 334, 335, See also Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, The,  Houston Stewart Chamberlain

Christian

anti-Semitism, 5, 17

medieval, 55, 56

concepts of the government, 58, 59

concepts of the Jews, 56–57

Augustine, 56–57

Bernard of Clairvaux, 56

Crusades. See Crusades

Gregory of Nyssa, 63

Hippolytus, 63

John Chrysostom, 63, 65, 66

Martin Luther, 66, 67, 144, See also Luther, Martin

moral doctrines, 59, 60

restraints against, 54, 56–61

Count Otto of Burgundy, 60

Emperor Frederic I, 61

Emperor Henry IV, 60

Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, 60

King Stephen of England, 60

Louis IX of France, 61

Louis VII of France, 61

Richard I of England, 61

William de Longchamp, 61

opposition to Hitler’s policies, 172–76

Bishop Dibelius, 184, 185

Cardinal Pacelli, 104

churches were only organizations to give sustained opposition, 195

Confessing Church. See Confessing Church

euthanasia

Bishop Galen, 175, See under Galen, Bishop

Bishop Preysing, 176

Bishop Theophil Wurm, 175

Cardinal Adolf Bertram, 175

Ernst Wilm, 176

Pastor Braune, 176, See under Braune, Pastor

German vs. non-German Christians, 221–22

lack of, 170, 178, 179, 190

Martin Niemoller, 144. See under Niemoller, Martin

Pastor Johann Gerhard Behrens, 175

Pastor Karl Friedrich Stellbrink, 175

Pastor Schneider, 185, 189, 224

Pastor von Jan of Oberlenningen, 173, 174

support of Hitler’s policies

coerced, 122

conventional secular explanations for, 20

Germanic Christianity, 198, See Germanic Christianity

what is a false?, 26–28

what is a?, 23–26, 155–57

the Church, 39

Christian German Movement, 196

Chronicle of Solomon bar Simson

insults Christianity, 71

Chrysostom, John, 7, 12, 53, 54, 56, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67

Church Ministry, 175, 206, 207

Church of Rome, 61, 63, 202–3

Archbishop of cologne, 62

Archbishop of Mainz, 62

Benedict XII, 62

Bernard of Clairvaux, 62

Bishop Jean of Seyer, 62

Bishop of Trier, 62

Henry VI, 60

Innocent III, 62

Innocent IV, 62

Joshua Trachtenberg, 62

opposition to Hitler’s policies

Bishop of Mainz, 202

Cardinal Pacelli, 104

Mit Brennender Sorge, 103

protests, 104, 124, 140

papal bulls, 62, 140

support of Hitler

Concordat, 103, See also under Concordat with the Vatican

Clairvaux, Bernard of, 56, 62

Class, Heinrich, 295

Cohen, Nick, 429, 442

What’s Left?, 442

Communism, 97, 110, 130, 197, 300, 308, 350, 425, 426, 427, 429, 443, 445

parallels with National Socialism, 427–29

Communist Party, 138, 164, 170, 204

concentration camps, 118, 122, 124, 125, 138, 144, 171, 172, 173, 188, 189, 195, 196, 427

Auschwitz. See under Auschwitz

Buchenwald, 125, 185, 189, 224

Sachsenhausen, 124, 144, 169, 185, 196

Concordat with the Vatican, 2, 8, 83, 103, 104, 121, 123, 139, 140, 141, 147, 184, 202, 203–4, 241

promised rights and security, 103

violated, 103–5, 140

Confessing Church. See also Prussian Union of the Confessing Church

Conway, Professor John, 2, 9, 12, 103, 104, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 133, 135, 140, 143, 146, 177, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 186, 188, 195, 196, 202, 211

The Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-1945, 2, 9, 103

Count Otto of Burgundy, 60

Crisis of German Ideology, The, Prof. Mosse, 2, 80, 230, 250, 288, 308, 362

Crusades, 7, 11, 18, 30, 43, 50, 54, 55, 60, 61, 62

Jewish death toll, 55

Crystal Night. See under Kristallnacht (Crystal Night)

D

d’Holbach, Baron, 239

Dachau, 124, 125, 144, 176, 205

Darwin, Charles, 2, 49, 98, 128, 138, 155, 201, 229, 252, 258, 282, 288, 362–80, 383, 390, 392, 393, 394, 421, 436

basic rule of life, 366

saw extermination of lesser developed races as natural, 364

The Descent of Man, 394

The Origin of Species, 364, 365

white race superior, 364

Darwinism, 10, 33, 49, 94, 95, 97, 110, 130, 139, 163, 164, 165, 206, 221, 270, 287, 350, 362–70, 370, 371, 373, 375, 376, 378, 379, 383, 384, 390, 391, 392, 394, 400, 420, 421, 427, 430, 431, 438, 442, 443, 445, 452

arguments against connections to Hitler and National Socialism, 362, 365, 369, 370

basic rule of life, 366

connections to National Socialism and Hitler, 362–69

consistency with Haeckel’s ideas, 390–94

devoid of moral imperatives to protect the Jews, 451–52

same spirit of the insignificance of individual humans persists today, 374, 379

understanding humans through study of insects, 375

Dawkins, Richard, 385, 387, 438

Der Schwarze Corps, 104

Descartes, 237, 238

divine revelation unnecessary, 237

first modern philosopher, 237

wisdom within the self, 237

Descent of Man, The, Charles Darwin, 364, 394

Dictionnaire philosophique, Voltaire, 239

Diderot, 239

Diederichs, Eugen, 295, 296

Dietrich, Dr., 198

Dinter, Artur, 335

E

Ecce Homo, Friedrich Nietzsche, 400

Eckart, Dietrich, 126, 247, 335

Eichmann, Adolf, 25, 181, 252, 280

Eight Orations Against the Jews, 63

Emperor Frederic I, 61

Emperor Henry IV, 60

Enabling Bill of 1933, 169

End of Faith, The, Sam Harris, 446, 447

Engelmann, Bernt, 104, 171, 173

Enlightenment, 10, 80, 99, 108, 111, 139, 164, 234, 237–43, 245, 265, 276, 282, 284, 305, 306, 316, 340, 347, 370, 429, 434, 440, 442, 445, See also Kant, Immanuel

appealed to the modern, liberal, and secular sectors of society, 14

Descartes, 237

elevated reason and rejected revelation, 198

gave birth to destructive false philosophies, 18

Holocaust consistent with Enlightenment thought, 251

Kant, 245

led to churches abandoning basic doctrines, 80, 198

nation began to assume quasi-religious importance, 81

turning away from traditional religion was one of the most essential characteristics of, 98

Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-55), Arthur de Gobineau, 284

Eternity, Ernst Haeckel, 375, 376, 381

eugenics, 100, 369, 379, 383, 388

euthanasia, 9, 175–76, 204, 209, 246, 378, 379, 438

Evans, Richard, 3, 13, 77, 107, 159, 162, 164, 222, 253, 333, 378, 395

Explaining Hitler, Ron Rosenbaum, 227

F

Faith Movement of German Christians, 196

19th century science superior to biblical revelation, 201

considered original sin an insult to the Aryan, 197

cross redefined as sacrifice for National Socialism, 197

National Socialism a continuation of Protestant Reformation, 198

saw Jesus as Aryan, 197

saw main task as being Germans, 197

totally abandoned scripture, 197

Faulhaber, Cardinal, 153, 202

Federation for a German Church, 196

Feuerbach, 131, 309, 316

Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 10, 76, 88, 117, 155, 157, 201, 229, 239, 243, 244, 253–55, 255, 258–67, 268, 270, 271, 272, 276, 279, 284, 288, 289, 291, 293, 304, 307, 323, 334, 347, 390, 440

advocated German racial purity, 263

Eighth Address, 263

eternal life exists for fatherland, not individuals, 260

freedom exists in being German, 261

German supremacy, 260

Jews an alien and contaminating body, 264

thought only solution was to return Jews to their promised land, 264

love for the fatherland to be above all, 263

Thirteenth Address, 264

Twelfth Address, 263

Final Solution, 113, 181, 210, 222

Fischer, Eugen, 287

Folkish Ideology, 10, 80, 98–100, 136, 164, 229, 239, 243, 272, 280, 287–96, 304, 309, 317, 334, 336, 339, 341, 350, 362, 369, 370, 375, 383, 384, 386, 389, 422, 440, 441, See also Wagner, Richard

and German romanticism, 292

core emphasis, 287

led to emphasis on purifying and unifying the Folk, 306

foundational to Naziism, 288

founders

Julius Langbehn, 288

Paul de Lagarde, 288

opposed to traditional (biblical) Christianity, 295, 296

Pan-German Association, 294

penetrated the highest levels of German culture, 321

predecessor to National Socialism, 243, 288

strengthening of, 292–93

supremacy of blond Aryans a common theme, 422

Folkish Ideology and National Socialism

a result of elevating human reason, 438, 439

summary of major philosophic themes leading to, 440–42

Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, The,  Houston Stewart Chamberlain, 334, 335

brief summary of, 334

popular reading material, 335

praised as Nazi gospel, 335

Frank, Hans, 278

Frank, Walter S., 135, 235, 256, 323, 324

Adolf Hitler:  The Making of a Fuhrer (Who was Responsible?), 235, 324

Freedom in Science and Teaching, Ernst Haeckel, 372

French Huguenots, 221

French rationalism, 306, 317

French Revolution, 238, 240, 452

Friedländer, Saul, 172, 221, 425

The Years of Extermination:  Nazi Germany and the Jews, 207, 425

Fries, Jakob, 276

Fritsch, Theodor, 421, 434

From Darwin to Hitler:  Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, Richard Weikart, 2, 49, 373, 421

Fuhrer concept, 58, 118, 136, 143, 147, 148, 187, 188, 199, 269, 295, 308, 324, 390

opposed to scripture, 7

G

Galen, Bishop, 175, 182, 186, 188

Gasman, Daniel, 2, 12, 110, 293, 369, 370, 371, 373, 374, 376, 383, 384, 388, 389

Gasperi, Alcide de, 59, 275

German anti-Semitism, 54, 76, 82, 243, 270

included hostility for having introduced Christianity, 380

prior to Darwin was not biologically based, 364

German Catholic Bishops, 182

German Christians, 2, 8, 9, 44, 80, 113, 130, 135, 138, 151, 158, 162, 171, 172, 190, 196, 197, 201, 208, 215, 216, 451, See also Prussian Union of the Confessing Church

Bible contains poetical and moral truth, 201

Faith Movement of German Christians, 196–99, See also Germanic Christianity

persecution of, 135

politicization of the German church, 77

reasons for lack of opposition to Hitler and Naziism, 214

German Communist Party, 164, 166, 167, 170

repeatedly attempted to seize power, 167

German Diet, 268

German Essays, Paul de Lagarde, 290

German Evangelical Churches, 182

German Faith Movement, 193

German Idealism and the Jew:  The Inner Anti-Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses, Professor Michael Mack, 2, 245

German romanticism, 49, 291–92, 306

German support for Hitler See also Hitler and politics

enthusiasm for future defeat by Allied invaders, 167

in 1932 Germans became powerless to oppose, 166

lack of enthusiasm for war, 167

mass demonstration against Hitler by labor, 166

nearly two-thirds voted against, 165

never received a majority in a free election, 165

opposition from German communists, 166

German Volkdom, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, 269

Germanic Christianity, 22, 116, 148, 151, 162, 179, 183, 191, 192, 193, 194, 196–202, 209, 311, 334, 335, 350, See also Positive Christianity

advocated purging all teachings of the Apostle Paul, 22

defined, 147

origin in Folkish Ideology, 289

Germany

not a Christian nation, 163–65

Gestapo, 122, 124, 143, 172, 173, 175, 180, 181, 182, 183, 185, 189, 194, 195, 200, 211

Gilbert, Martin, 83, 133, 204, 205, 439

The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, 83, 133, 206

Gobineau Society, 286, 295

Gobineau, Arthur de, 10, 81, 88, 97, 99, 258, 284–87, 306, 307, 313, 336, 339, 340, 374, 390, 422

Aryans are aristocracy, 285

Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races (1853-55), 284

racial purity, 284

white supremacy, 285

God

Hitler’s concept of, 111

Goebbels, Joseph, 118, 119, 143, 145, 175, 182, 186, 206, 212, 220, 323, 335, 422, 425

Goering, Hermann Wilhelm, 105, 119, 128, 143, 145, 146, 149, 180, 186, 212

Goethe, 163, 259, 336, 345, 347, 358, 359, 373, 374

Goldberg, Jonah, 379, 446

Liberal Fascism:  The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, 379

Goldhagen, Daniel, 20

Hitler’s Willing Executioners:  Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, 20

Grant, Madison, 379

The Passing of the Great Race, 379

Gregory of Nyssa, 63

Greiser, Arthur, 123

Grueber, Pastor, 205

Guevara, Che, 446

Gurlitt, Ludwig, 296

H

Haeckel, Ernst, 10, 12, 49, 110, 111, 127, 139, 149, 155, 163, 252, 258, 287, 288, 292, 318, 362–95, 402, 420, 421, 422, 429

advocated euthanasia, 378–80

earliest significant German advocate, 378

anti-Semitism, 380–81

Jewish evolution very advanced, 381

Jews to be blamed for Christian influence on society, 380

nationally and racially motivated, 380

recommended assimilation, 380

believed in spontaneous generation as a common occurrence, 382

Catholicism bankrupt, 371

committed to Darwinism, 371

authoritarianism, 375–77

became known as Germany’s leading apologist for Darwinism, 370

death normal, 373

extermination of primitive races merely evolution, 372

primitive races more like dogs than people, 373

racism, 373–75

some animals higher than some people in development, 374

extermination of the useless, 373

human life no special value, 372

ideas coincide with Schopenhauer, 372

infanticide natural, 373

Jews very highly developed, therefore especially dangerous, 381

man merely animal, 372

no higher law than evolution, 371

no moral laws, 372, 374

placed the concept of survival-of-the-fittest at national and racial levels, 372

sought to deduce implications for human life, 371

struggle for existence basic law of life, 372

committed to the sovereignty of human reason, 370

concept of God, 381

condemned by some contemporaries for his views, 382

cosmos was an organism united by, 382

denied free-will, 372

doctrine of eternal recurrence, 382

elevated racism from mere Folkish philosophy to scientific fact, 375

Eternity, 375, 376, 381

ethics, 377–78

Freedom in Science and Teaching, 372

Golden Rule

applied to those united in and useful to the Darwinistic struggle, 377

preceded Christiantiy, 377

hope for future lay in scientific knowledge, 371

ideas consistent with Darwinism, 390–94

immortal soul a superstition, 372

modern Western society sick and unhealthy, 422

Monism as Connecting Religion and Science:  The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science, 381

not expelled from Free Evangelical Church despite repudiation of Christianity, 371

on Christ, 370–71

on the Bible

Gospels forged manuscripts, 370

Protestantism a lie, 371

racial purity, 374

similarity to Hitler, 383–89

some of his books best-sellers, 371

The History of Creation, 370, 374

The Riddle of the Universe, 370, 377, 380, 382

Wonders of Life, 373, 374

Hallie, Philip, 221

Handbuch des Judentums, Heinrich von Treitschke, 252

Harnack, Adolf von, 198, 359

Harris, Sam, 387, 438, 446, 447, 448, 449

The End of Faith, 446, 447

Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 10, 58, 77, 99, 109, 110, 127, 155, 163, 201, 229, 243, 244, 252, 254, 258, 265, 270, 279, 280, 282, 284, 287, 288, 289, 291, 293, 304, 307, 347, 355, 366, 368, 390, 411, 436, 440, 441

a Christian?, 276, See also Christian, what is a?

concepts of government, 58, 59

advocated worship of the state, 275

German supremacy, 276

Germans new chosen people, 272

god as World Spirit directing human progression, 272, 273

individual suffering meaningless, 273

Jews obselete, 278

war good and necessary, 271, 277

worth of man comes through the state, 274

Heine, Heinrich, 267, 268, 267–68, 268, 412

On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany, 267

Henry VIII, 77

Henry, Matthew, 7, 36–38, 54, 85, 88

Hep riots, 14, 58

causes, 14

governmental opposition to, 14

supporters of, 14

Herder, Johann von, 260, 263, 336, 339, 347

Hess, Rudolf, 120, 121, 179, 180, 181, 192, 203

Heydrich, Reinhard, 171, 180

Himmler:  Reichsfuhrer-SS, Peter Padfield, 407

Himmler, Heinrich, 105, 123, 125, 145, 148, 176, 180, 181, 184, 186, 212, 242, 253, 282, 320, 335, 357, 385, 407, 413, 419, 425, 430

attracted to Hinduism and the caste system, 407

Hindenburg, President, 102, 113, 165, 166, 177, 192

Hippolytus, 63

History of Biology, Erik Nordenskiold, 382

History of Creation, The, Ernst Haeckel, 370, 374

Hitler

an internationalist, 403

as a Christian, 8, 112, 152–58

Catholicism, 102–5

Christian artwork, 134

hostile to missions, 100, 140

intolerance of Christianity, 101

lack of Christian doctrines, 93–94

preferred Islam over Christianity for warlike principles, 422

professions of Christianity, 102, 105, 106, 107

references to God, 109–12

references to the Bible, 106, 112

rejection of biblical governing, 98

rejection of creation, 99

rejection of the Old Testament, 96–97

statements of support for the church, 112–14, See also Concordat with the Vatican

unbiblical principals, 94–100

view of Christianity’s greatness, 100

Communism linked to Christianity, 425–27

Darwin

arguments against connections to Darwinism, 362, 365

deeply hostile to capitalism, 326

defined idealism as subordination of the self to the group, 249

development

anti-Semitism, 328–30

elimination of Jews a stated goal by 1919, 328

as a youth, 234–37, 247, 266–67

Rienzi, 323–25

avid reader, 253–58

selective reading habits, 254

believed himself to be the agent of a higher power, 265–66

Chamberlain, 334–35, See also Chamberlain, Houston Stewart

concept of socialism and ideal state, 326–28

Darwin, 366–69, See also Darwin, Charles, See also Darwinism

Fichte, 253–55, 258–67, See also Fichte, Johann Gottlieb

Folkish Ideology, 287–96

Gobineau, 284–87, See also Gobineau, Arthur de

Haeckel, 383–89, See also Haeckel, Ersnt

Hegel. See also Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich

ideology, National Socialism

meaning of life and immortality exist in the nation, 261

Jahn, 268–71, See also Jahn, Friedrich Ludwig

Kant, 244–53, See also Kant, Immanuel

Lagarde. See also Lagarde, Paul de

Langbehn, 293–94, See also Langbehn, Julius

Nietzsche, 422–27, See also Nietzsche, Friedrich

Schopenhauer. See also Schopenhauer, Arthur

Wagner. See also Wagner, Richard

Wagner circle, 321–22

distortions of Christianity, 105–6

Hitler’s Table Talk. See Hitler’s Table Talk

ideological origins, 5, 429–31, See also Hitler:development

had a developed worldview as the basis of his actions, 235

instrument of Satan, 16–18

Jewish selfishness destroys civilization, 248

last will and testament, 109

main goals, 102

Mein Kampf. See Mein Kampf

methodical liar, 102, 112–14, 114, 167–70

principles of our existence, 94–96

racial purity, 81, 97, 99, 100

study notes on the Bible, 48–49

Hitler and politics, 165–69

1922 minor figure embracing Christian rhetoric, 106, 107, 108

1930 Nazi party victory, 165

1932 election loss, 165

1933 Nazi party loss, 165, 166

Beer Hall Putsch, 75, 168, 335

hailed by Chamberlain as chosen by God to save Germany, 335

moderated image after, 168

campaigning as a supporter of the church, 112, 113

Chancellor by appointment, 165

limitations of power, 166

opposition to, 166

condemned Marxist atheism, 402

from limited Chancellor to unlimited dictator, 166, 169

misleading rhetoric, 179

influence of the churches, 170, See also Hitler and the churches

never received majority vote, 165

religious right?, 428–29

repeatedly promised in the 1930′s not to harm the Jews, 169

use of force to prevent opposition, 170–72

Hitler and the churches, 125, 170–215, 215–22

disagreement amongst leadership, 179–82

main avenues of attack, 179

administrative control, 27, 182–86

ideological challenge, 186–88

persecution, 188–90, See also persecution of the church

policy changes over time, 176, 178, 179

positive statements towards, 112, 113, 114

reluctance towards wholesale persecution, 182, 208

Hitler and the Holocaust:  How and Why the Holocaust Happened, Robert Wistrich, 425

Hitler Speaks, Hermann Rauschning, 323

Hitler Youth, 146, 187, 192

“Hitler’s Christianity,” Jim Walker, 3, 8, 47, 125-155, 402

main assertions, 126

bias, 130-132

ignorance of historical information, 132-135

distorted logic, 135-138

misstatements of fact, 138-141

Nazi photos used to prove connections to Christianity, 147-151

Nazi religious art, 151-152

ignorance of biblical Christianity, 152-157

Hitler’s Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress, Richard Weikart, 363

Hitler’s library, 253, 255, 290

Hitler’s Table Talk, 81, 141, 142, 143, 144, 141–46, 186, 249, 252, 279, 335, 368, 369, 387, 388, 422, 424, 425

and Darwinism, 368–69

Hitler’s Willing Executioners:  Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, Daniel Goldhagen, 20

Hoess, Rudolf, 146, 147, 227, 285, 384

Hoffmann, Heinrich, The Hitler No One Knows:  100 Pictures of the Life of the Fuhrer, 127, 149

Hollingdale, R.J., 404

Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War, The, Martin Gilbert, 83

Holocaust in Historical Context, The, Steven Katz, 28–43, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 62, 69, 71, 89

main points, 29–30

refutation, 30–43

Holy Reich, The, Richard Steigmann-Gall, 3, 4, 22, 23, 27, 28, 79, 80, 107, 116, 117, 118, 145, 186, 192, 258, 272, 291, 311, 314, 315, 335, 340

oblivious to German secular anti-semitism, 117

Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, 60

I

Ibrahim, Raymond, 442

Innitzer, Cardinal, 121, 122

Innocent III, 62

Innocent IV, 62

Inquisition, 7, 11, 18, 34, 42, 43, 50, 55, 60, 146, 285

Islamic extremism and National Socialism, 442–43

J

Jaeger, August, 183

Jahn, Friedrich Ludwig, 10, 76, 268–71, 288, 307

advocated the use of popular education to instill German values into youths, 270

anti-Semitism, 271

not racial, 270

book burning, 268

called for all Germanic people to be united in one nation disregarding traditional borders, 269

credited with inventing the term, 271

eternity of the folk (German people), 269

German Volkdom, 269

racial purity, 269

the Germanic peoples should be led by a Fuhrer, 269

Jan, Pastor Julius von, 133, 143, 173–75, 205, 296

Jefferson, Thomas, 132, 144, 238, 239, 245, 355

abhorred religious intolerance, 239

called self Christian, 239

found Jews repulsive because he found the Old Testament repulsive, 238

Jesus only a moralist, 238

Jehovah’s Witnesses

consistently opposed Hitler, 190

Jesus

Hitler’s distortions of, 105–6, 108–9, 118, 120

Jewish boycott of 1933, 206

Jewish response to Nazi Germany

American, 172

French, 172

German, 172

Jews

a secular history, 341–44

Johnson, Paul, 144, 163, 239, 287

Judaistic Utilism, 316

Juden Ordnung, 295

Just, Dieter, 243, 288

K

Kaiser Wilhelm Society, 162

Kant, Immanuel, 2, 10, 81, 88, 117, 199, 201, 229, 237, 244–53, 254, 258, 263, 272, 279, 284, 288, 290, 291, 316, 334, 336, 345, 347, 348, 355, 359, 373, 390, 411, 418, 425, 440, 441

anti-Semitism

foundational to modern secular anti-Semitism, 245

called greatest philosopher of the Enlightenment, 245

concept of “race” did not include pseudobiological ideas, 250

elevation of human reason, 246

Enlightenment philosopher, 108

Judaism an obstacle to progress, 246

Judaism would die by virtue of human reason, 246

nature is concerned with the human species, not individuals, 274

Physical Geography, 250

rejected the Old Testament, 246

Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, 246

saw Judaism as materialistic, 247

white supremacist, 250

Katz, Steven, 28, 29, 30, 32, 38, 39, 40, 41

New Testament inaccurate, 29

Paul invented message, 29

teaching that to be a Jew spiritually one must have Christ a result of hostility, not revelation, 29

The Holocaust in Historical Context. See under Holocaust in Historical Context, The, Steven Katz

Kerrl, Hans, 25, 184, 185, 186, 220

Kersten, Felix, 148

King Frederick William III

politicization of the German church, 77

King Stephen of England, 60

Klausener, Erich, 105

Klemperer, Victor, 20, 206

Kloetzel, Pastor, 173

Koch, Erich, 27, 28

Kostomarov, Nikolai, 232

Kristallnacht (Crystal Night), 133, 173, 200, 205, 296

Kubizek, August, 235, 236, 257, 323, 324

The Young Hitler I Knew, 235

Kulisz, Karol, 125

L

Labor Corps, 192

Lagarde, Paul de, 10, 88, 198, 260, 288–90, 293, 294, 320, 323, 334, 335, 339, 347, 354, 422

anti-Semitism, 289

advocated extermination, 290

Jews a danger, 290

founder of Folkish Ideology, 288

German Essays, 290

German purity to be preserved, 289

origin of Germanic Christianity, 289

self-fulfillment to be found in the Folk, 289

vital cosmic force manifested in German nation, 289

Lammers, Hans, State Secretary, 206, 207

Langbehn, Julius, 10, 88, 260, 288, 293–94, 294, 320, 334, 339, 347

Folk needs to be purified of alien elements, 294

Folk take the place of Christ, 293

founder of Folkish Ideology, 293

fulfillment to be found in the Folk, 293

Jews ultimate focus of evil, 293

life spirit of cosmos operates through the Folk, 293

Rembrandt as Educator, 293

Le Chambon, 221

Leibniz, 258

Lenin, 11, 46, 76, 77, 117, 167, 178, 287, 357, 365, 402, 423, 427, 428, 429, 436, 437, 446, 447, 448

lessons to be learned

a need for higher meaning, 439–40

clarity of vision and the will to carry it out, 435–36

the frailty of human reason, 438

the importance of philosophy, 440–42

the limits of Darwinian morality, 451–52

the reality of evil, 439

utopias, 436–38

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There, Philip Hallie, 221

Levi, Primo, 435, 438

Ley, Robert, 114, 425

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, Jonah Goldberg, 446

Liberal secularism and National Socialism, 443–49

Library of Congress, 253

Lichtenberg, Provost, 205

Liebenfels, Lanz von, 434

Lietz, Hermann, 296

List, Guido von, 434

Longchamp, William de, 61

Louis IX of France, 61

Louis VII of France, 61

Ludendorff, General, 107, 113

anti-Christian rhetoric disastrous for his political career, 107

Lueger, Karl, 120, 139, 140

Luther, Martin, 1, 7, 11, 14, 53, 54, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 66–84, 84, 87, 88, 90, 91, 98, 129, 144, 163, 167, 193, 194, 197, 198, 204, 205, 209, 239, 241, 247, 251, 276, 288, 296, 299, 300, 311, 319, 336, 339, 359, 424, 441, 457

See 95 Theses, Martin Luther

advocated expulsion of the Jews, 68

angry at the Jewish response to Christianity, 71–72

Bondage of the Will. See Bondage of the Will, Martin Luther

charges against

coarse, brutal, and vulgar, 75, 76

hater of the Jews, 74

source of German submission to Hitler, 76

deepest desire for the Jews was conversion, 69

founder of Protestantism, 67

goals, 84–85

Henry VIII

rejected Luther and set up his own state church, 77

main emphases, 67

On the Jews and Their Lies, 68, 69, 70, 78, 319, 359

Luther’s Biblical concept of self, 81

on the role of government, 76–78, 76–78

derived from Romans, 77

only major Protestant to write hostile comments about the Jews, 239

showed compassion for old and sick Jews, 69

statements about Jews came towards the end of his life, 67

wrote that Christians are at fault for not slaying the Jews, 70

never acted on this, 70

M

Mack, Professor Michael, 2, 245, 247, 250

German Idealism and the Jew:  The Inner Anti-Semitism of Philosophy and German Jewish Responses. 2, 245

Kant, 245

Maglione, Cardinal (Papal Secretary of State ), 124

Man of Destiny, 273, 322, 324, 390

Manheim, Ralph, 13, 304

Mann, Thomas, 163, 314

Mao, 11, 46, 77, 110, 133, 134, 144, 147, 167, 178, 190, 205, 326, 357, 388, 402, 423, 427, 436, 446, 448

Marr, Wilhelm, 338, 411

Martin Bormann

concept of God, 110

Martin Luther. See under Luther, Martin

Marx, Karl, 80, 131, 286, 287, 309, 326, 327, 356, 357, 365, 368, 431, 436

McGrath, Alister, 244

Mein Kampf, 7, 8, 13, 48–49, 56, 81, 88, 94–98, 100, 101, 104, 108, 111, 119, 135, 136, 139, 140, 150, 179, 180, 203, 204, 211, 214, 245, 248–49, 254, 255, 257, 258, 266, 269, 272, 278–84, 284–87, 288, 295, 304, 308, 316, 322, 324, 326, 327, 334, 336, 355, 358, 362, 366, 367, 368, 382, 384, 385, 388, 393, 394, 416, 426, 441

and Darwinism, 366–68

natural selection as essential to the development of life, 366

Christ in, 108–9

Folkish Ideology, 98–100

reference to Luther, 81

reflecting Chamberlain, 334

reflecting Gobineau, 284–87

reflecting Kant, 248–49

relevance for today, 442

Will, 280–81

Memoirs of a Confidant, Otto Wagener, 145–46, 148

Mencken, H.L., 412, 421

Mengele, Joseph, 381

Metapolitics:  The Roots of the Nazi Mind, Peter Viereck, 326–30

Metternich, 271

Meyer-Erlach, Wolf, 187

Michael, Prof. Robert, 210

Middle Ages, 7, 26, 34, 40, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 71, 268, 418 See also Christian:anti-Semitism:medieval

Jewish prosperity, 55

Ministry of Church Affairs, 184

Ministry of Justice, 185

Moltmann, Ludwig, 287

Monism as Connecting Religion and Science:  The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science, Ernst Haeckel, 381

Moravian Brethren, 242

Mosse, George, 2, 80, 92, 230, 250, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296, 304, 308, 320, 362, 366

The Crisis of German Ideology. See Crisis of German Ideology, The, Prof. Mosse

Mueller, Ludwig (Reich Bishop), 147, 182, 183, 191, 192

Mussolini, 83, 204, 233, 429, 446

Myth of the Twentieth Century, The, Alfred Rosenberg, 177, 204, 269, 358

N

Napoleon, 76, 110, 240, 241, 242, 246, 255, 270, 271, 273, 288, 317, 347, 441

and Hitler, comparison, 240–42

National Evangelical Church, 182

National Socialism, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 12, 14–51, 82, 92, 95, 98, 115, 118, 119, 120, 121, 141, 151, 162, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 186, 187, 188, 189, 193, 194, 198, 203, 227–96, 304, 313, 321, 334, 335, 362, 366, 369, 370, 383, 386, 427, 429, 434, 435, 440, 443, See also Folkish Ideology

a nation has its own nature and man must align with it, 262

a new faith, 177

and Folkish Ideology

summary of major philosophic themes leading to, 440–42

and Islamic extremism, 442–43

and liberal secularism, 444, 445, 443–49

and modern technology, 230–32

arguments against connections to Darwinism, 362, 365

believed a continuation of Luther’s Reformation, 80

Bormann, 181, 386

Catholic response, 141, 202, 203

Chamberlain, 335, 345, 346, 357

liberal Protestant influence, 340

compatible with Positive Christianity, 116

connections to Darwinism, 362–69

distinctly German concept, 230

Germanic Christians, 196, 197, 198, See also Faith Movement of German Christians

Hitler believed was incompatible with Christianity, 186

ideological origins summarized, 429–31

incompatible with scripture, 117, 211, 214

lie of the devil, 17–18

major themes from Enlightenment philosophies which influenced, 440

meant to dominate the churches, 182

Nietzsche, 412, 421, 429

not sufficiently opposed within the church, 9, 170, 191, 208, 216, See also Barmen Declaration, See also persecution of the church

parallels with Communism, 427–29, 445

presumes man’s independence from God, 350

propagandized, 186, 190

sources, 10

to be reflected in all aspects of life, 123

Wagner, 304, 312, 315, 316

National Socialist Teachers League, 286

Nazi anti-Semitism, 56. See also National Socialism. See also German anti-Semitism

conventional secular explanations for the cruelty of, 20

Nazi death camps, 56

Nazi Gauleiters, 27, 120, 124, 180, 181, 192, 335

Nazi Minister of Church Affairs, 103

Nazi party platform, 115–18

Nazi Persecution of the Churches 1933-1945, The

Professor John Conway, 2, 9, 103

Nazi policies towards churches. See also persecution of the church, See also Hitler and the churches

Austria, 121–22

Poland, 123–25

given Hitler’s personal approval, 123

separation of church and state, 123

Naziism

and eugenics, 369

key points used to link to Christianity, 5

biblical teachings. See biblical teaching and the Jews, See biblical concept of death, See biblical concept of government, See biblical concept of freedom, See biblical concept of man, See biblical concept of man

Christian anti-semites. See Luther, Martin, See Chrysostom, John, See Christian, anti-Semitism

Hitler’s supporters. See Germanic Christianity, See Christian:support of Hitler’s policies

medieval persecution of the Jews by the church, 53, See Christian:anti-Semitism:medieval

statements by Hitler. See Hitler

Niemoller, Martin, 144, 169–70, 184, 185, 191, 209–12

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 10, 21, 32, 75, 101, 155, 163, 181, 229, 249, 252, 258, 279, 281, 282, 288, 304, 311, 314, 315, 318, 323, 335, 380, 381, 399–431, 441

a biological racist, 413, 422, 423

Antichrist:  Curse on Christianity, The, 21, 32, 101, 143, 151, 311, 399, 400, 403–4, 407, 412, 414, 417, 418, 420, 421, 422, 424, 430, 431

anti-Semitism

condemned Christian anti-Semitism, 403, 411, 424

Jews infected Western civilization through Christianity, 402

any philosopher seeing a moral order to the universe was infected with Jewish principles, 411

approved of certain types of anti-Semitism, 402–3

argued for the necessity of slavery, 407

believed a great part of the Bible had been falsified by the Jews, 410

believed in sub-humans who deserved destruction, 407

Beyond Good and Evil, 410, 413, 416, 421

called the most influential thinker of our time, 399

Christ

rebel against the status quo, 414

teachings distorted by apostles, 414

condemned German superiority, 403, 413

contrasted with Hitler, 401

delusions, 412

did not object to all theism, 401

spoke favorably of Greek polytheism, 402

spoke favorably of Hinduism, 402, 407

spoke favorably of Islam, 402

spoke favorably of original Jewish concept, 402, 409, 412

Ecce Homo, 400

elitist who disliked left-wing socialism, 403

Eight Orations Against the Jews, 63

emphasis on self, 399

ideas embedded deeply in Western society, 400

ignorance of or contempt for common human feelings, 413

Jewish historical understanding identical to Nietzsche, 410

links to Hitler, 424–27

(historic) Christianity is false, harmful, and bad, 404

advocated extermination of the weak, 400, 407

Aryan master race, 422, 423

Christianity is essentially Jewish, 404

despised kindness, pity, and mercy as weak, 400

ideas on Judaism and Christianity closely related, 404

Jews devised Christianity to weaken stronger peoples, 404

visited Nietzsche archives, 403

On the Genealogy of Morals, 402, 404, 422, 425

on the Jews, 408–13

approved of some Jews, 413

Old Testament devised to enslave the people, 75

Pontius Pilate only New Testament figure worthy of honor, 413

praised caste system, 403

presented as apostle of radical personal freedom, 407

proponents of not destined to be Nazi’s, 400

publisher of books with ideas identical to Naziism, 401

rightness imputed by pleasure derived, 399

sister alleged to have altered works, 401

strongly opposed to Christianity, 402, 404, 405, 406, 408, 410, 422

equality of souls, 407, 423

The Antichrist:  Curse on Christianity, 75

violent dominance is a virtue, 422

virtue to be an invention of the self, 399

Nordenskiold, Erik, 382

History of Biology

dismisses the worth of Haeckel’s book, 382

Nuremberg Racial Laws, 6, 44, 47–48, 207, 295

O

On the Genealogy of Morals, Friedrich Nietzsche, 402, 404, 422, 425

On the History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany, Heinrich Heine, 267

On the World Soul, Schelling, 259

Orenstein, Phil, 276

Origin of Species, The, Charles Darwin, 394

orphans under Hitler, 121, 176

Ozment, Steven, 83, 84

P

Padfield, Peter, 242, 407

Paine, Thomas, 431

Pan-German Association, 120, 160, 178, 294–95

commended by Hitler, 295

Folkish Ideology, 294

Papal encyclical

Mit Brennender Sorge, 203

Papal Nuncio, 104, 182

Papen, Franz von, 105

Parsifal, Richard Wagner, 314, 411

Pascal’s Fire:  Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding, Keith Ward, 375

Passing of the Great Race, Madison Grant, 379

Paulsen, Friedrich, 382

persecution of the church, 118–19, 174, See also Christian, opposition to Hitler’s policies

assualt, 133

banning of publications, 103, 104, 121, 204

Blood Purge, 105, See also Blood Purge

cancellation of salaries, 185

closing of hospitals, 104

closing of orphanages, 121

closing of schools, 104, 121, 122, 124, 185

confiscation of church properties, 103–4, 121, 122, 123, 185

contacts with Vatican forbidden, 123

dissolution of religious groups, 121

expulsion, 122, 123, 124, 185

forced labor, 124

incarceration, 103, 104, 122, 124, 133, 173, 183, 185, 205

indoctrination of youths, 220

legal status revoked, 121, 183

murder, 105, 123, 124

negative propaganda, 104, 121, 122, 183, 220

restriction of ministries, 121, 123, 124, 185

restriction of religious observation, 122, 124

membership forbidden for Nazi party members, 124

membership forbidden for school teachers, 124

membership forbidden if under the age of 21, 124

Physical Geography, Immanuel Kant, 250

Pietists, 80, 242, 258

Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, 266

Plato, 199, 402, 423, 438

pogroms, 5, 7, 17, 18, 30, 33, 43, 50, 54, 55, 85, 169, 173, 200, 205, 210, 296, 320, 412

Polish churches

Nazi policies towards, 123–25

Pope, 61, 83, 103, 104, 136, 141, 144, 183, 203, 204, 412, 424, 451

Popp, Mr. and Mrs., 256, 257

Positive Christianity, 2, 115, 116, 117, 138, 176, 177, 178, 181, 184, 195, 289, See also Germanic Christianity

is one purged of Jewish elements, 116, 181

is one totally submissive to Naziism, 116, 195

Presuppositions

the reality of evil and humanity’s sinful nature, 439

Presuppositions in historical interpretation, 11, 57, 451

original sin, 19–22

Preysing, Bishop, 176

Protestant writers and the Jews, 83

Prussian Union of the Confessing Church, 143, 173, 184, 186, 188, 200, 205, 206, 208, 359

Barmen Declaration, 193–96

what was the?, 173

Pugachev, Emelian, 232

R

Race and Nation, H. S. Chamberlain, 335

Rauschning, Hermann, 145, 323

Hitler Speaks, 323

Razin, Stenka, 232

Reformation, 7, 12, 14, 28, 67, 70, 73, 74, 77, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 88, 191, 193, 198, 242, 250, 251, 263, 276, 296, 359, 418, 423

Reich and Prussian Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs, 184

Reich Bishop, 182, 183, 191, 192

Reich Chancellery, 140, 206, 207

Reich Minister of Religion, Hans Kerrl, 220, See also Kerrl, Hans

Reich, Wilhelm, 229

Reichsgau Wartheland (the Warthegau), 123–25

Reimer, Josef, 287

Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone, Immanuel Kant, 246

Rembrandt as Educator, Julius Langbehn, 293

Richard I of England, 61

Richards, Robert, 373, 375, 380

Riddle of the Universe, The, Ernst Haeckel, 370, 377, 380, 382, 389

Riefenstahl, Leni, 254

Rienzi, 323, 324, 325

inspired Hitler’s Nazi dream, 324

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, The, William Shirer, 77, 98, 271

Ritschl, Albrecht, 198

Roehm, Ernst, 102, 115, 116, 159, 322

Rose, Paul, 18, 51, 87, 240, 285

Rose, Paul Lawrence, 2, 91, 246, 297, 298, 304, 330, 331, 395, 430, 432

Rosenbaum, Ron, 227

Explaining Hitler, 227

Rosenberg, Alfred, 173, 176, 177, 178, 177–78, 182, 184, 186, 196, 197, 204, 269, 335, 358, 422

The Myth of the Twentieth Century, 177, 204, 269, 358

Rousseau, 240, 297, 298, 331, 433, 459

emphasized feeling and passion, 240

general welfare of state greater in importance than individual life, 241

influened Kant, Fichte, and Hegel, 240

Rousseau, 240

Ruhs, Friedrich, 276

Russell, Bertrand

parallels Nietzsche’s endorsement of cruelty for the benefit of mankind, 423

Russell, William, 220

Russian Rebels:  1600-1800, Paul Avrich, 232

Russian support of Hitler, 170

Ryback, Timothy, 253, 254, 255, 257, 278, 290

S

SA (Sturmabteilung, storm troopers, Brownshirts), 101, 119, 122, 138, 145, 147, 148, 162, 171, 190, 192, 196, 197, 270, 440

Sachsenhausen. See under concentration camps, Sachsenhausen

Schallmeyer, Wilhelm, 379

Schelling

On the World Soul, 259

Schemann, Ludwig, 286, 287

Schemm, Hans, 286

Schirach, Baldur von, 146

Schleicher, Kurt von, 165

Schleiermacher, Friedrich, 198, 199, 291

Schmitz, Elisabeth, 205

Schonerer, Georg von, 120, 160, 178, 295, 385, 390

Schopenhauer, Arthur, 81, 117, 163, 243, 249, 258, 272, 288, 291, 304, 305, 309, 311, 312, 313, 336, 347, 356, 372, 381, 390, 425, 429

expanded and radicalized Kant’s ideas, 283

individual has no value, 282

Jews aliens and parasites, 283

Judaism to be destroyed through assimilation, 284

life pointless, 284

man merely advanced animal, 283

quoted in Mein Kampf, 279

Schopenhauerian Christianity, 284, 311

blamed Christianity on the Jews, 283

The World as Will and Representation, 278, 312

ultimate Will, 280

SD (Sicherheitsdienst, Security Service), 171, See also Heydrich, Reinhard

Sebottendorff, Rudolf von, 434

Second Book, Hitler, 224, 258, 279, 301, 361, 395, 397, 426, 433

Security Service. See under SD (Sicherheitsdienst, Security Service)

Shirer, William L., 77, 98, 102, 105, 114, 115, 116, 144, 165, 166, 167, 171, 189, 205, 212, 268, 271, 334, 335, 401

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 77

Sicherheitsdienst. See under SD (Sicherheitsdienst, Security Service)

Social Darwinism, 49, 94, 99, 268, 287, 292, 362, 390

Society Against Jewish Domination, 295

Solf, Frau, 171

Spanda, The Secret Diaries, Speer, 324

Spanish Inquisition, 285, See also Inquisition

Speer, 143, 324

Spinoza, 199, 246, 412, 413

SS, 20, 104, 123, 125, 180, 193, 357, 450

Stalin, Joseph, 11, 46, 76, 77, 110, 130, 131, 133, 136, 144, 167, 170, 178, 190, 197, 205, 219, 242, 266, 326, 357, 365, 388, 401, 402, 423, 427, 428, 429, 436, 437, 446, 448

Stalingrad, 261

Steffens, Heinrich, 269

Steigmann-Gall, Richard, 3, 4, 13, 22, 23, 27, 28, 79, 80, 107, 116, 117, 118, 145, 186, 192, 258, 272, 291, 311, 314, 315, 335, 340

Stein, Leo, 169, 210

Stellbrink, Pastor Karl Friedrich, 175

Stephen of Sofia, 221

Stoecker, Adolf, 412

storm troopers. See SA (Sturmabteilung, storm troopers, Brownshirts)

Strasser, Gregor, 320

Streicher, Julius, 44, 47, 129, 152

Swedenborg, cult of, 293

Sylten, Dr., 205

T

textual criticism of the Bible, 199–202, 334, 340, 352, 414

Theune, B., 271

Thule Society, 434

Thuringian German Christians, 196

Toland, John, 295

Toledoth Yeshu, 71

Trachtenberg, Joshua, 62

Trade Unions under Hitler, 114

Treitschke, Heinrich von, 277

Handbuch des Judentums, 252

Triumph of the Will, 326

Trocme, Pastor Andre, 221

V

Vatican, 83, 103, 104, 124, 139, 140, 141, 180, 189, 203, 204

Victory of Judaism over Germanism, The, Wilhelm Marr, 411

Viereck, Peter

criticisms of, 326–30

Viereck, Peter, Metapolitics:  The Roots of the Nazi Mind, 2, 177, 190, 268, 269, 270, 271, 282, 289, 291, 292, 294, 304–7, 308, 309, 315, 318, 322, 323, 324, 362

Voelkischer Beobachter, 107, 335

Voltaire, 238, 239, 240, 359

Dictionnaire philosophique, 239

Vrekham, Georges van, 253, 393

W

Wagener, Otto

Memoirs of a Confidant, 145–46, 148

Wagner circle, 321, See also Bayreuth circle

Hitler on familiar terms with, 321

Wagner, Cosima, 305, 310, 311, 317, 318, 320, 321, 324

Wagner, Richard, 2, 10, 12, 81, 88, 155, 163, 229, 248, 249, 255, 258, 282, 286, 287, 291, 304–30, 334, 335, 336, 339, 345, 347, 356, 362, 375, 380, 390, 403, 410, 411, 414, 417, 418, 422, 423, 430, 441, 443

Aryan supremacy, 305

Christianity, 310–15, See also Christian, What is a?

Jesus as revolutionary, 310

revealed by Schopenhauer, 312

Darwinism, 305

preferred a special origin for Aryans, 305

freedom in unity, 307

Fuhrer principle, 308

hidden power at work in world, 304

combined Schopenhauer with Hegel, 305

Will, 311

Hitler, 321–26

humans merely animals, 305

breeding and selection could advance humanity, 305, 306

ideal Germany farming, feasting, and warring, 317

ideas compared to notable Christians’, 318–19

Jews

believed them all-powerful, 320

believed they sought to rule the world, 319

born enemy of pure humanity, 320

political unity, 307–8

prolific writer

stylistic model for Mein Kampf, 304

racial unity, 306–7

socialism

private property root of many social ills, 308

three contaminants of The German Folk, 306

yearned for the violent destruction of bourgeois society, 309

Wagner, Siegfried, 321

Walker, Jim, “Hitler’s Christianity”.  See under “Hitler’s Christianity,” Jim Walker

Ward, Keith, 375

Pascal’s Fire:  Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding, 375

Weikart, Richard, 2, 12, 49, 363, 373, 376, 378, 383, 389, 393, 394, 421

From Darwin to Hitler:  Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, 2, 49, 373, 421

Weil, Simon, 12, 310, 311, 312, 316, 318, 319, 320

Weil, Simon:, 311

Weimar Republic, 42, 76, 77, 131, 133, 163, 164, 165, 167, 169, 170, 194, 216, 375

depravity of, 163

Weissler, Dr., 196

Wellhausen, Julius, 198, 199–200, 340

Wesley, John, 109, 318

What’s Left?, Nick Cohen, 442

Wiesel, Elie, 451

Wilhelm II, 171

Wilm, Ernst, 176

Wintzingerode, General, 271

Wistrich, Robert, 172, 288, 425

Hitler and the Holocaust:  How and Why the Holocaust Happened, 425

Wonders of Life, Ernst Haeckel, 373, 374

World as Will and Representation, The, Arthur Schopenhauer, 278, 312

World Spirit, 59, 110, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 278, 282, 293

World War I, 7, 14, 77, 83, 107, 116, 133, 137, 163, 217, 222, 268, 275, 376

Worte Christi (Words of Christ), 255

Wuerttemberg, 173, 183, 206

Wurm, Bishop Theophil, 175, 176, 183, 206, 207, 208

Y

Years of Extermination:  Nazi Germany and the Jews, The, Saul Friedländer, 207, 425

YMCA, 221

Young Hegelians, 309

Young Hitler I Knew, The, August Kubizek, 235

Z

Zinzendorf, Count, 242