Page 443 - Stati inu obstati, revija za vprašanja protestantizma, letnik X (2014), številka 19-20, ISSN 1408-8363
P. 443
SYNOPSES, ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN
UDC 322(430)"1933/1945":27
Marko Kerševan
Hitler’s God: Nazism and/as religion and its relation
towards Catholicism and Protestantism
The lecture, or rather the article, is concerned with the relation of Nazism
towards religion and the Church (as an extension of the lectures, which primar-
ily treated the relation of the Christian churches towards Nazism); Hitler’s views
are given special attention. The Nazis always presented themselves as believers
in God (as Gottgläubig) and as such placed themselves in opposition to “godless
Bolshevism and Communism”. They looked for a faith which would “suit the
(German) nation and race”. In this area some of them (as Deutsche Christen)
tried to “cleanse” and complement Christianity, while others (such as Rosenberg,
Himmler and his followers) “renewed” and developed some variants of German
or national (völkische) religion, and still others differentiated between a (Nazi)
“worldview” (Weltanschauung) and religion/religions: racist anti-Semitism as
part of the obligatory worldview for all Germans was here conceived of as a na-
tional-political and scientific matter, and not as a religious matter and taking of
sides. We can observe in Hitler an aversion to Christianity as well as to the offered
new or old religions. It seems he tried to combine “abstract” faith in God and
God’s foresight with exalting the importance of science. He was led by political
pragmatism, which led him to postpone his reckoning with the churches until
the period after the “final victory”: until then they should avoid (anti)religious
attacks and conflicts and decisively suppress only the churches’ opposition to
Nazi policies (in national and “racist” questions).
Due to its historical effectiveness, Hitler both admired and hated the Roman
Catholic Church (as a serious rival). But he scorned Protestantism as an oppo-
nent, because it was weaker and not united. Luther’s sharp verbal attacks on the
Jews and the Judaism of his time served the Nazis well; they also exploited Lu-
theran teaching about the “two kingdoms” (“two regiments”) as an argument
for excluding the Church from political and secular matters. But actually and
potentially it was precisely Protestantism and Luther’s Reformation that in their
essence were in the deepest conflict with Nazism. Lutheran/Protestant Christi-
anity is “Pauline Christianity”: the apostle Paul was for Nazi ideologists the main
source and symbol of everything they rejected in Christianity. It was not by chance
that one of the sharpest theological opponents of Nazism was Karl Barth, who
gained his reputation and influence in contemporary theology precisely with his
treatment of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Barth was also the leading author of
the Barmen Declaration of 1934, with which German Protestants made a stand
theologically against the Nazi orientation both within and outside the Church.
For churches and Christians even today this Declaration is a signpost between
441
UDC 322(430)"1933/1945":27
Marko Kerševan
Hitler’s God: Nazism and/as religion and its relation
towards Catholicism and Protestantism
The lecture, or rather the article, is concerned with the relation of Nazism
towards religion and the Church (as an extension of the lectures, which primar-
ily treated the relation of the Christian churches towards Nazism); Hitler’s views
are given special attention. The Nazis always presented themselves as believers
in God (as Gottgläubig) and as such placed themselves in opposition to “godless
Bolshevism and Communism”. They looked for a faith which would “suit the
(German) nation and race”. In this area some of them (as Deutsche Christen)
tried to “cleanse” and complement Christianity, while others (such as Rosenberg,
Himmler and his followers) “renewed” and developed some variants of German
or national (völkische) religion, and still others differentiated between a (Nazi)
“worldview” (Weltanschauung) and religion/religions: racist anti-Semitism as
part of the obligatory worldview for all Germans was here conceived of as a na-
tional-political and scientific matter, and not as a religious matter and taking of
sides. We can observe in Hitler an aversion to Christianity as well as to the offered
new or old religions. It seems he tried to combine “abstract” faith in God and
God’s foresight with exalting the importance of science. He was led by political
pragmatism, which led him to postpone his reckoning with the churches until
the period after the “final victory”: until then they should avoid (anti)religious
attacks and conflicts and decisively suppress only the churches’ opposition to
Nazi policies (in national and “racist” questions).
Due to its historical effectiveness, Hitler both admired and hated the Roman
Catholic Church (as a serious rival). But he scorned Protestantism as an oppo-
nent, because it was weaker and not united. Luther’s sharp verbal attacks on the
Jews and the Judaism of his time served the Nazis well; they also exploited Lu-
theran teaching about the “two kingdoms” (“two regiments”) as an argument
for excluding the Church from political and secular matters. But actually and
potentially it was precisely Protestantism and Luther’s Reformation that in their
essence were in the deepest conflict with Nazism. Lutheran/Protestant Christi-
anity is “Pauline Christianity”: the apostle Paul was for Nazi ideologists the main
source and symbol of everything they rejected in Christianity. It was not by chance
that one of the sharpest theological opponents of Nazism was Karl Barth, who
gained his reputation and influence in contemporary theology precisely with his
treatment of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Barth was also the leading author of
the Barmen Declaration of 1934, with which German Protestants made a stand
theologically against the Nazi orientation both within and outside the Church.
For churches and Christians even today this Declaration is a signpost between
441
