We often forget that in 1933, when the Nazis took over Germany, the country was divided into Catholics and Protestants. While the Nazis were fairly anti-religious, the religious weren’t necessarily anti-nazi. Hitler received support from many areas, but some die-hard groups that gave him their all fell under the banner of Christianity. Why they supported Hitler will sound familiar. Christianity has always had deep problems with Judaism, feeling that the religion betrayed and killed Jesus. There has always been irritation and envy over the notion that Jews didn’t think money was evil and became bankers while Christians were shunning money as the felt the Bible directed them to. Add to that, the embrace of the Nazi ideal of a superior white race, something that German Protestants also supported, and you get a big chunk of support for Hitler and his Nazis.
As we know, from watching conservatives throw anyone who is “different” into the, “they must be criminals pile,” generalizations get you in trouble very quickly. Not all Protestants in Germany jumped on the Hitler is great, train, but those that did are worth looking at. They sound remarkably like the 80% of Evangelicals who support Trump who should be treated with the same caution that any neo-nazi would be treated.
The Protestants who supported Hitler were avid, they called themselves, “storm troopers of Jesus Christ.” Many argued that Hitler could not have happened without the teachings of Martin Luther, yes, they directly linked the creator of their religion to Hitler and National Socialism. And to make sure they stayed in line, they elected Ludwig Müller, as Reich bishop. Müller was well known and a Nazi party member, and under his leadership, the Protestants embraced Nazi philosophy and incorporated it into their worship.
Hitler gave German Protestants what they wanted, a feeling of superiority, the power to force their beliefs on others, and the power to vanquish competing religions from Germany. If this sounds remarkably similar to the same things we are getting from American Evangelicals, well yes, they are very similar. And like the German Protestants, they are very far off the proverbial reservation.
I don’t think that anyone can argue that God, as defined in the Bible, intended his will to be enacted in the way that German Protestants pursued it. No more so than God, as defined in the Bible, intends that American Evangelicals pursue his will. In the end, the greater problem is the fervor that these people feel for their position. They have the right to judge others, on the behalf of God of course, and the end justifies the means. If Trump gets them to a point where their will can be forced on the “ungodly,” then what they’ve done is correct, no matter what baggage comes along. This is very much where the German Protestants were.
One of the central tenants of Christianity was always humility. I was raised as a Southern Baptist and got the, judge not lest thou be judged, lecture frequently. Evangelicals have embraced the, God sent us here to judge you, mantra and do so with a will. They have conflated wealth with God’s approval and thus have chosen to support a man for whom the only value that matters is the money in the account.
Beware the fervor of any group that thinks it has the God-given approval and right to judge others. That is the stuff of inquisitions and death marches. It is the stuff of Naziism and nationalism. Evangelicals for Trump are the solid underpinnings of such movements and should be treated with all the caution they deserve.