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April 19, 2008

Did Hitler Act Upon Catholic Convictions?

Each week Medford’s local newspaper publishes letters in which people voice their opinions. Over the past few years I have watched carefully as there are those who frequently launch attacks against Christians making assertions that are not true. One writer has published multiple opinions in which she attempts to equate Hitler’s actions with Christianity and, in particular, place blame on the Catholics. Clearly Hitler was not acting upon Catholic doctrine. For this I found it necessary to respond. Again, the critic launched another attack maintaining that Hitler belongs to the Christian world. Since this subject matter is so closely related to my previous blog post, I have decided to republish it here. First, I will publish an excerpt of the critic’s letter and follow with my response which address these allegations.

Writer responds to writer’s Vox Pop challenge
“…Oh, and to set the record straight: “I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.” (Hitler to General Gerhard Engel in 1941)

Hitler was a baptized Roman Catholic who was never excommunicated by the church.“I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator by fighting the Jews, I am doing the Lord’s work.” (Mein Kampf)

And he hated the Atheists: “We were convinced that the people need and require faith, We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations We have stamped it out.” (Hitler, 1933)

If I have to get my facts right then so do you…”
Linda O_________

Nazism was viewed as heretical by the Catholic church
Last week Linda O________ continued her argument that Adolf Hitler was a Christian and that he acted upon his Catholic convictions. Any serious researcher of the Third Reich would dismiss this as irrational so let’s relegate him back to where he belongs. First, an elementary review of the Nazi belief system: Nazi’s believed themselves to be an advanced race—the Aryans; Nazis believed the Aryans originated from the lost continent of Atlantis; the Nazis looked upon Hitler as their messiah; the Nazis promised a vision of transcendence where the collective would become divine and usher in a 1000 year Reich. One need not be Catholic to comprehend the church considers this heretical. Pope Pius X confronted these very doctrines in his September 8, 1907 Pascendi Domminci Gregis, Encyclical on the Doctrines of the Modernists.

Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, is a strong denunciation of the Nazi regime and doctrine. The encyclical was read to every Catholic congregation in 1937 during a period of intense persecution. Reinhard Heydrih had already classified the Jews and the Catholic Church as the two principal enemies of Nazism. Pope Pius XI writes “at a time when your faith, like gold, is being tested in the fire of tribulation and persecution, when your religious freedom is beset on all sides.” Preceding the encyclical in 1933 the Nazis seized the property of the Catholic lay organizations banning their activities and forcing their closure. In 1935 Hermann Goring declared Catholicism incompatible with the spirit of the age. In 1937 crucifixes were ordered removed from state AND parish buildings. Afterward in 1939 all religious instruction was replaced with Nazi ideological instruction.

The encyclical did not go unnoticed by the regime as it directly attacked the Nazi belief system: “None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God, of a national religion; or attempt to lock within the frontiers of a single people, within the narrow limits of a single race…” The contention that the Church had never excommunicated Hitler is irrelevant because he had already been done under Catholic canon law latae sententiae. The German bishops had also excommunicated all Nazi party officials which would have included Hitler.


The doctrine that the Nazis attempted to implement will be found in the writings of Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society. Former Theosophical president Annie Besant summarizes the root race doctrine in The Coming Race which is available online at www.theosophical.ca/ComingRaceAB.html. New Age Almanac presents Blavatsky’s and Alice Bailey’s doctrine as foundational of the modern New Age Movement. The doctrine may be found among the World Commission on Global Consciousness & Spirituality and Alliance of Civilizations personalities. They openly believe they are doing the Lord’s or Christ’s work. Their definition of the Lord is Sanat Kamura, Lord of the World and head of a spiritual hierarchy, and Christ as a spiritual consciousness that overshadows an “enlightened” individual.

Per Theosophist Foster Bailey in Running God’s Plan (1972), they had attempted to usher in a new age before but failed. Accordingly: “One attempt was to begin by uniting the peoples living in the Rhine river valley using that river as a binding factor. It was an attempt by a disciple but did not work. Now another attempt is in full swing...” With the Alliance of Civilizations now responsible for implementing a global consciousness and presiding over the UN-led global counter-terrorism strategy and compounded with its introduction of the new global Shared Security model, it appears they are once again ready “activate” the evolutionary process of the Aryan race. (
Rich Peterson, Medford)

20 comments:

Constance Cumbey said...

Good and relevant. It must always be borne in mind that a leading strategy of the New Age Movement as set forth in the Alice Bailey books ("Jerusalem stands for nothing except 3 dead and gone religions"), Peter LeMesurier THE ARMAGEDDON SCRIPT is to pit the target groups off against each other. Very early in my research I found the Catholic Church had been deeply infiltrated by the New Age Movement. So had all the others. There was some serious housecleaning the Catholics while others continued with their strategy which indeed was effectively fingered by Pope Pius X of "termites from within, wrecking balls from without). Thanks for reminding us!
Constance

Anonymous said...

Rich, Hey.
You are absolutely correct to counter the writer of the newspaper letter in her preposterous assertion that Hitler was Christian. He might have cynically offered a few statements early in his career saying he had Christian intentions, but the German Nazi Party was anti-Christian to its core, and its subsequent nightmarish governance bears this out.

But as I read your blog further I see that you curiously associate Hitler and Nazism, with its racialist agenda, to early 20th century Theosophist thinking about a new consciousness emerging among humanity. Madam Blavatsky was writing during a time when there was a great deal of racialist/eugenicist thought, but as I skimmed the link you provided I see that she did NOT categorize any "race" as inferior (in fact she does the opposite, praising the "Red race" and the "Japanese race"). On the contrary, she stated that a new "root race" was already forming in America, due to a new consciousness. In no way, is she advocating any racialist program; she is simply benignly observing, and, of course, desiring to aid the emergence of a new human consciousness of spirituality and peace.

I find it disingenuous to equate that project, of spiritual thinking--with which many Christians could at least partly agree--with racism and Nazism.
I understand that your personal project is to lump together any non-Christian thinking with the worst of humanity--even the Holocaust. Would it not be a better use of mental power to find common ground among all peoples of good will?

leedurhamstone said...

Sorry, I did not intend for my posting above to be anonymous. I am lee durham stone, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and can be found at embodiedspace.bogspot.com.

Rich Peterson - Medford said...

Leedselk,

Thanks, but no thanks. I have no intention of being on the wrong side of the digital divide by undergoing a Luciferic initiation.

Regarding my personal project, my utmost concern is for freedom which is quite contrary to what the new civilization and its common value system has to offer. This blog space is devoted to warning Christians, Jews, Muslims, New Agers, etc.--anyone who is uninterested in forfeighting their religion in exchange for a "new revelation".

Regarding Nazism and Theosophy, if they are bold enough to say it--I'm bold enought to repeat it. I'm sure Foster Bailey was not disingenuous in Running God's Plan--perhaps he would have refrained had he known we would cite the material.

Addressing your concern "I see that she did NOT categorize any "race" as "inferior", let's take a look at Blavatsky's Isis Unveiled, Vol 1. Pg 296:

"In his lecture on The Action of Natural Selection on Man, Mr. Alfred R. Wallace concludes his demonstrations as to the development of human races under that law of selection by saying that, if his conclusions are just, "it must inevitably follow that the higher -- the more intellectual and moral -- must displace the lower and more degraded races; and the power of 'natural selection,' still acting on his mental organization, must ever lead to the more perfect adaptation of man's higher faculties to the condition of surrounding nature, and to the exigencies of the social state. While his external form will probably ever remain unchanged, except in the development of that perfect beauty . . . refined and ennobled by the highest intellectual faculties and sympathetic emotions, his mental constitution may continue to advance and improve, till the world is again inhabited by a single, nearly homogeneous race, no individual of which will be inferior to the noblest specimens of existing humanity."

http://www.theosociety.org/
pasadena/isis/iu1-09.htm

I sincerely mean what I say that I am concerned for everyone's religious freedom. I will be doing a post in the near future showing that the Alliance of Civilizations has added a new target. Not only are religious fundamentalists and political dissent a target, relativists have been added to that list.

Anonymous said...

Race in the Theosophical sense is not based on skin color. It is a confusing system of belief in the growing perfection of groups of people.

http://www.blavatsky.net/theosophy/judge/articles/rounds-and-races.htm
----------------------------
http://www.walestheosophy.uk-free.co.uk/TB%20The%20Planetary%20Chains.htm or
http://tinyurl.com/3o9vsy

"The Aryan race, to which we belong, is the fifth root-race of the fourth globe, so that the actual middle point fell in the time of the last great root-race, the Atlantean. Consequently the human race as a whole is very little more than halfway through its evolution, and those few souls who are already nearing Adeptship, which is the end and crown of this evolution, are very far in advance of their fellows."

"The evolution lying before us in both of the life and of the form; for in future rounds, while the egos will be steadily growing in power, wisdom and love, the physical forms also will be more beautiful and more perfect than they have ever yet been. We have in this world at the present time men at widely differing stages of evolution, and it is clear that there are vast hosts of savages who are far behind the great civilized races of the world – so far behind that it is quite impossible that they can overtake them. Later on in the course of our evolution a point will be reached at which it is no longer possible for those undeveloped souls to advance side by side with the others, so that it will be necessary that a division should be made."

So much for equality occult style.

Dorothy

leedurhamstone said...

Hello, y'all.

Most likely this is my last post here on your blog. I have enjoyed very much the interaction, as such, and the stimulation to think and write about some things that were mostly new to me.

In the last approx. 24 hours I have read more Theosophy than I have ever before, since I had read approx. none since I first heard of it perhaps 40 years ago. It holds little interest for me, in its too esoteric unintelligibility.

Rich, I have no idea about any Luciferic initiation. Of more interest is the Alliance of Civilizations, about which I had never heard. I shall now be aware of it.

Constance, I think it facile to claim that a rather amorphous, mostly unconnected group of people--in this case, a New Age "movement"--has any conniving strategy to take over any established religions. It is, I think, rather a "Christian-spiritualist" idea to attribute to an unorganized group of people a reification which is not there. It is a trait of the human mind to find meaning, such as finding faces in the clouds, when there is none. Humans, are, after all what I call Homo habilis sententia--Man, Meaning-Maker (okay, a rather clumsy label). I would say New Agers believe that any development occurs in the hearts and minds of people. They are rather a passive lot.

To use any words of Alice Bailey is, I believe, looking too far out of the current historical context to an earlier outmoded time.

Speaking of history: Leadbetter and crew, even Alfred Russel Wallace, who was a top and medaled scientist at the time (and not a Theosophist), used language, and believed, in ways we today would label as racist. Terms such as "primitive races" reflected the thinking of the time and would have been used in Christian pulpits all through North America and Europe. I find that the Theosophist writings were probably less racist than most people at the time. I noticed that one of the links went to a Bailey piece, written, I believe, in 1891. The other was published first in 1912. Again, the evolutionist-primitive/superior races language was in every textbook used in America. Those were the beliefs at that time and led to "White Man's burden," of taking Christianity to the "inferior races." In contrast, the Theosophists seem quite benign.

Anyway, I know that I write in a didactic manner, which seems arrogant. Sorry for that.

I wish y'all all the best. I have enjoyed the brief communications.

--lee durham stone

Rich Peterson - Medford said...

Lee,

You are welcome to post on the discussion board any time. Thank you for your participation.

Rich

Anonymous said...

Lee Stone you are an example of person who lives the line, "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

Wow...you spent a full day looking at the Theosophical Society. There is no indication you looked at either Lucis Trust or the Theosophical Society as the international political operations they are now. There is no indication that you visited their international websites, checked out their ties with the UN (Lucis Trust is a very active NGO there), read their histories, visited their bookstores or international headquarters. Rather than being obscure throwback to thepast, their books continue to be sold in mainstream bookstores around the country. Lucis Trust books with their antisemitism have been translated into many languages.

Rather than admit you did not know what the Theosophical Society wrote about race, you moved on to slam Cumbey whose research is now archived at the University of Michigan.

The world is full of intellectual dilitantes who are fun to know as they are masters of trivia. Your blogspot is a lot of fun, but one shouldn't go there when doing academic level research.

Your comments here needed a response as no one should see Richard's research and your commentary as equal in seriousness.

Dorothy

Anonymous said...

Well said Dorothy.

Nancy

leedurhamstone said...

Folks, Hey.
Nancy, not only was Dorothy's riposte to me well said, I'm positive it exposed some truth about my character and my earlier posts. It also has initiated some self-revisionism in light of Dorothy's sense of me as being a fun dilettante (correct orthography). I'll recall this when interacting with those several acquaintances who think me uber stodgy and ultra deep!

Rich, thanks for your invitation to participate here. Again, surely this is my finale.

Dorothy, when countering anyone's ideas, it will seem a "slam," as you say, if one interprets it that way. The single word I used that could be interpreted as pejorative was "facile," as in "easy" (but also "simplistic").

I think we are talking about two different phenomena: You are referring to an organized occult "movement" (I suppose) and I am referring to all the people I have known for the prior 40 years who might refer to themselves as generally "New Age," but do not belong to any organized "movement" beyond taking group yoga classes, sometimes in a church basement. Again, New Agers--the ones I know--are rather an anarchic lot. To equate these two groups--e.g. Lucis Publishing, about which I know absolutely nothing (and care to know nothing), and my idea of "New Age" people--I still think is...not valid.

My view of your comment about the (evil) power of Lucis is that there are many thousands of NGOs around the world, with possibly hundreds associating with the U.N. I'm confident there are Christian organizations there, too. Seems there is a biblical quote emblazoned on the wall of its headquarters lobby. Second, for an organization (such as Lucis) to operate as an international political organization--in a time of globalization--is commonplace. Third, about the marketing of its books in mainstream bookstores, I'm not at all surprised, as Barnes and Noble has a long shelf of esoteric/occult/New Age books (in which I have near zero interest).

Certainly, you will say, I am downplaying the import of the Theosophy/Lucis/occult "movement;" and I'm certain you will say my "little learning is dangerous" (can it sometimes be true that a lot of learning is dangerous?)--so you shall contend that in my supposed naivete of the "true" views re occult "forces" I am an unwitting pawn of those sinister forces.

On a much more serious note: I believe that when one spends his/her spiritual energy countering what they in their God-given naivete thinks is evil, they enter a wrestling relationship with dark forces (like Jacob in his dream-state) which is dangerous to that soul, because that becomes their focus--they become a soul in struggle with evil. Think of it: look for evil, find evil, focus on evil, and...what? Be a soul in INTERNAL struggle with evil. Seems Jesus released us from that. Also, one might obsess with one's self-proclaimed, self-ordained "mission" to save the world. In my dilettantish intellectualism, and perhaps in my naive and fun spirituality, I'd say evil in this world is here to stay. Unless y'all in your Special Dispensation and deep academic research and astonishing exposes and well deserved global fame can rid us of it.

My most profound supplication: May God bless us all.

Anonymous said...

Lee Stone,
Because your friends don't see themselves as part of a movement, doesn't mean there isn't a New Age movement.

I would think a Social Studies teacher might want to keep an eye on a movement that has developed over the past 100 years and at this point is huge rather posting comments equivalent to "I see nothing."

Without the internet it was difficult to document the networks, but these days anyone who can click a key can document changes.

Since you appear to be an absolute newbie here are some beginning things to check out:
1. Cumbey's book Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow
2. Her blogspot cumbey.blogspot.com
3. Marilyn Ferguson's book Aquarian Conspiracy
4. NGWS.org is affiliated with Lucis Trust. Check out this website
http://www.ngws.org/service/Newsletter_pg3.htm
5. Read Lee Penn's book False Dawn
6. Go to the Whole Again website, considered the best guide to networking the New Age movement. The second edition of their book in the late '80s had 3,200 listing.

Your paragraph, beginning with Constance, was a nasty verbal slam. Live with it.

Since you claim not to know anything about Lucis Trust, if I were you, I would stick with that and not go on to make silly comments.

You aren't important enough to be a sinister pawn of anything.

You write: "can it sometimes be true that a lot of learning is dangerous?" No. University campuses are still pretty safe places. Don't be afraid. No bogeymen over there.

Based on your last paragraph, you certainly are a fun person...or you've been listening to the "Be Happy Don't Worry" tape too much.

Dorothy

Rich Peterson - Medford said...

Dorothy makes valid points re Theosophy and Lucis Trust--they cannot be dismissed as dated. They remain alive and well. Their age bolsters their effectivity rather than diminishes it. An analogy would be to look at corporations. Do older, more established ones have less or greater of an impact on our economy?

The Theosophical and Lucis Trust doctrines are pretty much the same—same author, different secretaries. They are easily detectible and embedded in the writings of many global governance initiatives. Examples of some initiates are former UN Assistant Secretary General Robert Muller, former UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, former UNESCO’s Director-General and present Co-chair for the Alliance of Civilizations Federico Mayor. They have set in motion programs consistent with the direction of the Lucis Trust writings, programs that will impact societies heavily for years to come.

Rich

Anonymous said...

http://embodiedspace.blogspot.com/
is Lee Stone's blogspot. Over there he posted the comments he made here without linking to this blog. I added the comment over there that readers should come here for the discussion, but he hasn't had the intellectual integrity to let that comment go through.

He came here making snickering comments, assuming no one would catch his innuendos. I do hope tht if he comes back he will have learned better manners.

As a side note, I've found posting a bit difficult. The first time I attempt to post a comment it is lost. I've had to highlight, copy and post a second time before the comment goes through. I received no message that the word verification was incorrect.

Dorothy

Rich Peterson - Medford said...

Dorothy,

I'll remove word verification but add it back if we start to get a lot of spam.

Rich

Anonymous said...

The spiritual foundation of the United Nations:

http://www.aquaac.org/un/untop.html

Anonymous said...

Leedselk has obviously been sucked into the hypnotizing effects of the new age movement. After reviewing his blog site he can only see the world from the new age perspective. Kind of like Anakin Skywalker once he crossed over to the dark side. Sorry, Star Wars has been on a lot on TV lately.

Anonymous said...

It seems that many teachers in the public school system and college universities are good people but they tend to favor the New Age belief system.

Anonymous said...

Tonight I was watching a 1946 film called The Stranger. The man who was a Nazi stated that the Nazis were involved in underground pagan rituals. It was an Orson Wells movie. How is it that the information was so open then but is so unknown now? I provided a newspaper article from a 1935 issue of a Chicago paper that appeared in Constance Cumbey's second book which said the same thing in much detail.

In support of your commentary, I would like to call attention to the book The Myth of Hitler's Pope by Rabbi David G. Dalin. Rabbi Dalin is a Professor of History and Political Science. He writes "The real agenda of the myth-makers: hijacking the Holocause to attack the very idea of the papacy--especially the papacy of the late Pope John Paul II--as well as Christianity and traditional religion as a whole."

Dorothy

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:46
"There is none good, no, not one."

debra said...

I have started to deeply ponder about the lie that was told to Eve in the Garden by the serpent as I continue to read this information.

Some Humans really believe they can solve the problems of the world, which coincidentally occurred and are occurring because "we" couldn't listen to God. I wonder if He then mercifully said, "I will step aside and leave them to their own devices". Thus Adam and Eve's eyes were truly opened. Look where that has gotten us. Many have turned into foolish men who believe they can solve the very problems that their disobedient nature created.

I guess if you asked for my vote, I will vote for God's Plan. I will stand steadfast, remain faithful, and continue to believe in His Word. While I am living in the most exciting time in the history of mankind I do believe I will watch the pittifully, deceitful men and their Great Deceiver of a leader and his minions experience judgement at the righteous hand of a Just and Faithful God.