TOPICS OF THE DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21226, 24 September 1940, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Barbaric Philosophy “ Nietzche, a dying, tragic genius, who expired with the close of the nineteenth century, is responsible for the philosophy of force that lies behind the phenomenon of Hitlerism. This strange genius lived through a period which saw many attacks upon Christian dogma. Strauss had written his ‘ Life of Jesus.’ So had Renan Darwin given to the world his ‘ Origin of Species.’ These, to Nietzche’s penetrating mind, were but castles in the sand. He knew that the worth of a religion is determined by its morality, and he diagnosed morality as a weapon in the struggle for power*. To him, ‘ good ’ and * evil ’ were artifices utilised for acquiring power. He attacked Christianity at its core. Is the Christian religion, with its morality, preserving a desirable type of man ? He unequivocally stated, No. ‘ Behold, I teach you superman.’ The power behind Hitler urges him to strive for the mastery of the world, because to him such mastery comes to those strong enough to take it and hold it.”—The Rev. Reginald Kirby in the Sydney Morning Herald.