HITLER’S FIGHT WITH THE CHURCH

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 450, 4 June 1937, Page 2

HITLER’S FIGHT WITH THE CHURCH

HOW CATHLOCIS AND PROTESTANTS VIEW IT

‘‘The Nazi Regime has not so far shown itself either io the. continued truth in our day of the martyrs, or to the ‘n'rrna-rioual disadvantage of spiritual and intellectual persecution.

- “Material evidence that the Leader himself has sharply revised his views on these points would be welcomed in every civilised' country But the difficulty is to see how Nazi ‘totalitarianism’ can ever ectually he reconciled with any exercise of/ independent critical faculties, religious or intellectual, any more than political. “To the ‘Totalitarian,’ criticism it necessarily high treason.” —-“Yorkshire Post."

“The German C rfeesi -nal Church, has, for the present, beaten the Nazi tyranny," says the Church Times “Her Hitler has destroyed German trade unions. He has killed free speech and th e free Press. He has driven the Jews from the Universities and the professions- The Army is his wathpot. But the Confessional

Church, despite persecution and calumny, has refused to bow the knee in the Templ e of Baal, and Roman Catholic opposition to the overlordship of the State shows no signs of weakening. “So there is now a change of tactics. The Confessional Church is to be given the pretence of liberty. Its Synod is to be elected by what is put forward as democratic precedure. But the whole thing it, and must be. sheer pretence. ft is merely reculer pour mieux sauter. The election will be swayed, not by conviction, but my intimidation. “The Totalitarian State simply cannot tolerate a free Church. Niazi-ism is as essentially anti-Christian as Bolshevism. Perhaps, indeed, it “will prove to be more to. The God of Mercy is abandoned for the God of Force The Sermon on the Mount is rejected as the charter of timid £lay?ry, and the 'teaching of Nietzsche, largely derived from Machiavejli, is adopted in its place.” ~’ “Her Hitler,” states the “Economist,” “has decided that there is to b e an election to a general synod, which is io provide for a new Church government. His calculation appears to be that the fervent church-going Protestants of the Confessional school will prove -to be outnumbered by the lukewarm nominal members of the Protestant Church who pay their church dues, and' are therefore entitled to vote in church affairs. In an election, -the natural preponderance of this element could doubtless be further weighed by governmental pressure. These are adroit tactics; but there seems to be an irreducile core of Christian principle w-htch even the tamest German Protestants are determined not to rar tender.”

“The ‘Confessional Church’ made its Stand on the Gospel and on noth-

ing else.” says the Manchester Guardian. “Th e ‘totalitarian’ State, which had annihilated the German labour and trade union movements as well as the formidable ‘Stahl. helm’ without any difficulty and was. entirely successful in assimilating the German Army itself, was unableto break the resistance of this min-

“Arrest, detention in gaols, or concentration camps, deportations, every kind of inquisition and restriction, and an uninterrupted campaign of calumny against which no reply was possible, failed to break or discredit the ‘Confessional Church.’ When coercion seemed hopeless a renewedeffort at compromise was made, but that -also proved hopeless.

“And now the ‘totalitarian’ State has admitted defeat. It has retired to its original position. All it can think of years of campaigning is to beghi all over again. There are to be elections as there wer e in 1933. And they will, no doubt, be more efficiently ‘managed.’

“The ultimat e purpose remains the same—the creation of a National Protestant Church in which the Word of God will be subordinated to th* l doctrines of race, blood, and nationhood. The German religious conflict is. to begin all over again, and more relentlessly than ever.”

“On th? Roman Catholic side of the controversy th? crisis is likmy to become even more acute, ’ says the Glasgow Herald.”

“It it significant that Baron von Eltz-Bubenach, Minister of Posts and Transport, recently resigned because, as a Catholic, he was out of sympathy with th e ' Cabinet’s policy On the day of Herr Hitler’s recent speech, he- was one of those non. Nazis who were formally admitted to the party and given a golden badge, it is stated, however, that he wrote declining membership, and has returned the badge. “Cardinal Faulhaber, the Bishop of Munich, and Count Preysing, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Berlin, delivered vigorous sermons on a Sunday recently, protesting against breaches Of the Concordat. There has been confiscation of pastoral letters, seiz. nre of Chureh schools, detention of priests, sequestration of Church funds, and a flood of calumnies agamst Church dignitaries. Such is the Roman Catholic charge.

rhe result of the annual registration of school children in Bavaria shows that 96 ppy cent, of the children will thi £ year, enter undenominational schools, compared with about 65 per cent last. year. Allegations are, made that undue pressure has been exercised on Roman Catholic parents. The probability is that the Children who continue to attend Roman Catholic schools are in a mess, ure shunned and ostracised. “The Hitler Youth claims all of Germ7ny. iS “ bOt * y reHgid “ is

Va ' tiean newspaper asserts that there is a kind of anti . religious esptonage system in Roman Catholic schools. Thus the Churches are opposing a Steady resistance -to the tri. NaZl ldeas 111 Germany, and “ V regime doss not seem yet huv e mastered the art of renderng 'this opposition innocuous”

Christ afnd Hitler. It is interesting in this connection to recall a message from the Berlin -■•osPonden-t of the Times during he Christmas season.

at thT rm Kerrl ’ the Churc)l Minister, strack ChriB , tmas festivai of his staff, struck a political note in his speech which drew an analogy between the ° f ChrlSt and of Her r Hitler,” says the correspondent of the Times. n the ancient world (he said) men despaired of their life untll Christ a“ r me (i and out to them the d rection and the goal. To-day, a s in olden times, we see peop]es a „ aiound us who despair of th P - mean "acred th 6 '° St sacred th.ngs and become the prey of Bolshevism. Among U s Germans g“ v W e 6 n Ver ' 3 ” an haS arken who »as renewed direction and stead.- “ Ss to our life, in that he had fought us once more into -the Divine

This Dfvin e order was the community ordained by God and decided by blood, the nation. To serve this community was to offer real service 40 God, and that was the content of National Socialist teaching. * “For that reason th e Christmas festival to-day was not only a family festival, but an all-embracing festival, transcending confessions and classes, of the German ‘companionship of the nation,’ which marched solidly behind -the Fuhrer. It is the Fuhrefr,” he concluded, '-who take care of us, our children, and the fut ure of Germany.”