https://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&feed=atom&action=historyPreventing Totalitarianism - Revision history2024-03-28T21:53:11ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.27.1https://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2921&oldid=prevSysop: /* Stalin Did not Repress Christianity */2020-05-23T17:49:23Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Stalin Did not Repress Christianity</span></span></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Although the [https://www.vidio.com/watch/68616-the-beatles-back-in-the-u-s-s-r-lyrics USSR] was “officially atheist” because of its commitment to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz3eOb6Yl1s Marxist dogma], the term “atheistic communism” has always been a misnomer, since Jesus never endorsed any particular economic system.<ref name="Westerhoff"> J. H. Westerhoff, ''Will Our Children Have Faith?'' (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).</ref> If anything, the opposite is true; the founder of capitalist thought ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith Adam Smith]) and its most vocal defender ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand Ayn Rand]) were non-believers.<ref name="Barker"> D. Barker, ''Losing Faith in Faith:  From Preacher to Atheist'' (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).</ref> Atheism ''seems'' linked to communism because Christian doctrine has been twisted and all-but-rewritten to place the practice of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di60NYGu03Y unrestricted capitalism] before the needs of people and their communities. Income taxes are now denounced as “idolatry,” and property tax as “theft,” and inheritance (estate) taxes are anti-Christian for bewildering ways which have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, ''verbatim'' restatements.)<ref name="Hedges"></ref>  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Although the [https://www.vidio.com/watch/68616-the-beatles-back-in-the-u-s-s-r-lyrics USSR] was “officially atheist” because of its commitment to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz3eOb6Yl1s Marxist dogma], the term “atheistic communism” has always been a misnomer, since Jesus never endorsed any particular economic system.<ref name="Westerhoff"> J. H. Westerhoff, ''Will Our Children Have Faith?'' (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).</ref> If anything, the opposite is true; the founder of capitalist thought ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith Adam Smith]) and its most vocal defender ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand Ayn Rand]) were non-believers.<ref name="Barker"> D. Barker, ''Losing Faith in Faith:  From Preacher to Atheist'' (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).</ref> Atheism ''seems'' linked to communism because Christian doctrine has been twisted and all-but-rewritten to place the practice of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di60NYGu03Y unrestricted capitalism] before the needs of people and their communities. Income taxes are now denounced as “idolatry,” and property tax as “theft,” and inheritance (estate) taxes are anti-Christian for bewildering ways which have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, ''verbatim'' restatements.)<ref name="Hedges"></ref>  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>While <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the </del>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union#Anti-religious_campaign_1928.E2.80.931941 early Soviet leaders '''''were''''' militantly anti-religious], this was reversed when '''under Stalin’s orders -- the USSR officially supported the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church Russian Orthodox Church]''' (ROC).<ref name="Stenger2"> V. J. Stenger, ''The New Atheism:  Taking a Stand for Science and Reason'' (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).</ref> On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_bishop Metropolitan] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Sergius_of_Moscow Sergius] was elected Patriarch of the ROC, thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. Stalin, and his successors up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC kept the people in line, and this was <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">why </del>the czars <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">were able </del>to maintain power for so long. Additionally:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>While [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union#Anti-religious_campaign_1928.E2.80.931941 early Soviet leaders '''''were''''' militantly anti-religious], this was reversed when '''under Stalin’s orders -- the USSR officially supported the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church Russian Orthodox Church]''' (ROC).<ref name="Stenger2"> V. J. Stenger, ''The New Atheism:  Taking a Stand for Science and Reason'' (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).</ref> On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_bishop Metropolitan] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Sergius_of_Moscow Sergius] was elected Patriarch of the ROC, thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. Stalin, and his successors up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC kept the people in line, and this was <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">what enabled </ins>the czars to maintain power for so long. Additionally:</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Priests were allowed in the Soviet encampments during the sieges of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad Stalingrad] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad Leningrad].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Priests were allowed in the Soviet encampments during the sieges of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad Stalingrad] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad Leningrad].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*The icon of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan Our Lady of Kazan] was carried in a procession on the streets of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgD_-dRZPgs Leningrad].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*The icon of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan Our Lady of Kazan] was carried in a procession on the streets of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgD_-dRZPgs Leningrad].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>If anything, Christians keep the "atheistic communism" narrative alive to distract its capitalist parishioners from Christianity's numerous commonalities with the communists:<ref name="Hitchcock"> S. C. Hitchcock, ''Disbelief 101:  A Young Person's Guide to Atheism'' (See Sharp Press, 2009).</ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>If anything, Christians keep the "atheistic communism" narrative alive to distract its capitalist parishioners from Christianity's numerous commonalities with the communists:<ref name="Hitchcock"> S. C. Hitchcock, ''Disbelief 101:  A Young Person's Guide to Atheism'' (See Sharp Press, 2009).</ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both claim all answers are found in revered books (e.g., [[The_Bible_is_not_Credible|The Bible]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital:_Critique_of_Political_Economy Das Kapital], The “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotations_from_Chairman_Mao_Tse-tung#Images_from_.22The_Little_Red_Book.22 Little Red Book”]) <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">which are fanatically accepted without critical analysis</del>. Rejecting these books results in savage persecution.<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both claim all answers are found in revered books <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">which are fanatically accepted without critical analysis </ins>(e.g., [[The_Bible_is_not_Credible|The Bible]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital:_Critique_of_Political_Economy Das Kapital], The “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotations_from_Chairman_Mao_Tse-tung#Images_from_.22The_Little_Red_Book.22 Little Red Book”]). Rejecting these books results in savage persecution.<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both worship “saviors” (e.g., Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, ''et. al.'')</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both worship “saviors” (e.g., Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, ''et. al.'')</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both exalt the philosophers defending their systems (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both exalt the philosophers defending their systems (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both are ideological systems which demand followers to ignore their [[Points_of_Contention|numerous flaws and shortcomings]], all of which were caused by their system's lack of error detection and self-correction mechanisms.<ref name="Boghossian"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both are ideological systems which demand followers to ignore their [[Points_of_Contention|numerous flaws and shortcomings]], all of which were caused by their system's lack of error detection and self-correction mechanisms.<ref name="Boghossian"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Modern Christians are harder to rally with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare Red Scares], since the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union '''everyone under age <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">28 </del>has lived in a Soviet-free world''']. Still, there are some stragglers, holdouts, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society John Birchers] who persist.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Modern Christians are harder to rally with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare Red Scares], since the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union '''everyone under age <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">29 </ins>has lived in a Soviet-free world''']. Still, there are some stragglers, holdouts, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society John Birchers] who persist.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==References==</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==References==</div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2919&oldid=prevSysop: /* Hitler and the Nazis were not Atheists */2020-05-23T17:08:20Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Hitler and the Nazis were not Atheists</span></span></p>
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</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l14" >Line 14:</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler claimed he was subject to “Divine Providence” from “almighty God” as an explanation for surviving his 22 [http://listverse.com/2017/06/11/top-10-failed-plots-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler/ assassination attempts].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler claimed he was subject to “Divine Providence” from “almighty God” as an explanation for surviving his 22 [http://listverse.com/2017/06/11/top-10-failed-plots-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler/ assassination attempts].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler’s rallies were inspired by pageantry <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">of the church</del><ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">ancient Rome</del>.<ref name="LateGreat"> H. Lindsey, ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' (Zondervan, 1974).</ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler’s rallies were inspired by <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">church </ins>pageantry<ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Roman imagery</ins>.<ref name="LateGreat"> H. Lindsey, ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' (Zondervan, 1974).</ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann Bormann] closed. Upon hearing this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann Bormann] closed. Upon hearing this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*The German Army fielded Catholic and Protestant chaplains.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*The German Army fielded Catholic and Protestant chaplains.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Proof of <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">either </del>Catholic or Protestant church membership was required to join the SS.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Proof of Catholic or Protestant church membership was required to join the SS.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This paraphrased DEU 20:4, when God addressed the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an extermination (DEU 20:13).<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This paraphrased DEU 20:4, when God addressed the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an extermination (DEU 20:13).<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*When overzealous Nazis removed the crucifixes from Bavarian schools, Hitler ordered them rehung.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*When overzealous Nazis removed the crucifixes from Bavarian schools, Hitler ordered them rehung.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler thought secular schools were intolerable, because they offered no religious instruction. Hitler viewed faith as the foundation which general moral instruction and character training were built upon.<ref name="Blaker"> K. Blaker, ''The Fundamentals of Extremism:  The Christian Right in America'' (New Boston Books, 2003).</ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler thought secular schools were intolerable, because they offered no religious instruction. Hitler viewed faith as the foundation which general moral instruction and character training were built upon.<ref name="Blaker"> K. Blaker, ''The Fundamentals of Extremism:  The Christian Right in America'' (New Boston Books, 2003).</ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat Reichskonkordat], where the church agreed to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">remain politically neutral </del>in exchange for its continued independence and <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">allowing </del>Catholic schools to remain open. As a result:<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat Reichskonkordat], where the church agreed to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">political neutrality </ins>in exchange for its continued independence<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">, </ins>and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">to allow </ins>Catholic schools to remain open. As a result:<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**'''The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s,''' which was contrary to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">both the </del>spirit of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles 1919 Treaty of Versailles] and <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Jesus</del>'s <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">teachings </del>of peace, mildness, and loving <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">of </del>one's neighbor.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**'''The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s,''' which was contrary to spirit of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles 1919 Treaty of Versailles] and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">to Christ</ins>'s <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">message </ins>of peace, mildness, and loving one's neighbor.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church remained silent over:  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church remained silent over:  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The boycotts of Jewish businesses.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The boycotts of Jewish businesses.</div></td></tr>
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<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 29:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht Kristallnacht].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht Kristallnacht].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The discovery of the mass graves, the gas chambers, and the death camps.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The discovery of the mass graves, the gas chambers, and the death camps.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church provided its genealogical records to the Nazis, which listed all German Christians (i.e., non-Jews). The <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Catholics </del>Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians by using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_secret pontifical secrecy] to withhold information.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church provided its genealogical records to the Nazis, which listed all German Christians (i.e., non-Jews). The <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Catholic </ins>Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians by using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_secret pontifical secrecy] to withhold information.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Paveli%C4%87 Ante Pavelić]’s pro-Nazi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e Ustachi] regime in Croatia.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Paveli%C4%87 Ante Pavelić]’s pro-Nazi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e Ustachi] regime in Croatia.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church gave absolution to France's collaborationist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy regime] in 1940.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church gave absolution to France's collaborationist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy regime] in 1940.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l37" >Line 37:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 37:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***Likewise, any Holocaust victims who failed to convert to Christianity in their final moments are damned.<ref name="Harrison"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***Likewise, any Holocaust victims who failed to convert to Christianity in their final moments are damned.<ref name="Harrison"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler Himmler] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich] were Catholics, and were never excommunicated for their roles in starting the Holocaust.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler Himmler] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich] were Catholics, and were never excommunicated for their roles in starting the Holocaust.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church set up a network of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II_aftermath) "ratlines"] to smuggle Nazi war criminals (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann Eichmann], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Mengele]) out of post-war Europe. The Vatican used its fascist-granted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty nation-state status] to issue travel visas to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">fugitive Nazis</del>, and used Europe's monasteries as an “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad underground railroad]” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church set up a network of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II_aftermath) "ratlines"] to smuggle Nazi war criminals (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann Eichmann], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Mengele]) out of post-war Europe. The Vatican used its fascist-granted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty nation-state status] to issue travel visas to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Nazi fugitives</ins>, and used Europe's monasteries as an “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad underground railroad]” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic clergy who worked on behalf of Hitler’s regime were never reprimanded for their involvement, and their promotions within the church’s hierarchy went unimpeded.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic clergy who worked on behalf of Hitler’s regime were never reprimanded for their involvement, and their promotions within the church’s hierarchy went unimpeded.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">has never </del>acknowledged their involvement, despite historical evidence to the contrary. Although the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Secret_Archives Vatican Secret Archives] <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">have been </del>opened to scholars, '''the Vatican <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">still forbids </del>access to all its documents from 1939 onwards''' to mask their crimes of complacency.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">continues to refuse to </ins>acknowledged their involvement <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">with the Nazis</ins>, despite <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">valid </ins>historical evidence to the contrary. Although the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_Secret_Archives Vatican Secret Archives] <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">were </ins>opened to scholars, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">up until March 2020<ref name="Atlantic"> D. I. Kertzer, ''What the Vatican’s Secret Archives Are About to Reveal'' [Online] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/what-vaticans-secret-archives-are-about-reveal/607261/. [Accessed 23 MAY 2020].</ref> </ins>'''the Vatican <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">forbade </ins>access to all its documents from 1939 onwards''' to mask their crimes of complacency.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Christian-Nazi link sadly persists into modern day; as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Nations Aryan Nation] is itself a branch of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Jesus_Christ%E2%80%93Christian Church of Jesus Christ-Christian].<ref name="Blaker"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The Christian-Nazi link sadly persists into modern day; as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Nations Aryan Nation] is itself a branch of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Jesus_Christ%E2%80%93Christian Church of Jesus Christ-Christian].<ref name="Blaker"></ref></div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2918&oldid=prevSysop: /* Hitler and the Nazis were not Atheists */2020-05-23T16:31:43Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Hitler and the Nazis were not Atheists</span></span></p>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 16:31, 23 May 2020</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l11" >Line 11:</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Out of his countless monologues, '''Hitler never claimed to be an atheist.''' If anything, the opposite is true, as evidenced by the fact that:<ref name="Boghossian"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Out of his countless monologues, '''Hitler never claimed to be an atheist.''' If anything, the opposite is true, as evidenced by the fact that:<ref name="Boghossian"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Although he lamented the Bible's effect on the German people, '''Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church''' -- excluding it’s teachings about aiding the infirm, and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Although he lamented the Bible's effect on the German people, '''Hitler never outlawed Christianity, and never renounced the church''' -- excluding it’s teachings about aiding the infirm, and how Jesus was a non-Aryan Jew.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM scourging] the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">temple’s </del>moneylenders. The Bible only <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">mentions Jesus’ using a </del>scourge once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**In particular, Hitler was infatuated with Christ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM scourging] the moneylenders. The Bible only <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">mentioned the </ins>scourge once -- in the notably anti-Semitic Gospel of John.<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler claimed he was subject to “Divine Providence” from “almighty God” as an explanation for surviving his 22 [http://listverse.com/2017/06/11/top-10-failed-plots-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler/ assassination attempts].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler claimed he was subject to “Divine Providence” from “almighty God” as an explanation for surviving his 22 [http://listverse.com/2017/06/11/top-10-failed-plots-to-assassinate-adolf-hitler/ assassination attempts].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  </div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2914&oldid=prevSysop: Sysop moved page Atheism Leads to Totalitarianism to Preventing Totalitarianism2020-05-23T16:24:58Z<p>Sysop moved page <a href="/Atheism_Leads_to_Totalitarianism" class="mw-redirect" title="Atheism Leads to Totalitarianism">Atheism Leads to Totalitarianism</a> to <a href="/Preventing_Totalitarianism" title="Preventing Totalitarianism">Preventing Totalitarianism</a></p>
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</td></tr></table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2814&oldid=prevSysop at 12:21, 10 January 20202020-01-10T12:21:15Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Atheism is morally and socially corrosive.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Atheism is morally and socially corrosive.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The third option has grown increasingly popular, since the first two options are harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, allowing Christians assign the current <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">enemy’s label </del>to <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">atheists and questioners of </del>faith. This label can <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">take on </del>any form, since <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">theism is </del>the only thing which is incompatible with atheism. Typically, this label is that of a detested [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism totalitarian] group, usually one which was responsible for <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">one of </del>the great crimes of the 20th century (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor the Holodomor], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust the Holocaust], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide the Rwandan genocide], etc.)<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">,</del><ref name="Hedges">C. Hedges, ''American Fascists:  The Christian Right and the War on America'' (Free Press, 2008).</ref> <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">this </del>practice of “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy guilt by association]” <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">if </del>fallacious at best, and malicious at worst, since atheists disagree among themselves on ''many'' issues.<ref name="Smith">G. H. Smith, ''Atheism:  The Case Against God'' (Prometheus Books, 2016).</ref> The average atheist is no closer to becoming an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler Adolph Hitler] or a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin Joseph Stalin] than a typical Christian is to becoming the next [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones Jim Jones] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh David Koresh].<ref name="Harrison"> G. P. Harrison, ''50 Simple Questions for Every Christian'' (Prometheus Books, 2013).</ref> The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xbT_4Q4qg wanton rationalization of violence] -- the concept of a “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theory just war]” was introduced to the Western tradition by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo St. Augustine],<ref name="Onfrey"> M. Onfrey, ''In Defense of Atheism:  The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam'' (Penguin Canada, 2008).</ref> and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Christian kings of medieval Europe could have been as terrible as any 20th century tyrant, had they access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium Christian kings of 19th century Europe] were <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">capable of </del>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State similar horrors on continental scales].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The third option has grown increasingly popular, since the first two options are harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, allowing Christians <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">to </ins>assign the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">label of their </ins>current <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">enemy </ins>to <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">anyone who questions their </ins>faith. This label can <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">assume </ins>any form, since the only thing which is <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">truly </ins>incompatible with atheism <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">is theism</ins>. Typically, this label is that of a detested [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism totalitarian] group, usually one which was responsible for the great crimes of the 20th century (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor the Holodomor], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust the Holocaust], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide the Rwandan genocide], etc.)<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">.</ins><ref name="Hedges">C. Hedges, ''American Fascists:  The Christian Right and the War on America'' (Free Press, 2008).</ref> <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">This </ins>practice of “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy guilt by association]” <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">is </ins>fallacious at best, and malicious at worst, since atheists disagree among themselves on ''many'' issues.<ref name="Smith">G. H. Smith, ''Atheism:  The Case Against God'' (Prometheus Books, 2016).</ref> The average atheist is no closer to becoming an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler Adolph Hitler] or a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin Joseph Stalin] than a typical Christian is to becoming the next [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones Jim Jones] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh David Koresh].<ref name="Harrison"> G. P. Harrison, ''50 Simple Questions for Every Christian'' (Prometheus Books, 2013).</ref> The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xbT_4Q4qg wanton rationalization of violence] -- the concept of a “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theory just war]” was introduced to the Western tradition by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo St. Augustine],<ref name="Onfrey"> M. Onfrey, ''In Defense of Atheism:  The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam'' (Penguin Canada, 2008).</ref> and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Christian kings of medieval Europe could have been as terrible as any 20th century tyrant, had they access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium Christian kings of 19th century Europe] were <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">committed </ins>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State similar horrors on continental scales].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>   </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>   </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavelli] was the first to (indirectly) argue that totalitarianism and atheism were linked, claiming that Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build powerful states.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, '''totalitarianism is ''not'' exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will arise in ''any'' system which can make laws which are ''impossible'' to obey.'''  The resulting tyranny is even more <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">impressive if </del>it <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">can be </del>enforced by a highly-zealous error detecting privileged caste. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell George Orwell]’s [https://youtu.be/iNPHU_ro-1U?t=1m25s ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''] (1949) was inspired by his childhood experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules.<ref name="Hitchens ">C. Hitchens, ''God is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything'' (Twelve, 2009).</ref>People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.<ref name="Carlin"> D. Carlin, ''The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America'' (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).</ref> '''Christianity <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">will </del>not <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">make anyone </del>into <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">an authoritarian </del>or <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">a totalitarian</del>, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people'''; it is an enabler. '''Nazism and <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Communism </del>took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.'''<ref name="Russell-Not"> B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' (Touchstone, 1967).</ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavelli] was the first to (indirectly) argue that totalitarianism and atheism were linked, claiming that Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build powerful states.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, '''totalitarianism is ''not'' exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">naturally </ins>arise in ''any'' system which can make laws which are ''impossible'' to obey.'''  The resulting tyranny is even more <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">pronounced when </ins>it <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">is </ins>enforced by a highly-zealous error<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">-</ins>detecting privileged caste. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell George Orwell]’s [https://youtu.be/iNPHU_ro-1U?t=1m25s ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''] (1949) was inspired by his childhood experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules.<ref name="Hitchens ">C. Hitchens, ''God is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything'' (Twelve, 2009).</ref>People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.<ref name="Carlin"> D. Carlin, ''The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America'' (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).</ref> '''Christianity <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">does </ins>not <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">turn people </ins>into <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">authoritarians </ins>or <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">totalitarians</ins>, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people'''; it is an enabler. '''Nazism and <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Stalinism </ins>took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.'''<ref name="Russell-Not"> B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' (Touchstone, 1967).</ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>== Hitler and the Nazis ''were not'' Atheists ==</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>== Hitler and the Nazis ''were not'' Atheists ==</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler was a devout child and choirboy, who always attended mass with his mom.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler’s rallies were inspired by pageantry of the church<ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and ancient Rome.<ref name="LateGreat"> H. Lindsey, ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' (Zondervan, 1974).</ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler’s rallies were inspired by pageantry of the church<ref name="Onfrey"></ref> and ancient Rome.<ref name="LateGreat"> H. Lindsey, ''The Late Great Planet Earth'' (Zondervan, 1974).</ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which Bormann closed. Upon hearing this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Eva Braun’s aunt was a nun cloistered in a convent which <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann </ins>Bormann<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">] </ins>closed. Upon hearing this, Hitler ordered the convent to be reopened, claiming that such measures did more harm than good.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*The German Army fielded Catholic and Protestant chaplains.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*The German Army fielded Catholic and Protestant chaplains.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Proof of <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">membership to </del>either <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the </del>Catholic or Protestant <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">churches </del>was required to join the SS.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Proof of either Catholic or Protestant <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">church membership </ins>was required to join the SS.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">paraphrases </del>DEU 20:4, when God addressed the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an extermination (DEU 20:13).<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Nazi soldiers had “God is with us” inscribed on their belt buckles. This <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">paraphrased </ins>DEU 20:4, when God addressed the Hebrews to fight their Egyptian enemies, to whom God promised an extermination (DEU 20:13).<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*Hitler admired Islam, for its military tradition.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*When overzealous Nazis removed the crucifixes from Bavarian schools, Hitler ordered them rehung. Hitler thought secular schools were intolerable, because they offered no religious instruction. Hitler viewed faith as the foundation which general moral instruction and character training were built upon.<ref name="Blaker"> K. Blaker, ''The Fundamentals of Extremism:  The Christian Right in America'' (New Boston Books, 2003).</ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*When overzealous Nazis removed the crucifixes from Bavarian schools, Hitler ordered them rehung.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat Reichskonkordat], where the church agreed to remain politically neutral<del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">, </del>in exchange for its independence and allowing Catholic schools to remain open. As a result:<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">*</ins>Hitler thought secular schools were intolerable, because they offered no religious instruction. Hitler viewed faith as the foundation which general moral instruction and character training were built upon.<ref name="Blaker"> K. Blaker, ''The Fundamentals of Extremism:  The Christian Right in America'' (New Boston Books, 2003).</ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2"> </td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>*As soon as Hitler came to power in 1933, the Catholic Church entered [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat Reichskonkordat], where the church agreed to remain politically neutral in exchange for its <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">continued </ins>independence and allowing Catholic schools to remain open. As a result:<ref name="Onfrey"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**'''The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s,''' which was contrary to both the spirit of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles 1919 Treaty of Versailles] and Jesus's teachings of peace, mildness, and loving of one's neighbor.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**'''The Catholic Church approved of German rearmament in the 1930s,''' which was contrary to both the spirit of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles 1919 Treaty of Versailles] and Jesus's teachings of peace, mildness, and loving of one's neighbor.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church remained silent over:  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church remained silent over:  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l28" >Line 28:</td>
<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 29:</td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht Kristallnacht].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht Kristallnacht].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The discovery of the mass graves, the gas chambers, and the death camps.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***The discovery of the mass graves, the gas chambers, and the death camps.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church provided its genealogical records to the Nazis, which listed all German Christians (i.e., non-Jews). The Catholics Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians by using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_secret pontifical secrecy] <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">as means of </del>information <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">withholding</del>.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church provided its genealogical records to the Nazis, which listed all German Christians (i.e., non-Jews). The Catholics Church only defended Jewish converts and Jews married to Christians by using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_secret pontifical secrecy] <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">to withhold </ins>information.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Paveli%C4%87 Ante Pavelić]’s pro-Nazi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e Ustachi] regime in Croatia.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church supported, defended, and aided [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ante_Paveli%C4%87 Ante Pavelić]’s pro-Nazi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usta%C5%A1e Ustachi] regime in Croatia.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church gave absolution to France's collaborationist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy regime] in 1940.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church gave absolution to France's collaborationist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France Vichy regime] in 1940.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church endorsed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa] (i.e., the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Soviet </del>invasion), <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">which </del>they perceived as a means of literally combating atheism.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church endorsed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa] (i.e., the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">1941 Axis </ins>invasion <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">of the USSR</ins>), <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">because </ins>they perceived <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">it </ins>as a means of literally combating atheism.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**'''The Catholic Church was fully aware of the Holocaust, and did nothing to condemn it in private or in public,''' nor was any priest or bishop ordered to give a condemnation. Even after the Allies discovered and liberated the extermination camps, the Vatican continued supporting what remained of Hitler’s defeated regime.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**'''The Catholic Church was fully aware of the Holocaust, and did nothing to condemn it in private or in public,''' nor was any priest or bishop ordered to give a condemnation. Even after the Allies discovered and liberated the extermination camps, the Vatican continued supporting what remained of Hitler’s defeated regime.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Hitler was never publicly excommunicated for his crimes against humanity. According to most versions of Christianity, spending a few of his final moments repenting was all he needed to be saved.<ref name="Harrison"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**Hitler was never publicly excommunicated for his crimes against humanity. According to most versions of Christianity, spending a few of his final moments repenting was all he needed to be saved.<ref name="Harrison"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***Likewise, any Holocaust victims who failed to convert to Christianity in their final moments are damned.<ref name="Harrison"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***Likewise, any Holocaust victims who failed to convert to Christianity in their final moments are damned.<ref name="Harrison"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler Himmler] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich] were Catholics, <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">who </del>were never excommunicated for their roles in starting the Holocaust.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>***[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler Himmler] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Heydrich Reinhard Heydrich] were Catholics, <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">and </ins>were never excommunicated for their roles in starting the Holocaust.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church set up a network of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II_aftermath) "ratlines"] to smuggle Nazi war criminals (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann Eichmann], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Mengele]) out of post-war Europe. The Vatican used its fascist-granted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty nation-state status] to issue travel visas to fugitive Nazis, and used Europe's monasteries as an “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad underground railroad]” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic Church set up a network of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II_aftermath) "ratlines"] to smuggle Nazi war criminals (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann Eichmann], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele Mengele]) out of post-war Europe. The Vatican used its fascist-granted [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty nation-state status] to issue travel visas to fugitive Nazis, and used Europe's monasteries as an “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad underground railroad]” for former Nazi dignitaries and officials.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic clergy who worked on behalf of Hitler’s regime were never reprimanded for their involvement, and their promotions within the church’s hierarchy went unimpeded.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>**The Catholic clergy who worked on behalf of Hitler’s regime were never reprimanded for their involvement, and their promotions within the church’s hierarchy went unimpeded.  </div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2756&oldid=prevSysop at 04:23, 24 May 20192019-05-24T04:23:34Z<p></p>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 04:23, 24 May 2019</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l4" >Line 4:</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Atheism is morally and socially corrosive.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Atheism is morally and socially corrosive.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The third option has grown increasingly popular, since the first two options are harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, allowing Christians assign the current enemy’s label to atheists and questioners of faith. This label can take on any form, since theism is the only thing which is incompatible with atheism. Typically, this label is that of a detested [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism totalitarian] group, usually one which was responsible for one of the great crimes of the 20th century (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor the <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Holdomor</del>], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust the Holocaust], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide the Rwandan genocide], etc.),<ref name="Hedges">C. Hedges, ''American Fascists:  The Christian Right and the War on America'' (Free Press, 2008).</ref> this practice of “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy guilt by association]” if fallacious at best, and malicious at worst, since atheists disagree among themselves on ''many'' issues.<ref name="Smith">G. H. Smith, ''Atheism:  The Case Against God'' (Prometheus Books, 2016).</ref> The average atheist is no closer to becoming an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler Adolph Hitler] or a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin Joseph Stalin] than a typical Christian is to becoming the next [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones Jim Jones] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh David Koresh].<ref name="Harrison"> G. P. Harrison, ''50 Simple Questions for Every Christian'' (Prometheus Books, 2013).</ref> The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xbT_4Q4qg wanton rationalization of violence] -- the concept of a “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theory just war]” was introduced to the Western tradition by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo St. Augustine],<ref name="Onfrey"> M. Onfrey, ''In Defense of Atheism:  The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam'' (Penguin Canada, 2008).</ref> and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Christian kings of medieval Europe could have been as terrible as any 20th century tyrant, had they access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium Christian kings of 19th century Europe] were capable of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State similar horrors on continental scales].  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The third option has grown increasingly popular, since the first two options are harder to sell. Commonly, this takes the form of linking atheism to other (typically political) beliefs, allowing Christians assign the current enemy’s label to atheists and questioners of faith. This label can take on any form, since theism is the only thing which is incompatible with atheism. Typically, this label is that of a detested [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism totalitarian] group, usually one which was responsible for one of the great crimes of the 20th century (e.g., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid Apartheid], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor the <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">Holodomor</ins>], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust the Holocaust], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_genocide the Rwandan genocide], etc.),<ref name="Hedges">C. Hedges, ''American Fascists:  The Christian Right and the War on America'' (Free Press, 2008).</ref> this practice of “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy guilt by association]” if fallacious at best, and malicious at worst, since atheists disagree among themselves on ''many'' issues.<ref name="Smith">G. H. Smith, ''Atheism:  The Case Against God'' (Prometheus Books, 2016).</ref> The average atheist is no closer to becoming an [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler Adolph Hitler] or a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin Joseph Stalin] than a typical Christian is to becoming the next [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Jones Jim Jones] or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh David Koresh].<ref name="Harrison"> G. P. Harrison, ''50 Simple Questions for Every Christian'' (Prometheus Books, 2013).</ref> The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8xbT_4Q4qg wanton rationalization of violence] -- the concept of a “[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_war_theory just war]” was introduced to the Western tradition by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo St. Augustine],<ref name="Onfrey"> M. Onfrey, ''In Defense of Atheism:  The Case Against Christianity, Judaism, and Islam'' (Penguin Canada, 2008).</ref> and it doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Christian kings of medieval Europe could have been as terrible as any 20th century tyrant, had they access to assault rifles and tanks instead of pikes and trebuchets -- especially since the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium Christian kings of 19th century Europe] were capable of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State similar horrors on continental scales].  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>   </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>   </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavelli] was the first to (indirectly) argue that totalitarianism and atheism were linked, claiming that Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build powerful states.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, '''totalitarianism is ''not'' exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will arise in ''any'' system which can make laws which are ''impossible'' to obey.'''  The resulting tyranny is even more impressive if it can be enforced by a highly-zealous error detecting privileged caste. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell George Orwell]’s [https://youtu.be/iNPHU_ro-1U?t=1m25s ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''] (1949) was inspired by his childhood experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules.<ref name="Hitchens ">C. Hitchens, ''God is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything'' (Twelve, 2009).</ref>People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.<ref name="Carlin"> D. Carlin, ''The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America'' (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).</ref> '''Christianity will not make anyone into an authoritarian or a totalitarian, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people'''; it is an enabler. '''Nazism and Communism took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.'''<ref name="Russell-Not"> B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' (Touchstone, 1967).</ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Machiavelli Machiavelli] was the first to (indirectly) argue that totalitarianism and atheism were linked, claiming that Christianity's universal love and acceptance would subvert the nationalism required to build powerful states.<ref name="Cox"> H. Cox, ''The Secular City:  Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective'' (Princeton University Press, 2013).</ref> However, '''totalitarianism is ''not'' exclusive to atheism, because totalitarianism will arise in ''any'' system which can make laws which are ''impossible'' to obey.'''  The resulting tyranny is even more impressive if it can be enforced by a highly-zealous error detecting privileged caste. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell George Orwell]’s [https://youtu.be/iNPHU_ro-1U?t=1m25s ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''] (1949) was inspired by his childhood experiences at a Christian private school, where it wasn’t possible to know when you had broken the rules.<ref name="Hitchens ">C. Hitchens, ''God is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything'' (Twelve, 2009).</ref>People with authoritarian personalities have greater tendencies towards ethnocentricity, xenophobia, sexual repression, and a love of hierarchy and dogma.<ref name="Carlin"> D. Carlin, ''The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America'' (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).</ref> '''Christianity will not make anyone into an authoritarian or a totalitarian, but Christianity caters to the exact wants, needs, and desires of such people'''; it is an enabler. '''Nazism and Communism took hold in part, because churches had conditioned the population to accept dogmatism.'''<ref name="Russell-Not"> B. Russell, edited by P. Edwards, ''Why I Am Not a Christian'' (Touchstone, 1967).</ref></div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2573&oldid=prevSysop: /* Stalin Did not Repress Christianity */2019-01-24T05:07:23Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Stalin Did not Repress Christianity</span></span></p>
<table class="diff diff-contentalign-left" data-mw="interface">
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 05:07, 24 January 2019</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both believe in the physically impossible (e.g., [http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; the “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both believe in the physically impossible (e.g., [http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; the “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both will use [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct] <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">force </del>and institutionalized force (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both will use [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">force</ins>] and institutionalized force (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both have vendettas against the teaching of Darwinian evolution (e.g., [[Creationism_is_False|creationism]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism Lysenkoism]).</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both have vendettas against the teaching of Darwinian evolution (e.g., [[Creationism_is_False|creationism]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism Lysenkoism]).</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both routinely falsified their history.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both routinely falsified their history.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Any progress and/or improvements <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">they have made </del>were only in response to their enemies (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent Council of Trent], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council Vatican II]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost ''glasnost''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika ''perestroika'']).<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Any progress and/or improvements were only <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">made </ins>in response to their enemies (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent Council of Trent], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council Vatican II]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost ''glasnost''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika ''perestroika'']).<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both are ideological systems which demand followers to ignore their [[Points_of_Contention|numerous flaws and shortcomings]], all of which were caused by their system's lack of error detection and self-correction mechanisms.<ref name="Boghossian"></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both are ideological systems which demand followers to ignore their [[Points_of_Contention|numerous flaws and shortcomings]], all of which were caused by their system's lack of error detection and self-correction mechanisms.<ref name="Boghossian"></ref></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Modern Christians are harder to rally with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare Red Scares], since the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union '''everyone under age <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">26 </del>has lived in a Soviet-free world''']. Still, there are some stragglers, holdouts, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society John Birchers] who persist.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Modern Christians are harder to rally with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare Red Scares], since the Soviet Union is fading from living memory -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union '''everyone under age <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">28 </ins>has lived in a Soviet-free world''']. Still, there are some stragglers, holdouts, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society John Birchers] who persist.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==References==</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>==References==</div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2572&oldid=prevSysop: /* Stalin Did not Repress Christianity */2019-01-24T05:05:10Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Stalin Did not Repress Christianity</span></span></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both believe in the physically impossible (e.g., [http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; the “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both believe in the physically impossible (e.g., [http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; the “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both will use <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">force, both </del>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct] and institutionalized (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both will use [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct] <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">force </ins>and institutionalized <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">force </ins>(i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both <del class="diffchange diffchange-inline">hate </del>evolution ([[Creationism_is_False|creationism]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism Lysenkoism]).</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">have vendettas against the teaching of Darwinian </ins>evolution (<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">e.g., </ins>[[Creationism_is_False|creationism]]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism Lysenkoism]).</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both routinely falsified their history.  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both routinely falsified their history.  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Any progress and/or improvements they have made were only in response to their enemies (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent Council of Trent], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council Vatican II]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost ''glasnost''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika ''perestroika'']).<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref></div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Any progress and/or improvements they have made were only in response to their enemies (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent Council of Trent], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council Vatican II]; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost ''glasnost''], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika ''perestroika'']).<ref name=" Russell-Not "></ref></div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2571&oldid=prevSysop: /* Stalin Did not Repress Christianity */2019-01-24T05:02:01Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Stalin Did not Repress Christianity</span></span></p>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both worship “saviors” (e.g., Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, ''et. al.'')</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both worship “saviors” (e.g., Jesus; Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, ''et. al.'')</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both exalt the philosophers defending their systems (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both exalt the philosophers defending their systems (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas; Marx, Lenin)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both believe in the physically impossible ([http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; “[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)</div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both believe in the physically impossible (<ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">e.g., </ins>[http://www.smitingshepherds.com/Argument_from_Miracles miracles, transubstantiation]; <ins class="diffchange diffchange-inline">the </ins>“[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU Dictatorship of the Proletariat]”)</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both rationalize their actions via citing abstractions (e.g., “the word of God”; “the will of the people”).</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both will use force, both [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct] and institutionalized (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>#Both will use force, both [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnF1OtP2Svk direct] and institutionalized (i.e., legislation) to impose their beliefs upon others.</div></td></tr>
</table>Sysophttps://www.smitingshepherds.com/index.php?title=Preventing_Totalitarianism&diff=2570&oldid=prevSysop: /* Stalin Did not Repress Christianity */2019-01-24T04:57:33Z<p><span dir="auto"><span class="autocomment">Stalin Did not Repress Christianity</span></span></p>
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<td colspan='2' style="background-color: white; color:black; text-align: center;">Revision as of 04:57, 24 January 2019</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l44" >Line 44:</td>
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<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>== Stalin ''Did not'' Repress Christianity ==</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>== Stalin ''Did not'' Repress Christianity ==</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'>−</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Although the [https://www.vidio.com/watch/68616-the-beatles-back-in-the-u-s-s-r-lyrics USSR] was “officially atheist” because of its commitment to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz3eOb6Yl1s Marxist dogma], the term “atheistic communism” has always been a misnomer, since Jesus never endorsed any particular economic system.<ref name="Westerhoff"> J. H. Westerhoff, ''Will Our Children Have Faith?'' (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).</ref> If anything, the opposite is true; the founder of capitalist thought ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith Adam Smith]) and its most vocal defender ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand Ayn Rand]) were non-believers.<ref name="Barker"> D. Barker, ''Losing Faith in Faith:  From Preacher to Atheist'' (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).</ref> Atheism ''seems'' linked to communism because Christian doctrine has been twisted and all-but- rewritten to place the practice of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di60NYGu03Y unrestricted capitalism] before the needs of people and their communities. Income taxes are now denounced as “idolatry,” and property tax as “theft,” and inheritance (estate) taxes are anti-Christian for bewildering ways which have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, ''verbatim'' restatements.)<ref name="Hedges"></ref>  </div></td><td class='diff-marker'>+</td><td style="color:black; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Although the [https://www.vidio.com/watch/68616-the-beatles-back-in-the-u-s-s-r-lyrics USSR] was “officially atheist” because of its commitment to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz3eOb6Yl1s Marxist dogma], the term “atheistic communism” has always been a misnomer, since Jesus never endorsed any particular economic system.<ref name="Westerhoff"> J. H. Westerhoff, ''Will Our Children Have Faith?'' (Morehouse Publishing, 2012).</ref> If anything, the opposite is true; the founder of capitalist thought ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith Adam Smith]) and its most vocal defender ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand Ayn Rand]) were non-believers.<ref name="Barker"> D. Barker, ''Losing Faith in Faith:  From Preacher to Atheist'' (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).</ref> Atheism ''seems'' linked to communism because Christian doctrine has been twisted and all-but-rewritten to place the practice of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di60NYGu03Y unrestricted capitalism] before the needs of people and their communities. Income taxes are now denounced as “idolatry,” and property tax as “theft,” and inheritance (estate) taxes are anti-Christian for bewildering ways which have been inadequately explained to the authors of this site. (Our requests for better explanations invariably result in angrier, ''verbatim'' restatements.)<ref name="Hedges"></ref>  </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>While the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union#Anti-religious_campaign_1928.E2.80.931941 early Soviet leaders '''''were''''' militantly anti-religious], this was reversed when '''under Stalin’s orders -- the USSR officially supported the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church Russian Orthodox Church]''' (ROC).<ref name="Stenger2"> V. J. Stenger, ''The New Atheism:  Taking a Stand for Science and Reason'' (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).</ref> On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_bishop Metropolitan] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Sergius_of_Moscow Sergius] was elected Patriarch of the ROC, thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. Stalin, and his successors up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC kept the people in line, and this was why the czars were able to maintain power for so long. Additionally:</div></td><td class='diff-marker'> </td><td style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #e6e6e6; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>While the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union#Anti-religious_campaign_1928.E2.80.931941 early Soviet leaders '''''were''''' militantly anti-religious], this was reversed when '''under Stalin’s orders -- the USSR officially supported the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Orthodox_Church Russian Orthodox Church]''' (ROC).<ref name="Stenger2"> V. J. Stenger, ''The New Atheism:  Taking a Stand for Science and Reason'' (Oxford Prometheus Books, 2009).</ref> On September 8, 1943 -- with Stalin’s permission -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_bishop Metropolitan] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarch_Sergius_of_Moscow Sergius] was elected Patriarch of the ROC, thus normalizing Soviet-ROC relations. Stalin, and his successors up to and including the current Russian regime, recognized the ROC kept the people in line, and this was why the czars were able to maintain power for so long. Additionally:</div></td></tr>
</table>Sysop