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Papal visit: Linking the godless to a lack of values is wrong, say critics: GuardianUK

Former Hitler Youth and religious extremist leader Pope Benedict XVI drew parallels between Nazism and modern atheism in the UK.

In his address, the Pope spoke of "a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society". He went on to urge the UK to guard against "aggressive forms of secularism". He said: "Even in our own lifetimes we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live."

Apparently he's forgotten his own organization — no, not the Hitler Youth, but the Catholic Church — was complicit in the slaughter of the Jews and that Hitler's anti-Semitism was in large part shaped by his reading of Martin Luther's "On The Jews and Their Lies" which outlines the entire Holocaust "final solution" back in the 16th century.

Tags: Hitler, Jews, Pope, UK

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on September 17, 2010 at 12:50pm

Oh for crying out loud, The Pope was not a Nazi.

Permalink Reply by Meddlesome on September 17, 2010 at 2:40pm

He still entertains holocaust deniers in his mafia.
He still claims nazis were atheists despide mountains of evidence to the contrary.
And the vatican denies access to all of its records from the time 1922-45.

He may not have been a nazi, but he is clearly sympathetic!

M.

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 17, 2010 at 12:55pm

My mistake. He was a Hitler Youth and a fought in the German military during the war. He was not a Nazi, as far as we know.

He is a religious extremist.

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 17, 2010 at 12:55pm

Corrected.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on September 17, 2010 at 1:12pm

Thank you. Sorry for being a bit frustrated. It has been happening with more frequency that the pope is equated with being a Nazi.

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 17, 2010 at 2:07pm

Believe it or not, it was unintentional hyperbole. I was thinking one thing and typing another, and my brain got mixed up. I know! I know! It's so easy to equate atheism with perfection, but sometimes even we make mistakes.

;-)

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on September 18, 2010 at 3:41pm

Thank you. Sorry for being a bit frustrated. It has been happening with more frequency that the pope is equated with being a Nazi.

If we are to call ourselves true freethinkers, we have to hold our own beliefs to the same standard as anyone else's. Much as I would love to dig up some evidence that the pope was a Nazi, it isn't there (that we know of).

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on September 20, 2010 at 3:19pm

Metaphorically Nazi-like ... that I'd agree with.

Permalink Reply by Aaron S. (USA) on September 17, 2010 at 4:21pm

It's so weird, though - you'd think growing up in Nazi Germany, he'd be able to remember all the times Hitler promoted God, not atheism.

I wonder if it's that other kind of "atheism" I've heard some Christians talking about - the one where the "atheists" still believe in God, but the wrong one...

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 17, 2010 at 4:43pm

Like misotheism or dystheism. I get people all the time who make the same mistake. I've even heard Christians talking about "practical atheism" which is the new Christian term for fellow Christians who behave as if there is no God. In other words, the ones who behave as they expect us to behave: raping, pillaging, lying, killing, etc.

Hitler created something called "Positive Christianity" that he tried to push in the early years of his dictatorship. It's basically a warrior-class, mangled version of Christianity with Jesus as the Aryan warrior-conqueror.

Permalink Reply by Meddlesome on September 21, 2010 at 2:48am

And he continued to push it later on : from 1945:

"God the Almighty has made our nation. By defending its existence we are defending His work..."

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 21, 2010 at 11:02am

In a strange way, we could consider Hitler to be a kind of Martin Luther of his time, bent on "reforming" Christianity. In his case, he was trying to change it to better fit his anti-Semitism. In addition to his derogatory comments about Christianity, he also ascribed many of his basic beliefs about the German people and their role in history to his idea of the Aryan Jesus corrupted by Jews. He seemed to think of Christianity as a Roman religion, which had taken on Jewish elements. He was enamored of Rome, as is evident in his organization of the military, the carrying of standards in to battle, etc.

I think you're right. He's a complicated figure. Unless more evidence comes to light, it's hard to say what was going on in his head.