Alfred Rosenberg's National Reich Church

[lpetrich]

The Nazis were rather mixed about religion. Most of it was OK with many Nazis as long as it was pro-Nazi. Like "positive Christianity", involving the belief that Jesus Christ was a great Nordic who confronted the Jews about their misdeeds and corruption, and who was crucified by them because of that. Susannah Heschel wrote a book, "The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany", discussing in detail the "Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life" that some theologians ran in that nation.  Positive Christianity has more on it.

Some Nazis had different plans, however. Like Alfred Rosenberg, a big-name Nazi theorist and ideologist and high-level Nazi leader who wrote books like "The Myth of the Twentieth Century". Among his positions was "the Fuehrer’s Delegate for the Entire Intellectual and Philosophical Education and Instruction for the National Socialist Party."

He proposed a "National Reich Church", and I'll quote what he proposed from William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich":

1. The National Reich Church of Germany categorically claims the exclusive right and the exclusive power to control all churches within the borders of the Reich: it declares these to be national churches of the German Reich.

5. The National Church is determined to exterminate irrevocably… the strange and foreign Christian faiths imported into Germany in the ill-omened year 800.

7. The National Church has no scribes, pastors, chaplains or priests, but National Reich orators are to speak in them.

13. The National Church demands immediate cessation of the publishing and dissemination of the Bible in Germany…

14. The National Church declares that to it, and therefore to the German nation, it has been decided that the Fuehrer’s Mein Kampf is the greatest of all documents. It… not only contains the greatest but it embodies the purest and truest ethics for the present and future life of our nation.

18. The National Church will clear away from its altars all crucifixes, Bibles and pictures of saints.

19. On the altars there must be nothing but Mein Kampf (to the German nation and therefore to God the most sacred book) and to the left of the altar a sword.

30. On the day of its foundation, the Christian Cross must be removed from all churches, cathedrals and chapels… and it must be superseded by the only unconquerable symbol, the swastika.

Sources:

4. Stewart W. Herman, Jr., It’s Your Souls We Want, pp. 157–58. Herman was pastor of the American Church in Berlin from 1936 to 1941.

5. The text is given in Herman, op. cit., pp. 297–300; also in the New York Times of Jan. 3, 1942.

This looks like a sort of "Protestantism minus Christianity", much like how Auguste Comte's "Religion of Humanity" was called "Catholicism minus Christianity" by Thomas Huxley.

Bible = Mein Kampf
Pastors = Reich orators
Hymns = Nazi songs
Cross = Swastika

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The Nazis were rather mixed about religion. Most of it was OK with many Nazis as long as it was pro-Nazi. Like "positive Christianity", involving the belief that Jesus Christ was a great Nordic who confronted the Jews about their misdeeds and corruption, and who was crucified by them because of that. Susannah Heschel wrote a book, "The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany", discussing in detail the "Institute for the Study and Eradication of Jewish Influence on German Religious Life" that some theologians ran in that nation.  Positive Christianity has more on it.

Some Nazis had different plans, however. Like Alfred Rosenberg, a big-name Nazi theorist and ideologist and high-level Nazi leader who wrote books like "The Myth of the Twentieth Century". Among his positions was "the Fuehrer’s Delegate for the Entire Intellectual and Philosophical Education and Instruction for the National Socialist Party."

He proposed a "National Reich Church", and I'll quote what he proposed from William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich":

1. The National Reich Church of Germany categorically claims the exclusive right and the exclusive power to control all churches within the borders of the Reich: it declares these to be national churches of the German Reich.

5. The National Church is determined to exterminate irrevocably… the strange and foreign Christian faiths imported into Germany in the ill-omened year 800.

7. The National Church has no scribes, pastors, chaplains or priests, but National Reich orators are to speak in them.

13. The National Church demands immediate cessation of the publishing and dissemination of the Bible in Germany…

14. The National Church declares that to it, and therefore to the German nation, it has been decided that the Fuehrer’s Mein Kampf is the greatest of all documents. It… not only contains the greatest but it embodies the purest and truest ethics for the present and future life of our nation.

18. The National Church will clear away from its altars all crucifixes, Bibles and pictures of saints.

19. On the altars there must be nothing but Mein Kampf (to the German nation and therefore to God the most sacred book) and to the left of the altar a sword.

30. On the day of its foundation, the Christian Cross must be removed from all churches, cathedrals and chapels… and it must be superseded by the only unconquerable symbol, the swastika.

Sources:

4. Stewart W. Herman, Jr., It’s Your Souls We Want, pp. 157–58. Herman was pastor of the American Church in Berlin from 1936 to 1941.

5. The text is given in Herman, op. cit., pp. 297–300; also in the New York Times of Jan. 3, 1942.

This looks like a sort of "Protestantism minus Christianity", much like how Auguste Comte's "Religion of Humanity" was called "Catholicism minus Christianity" by Thomas Huxley.

Bible = Mein Kampf
Pastors = Reich orators
Hymns = Nazi songs
Cross = Swastika

Trump missed his calling and his chance for glory.

 

[skepticalbip]

Is there any difference between this basis for a religion and the basis of other established world religions? A holy text has been offered, a savior identified, and the tenants of the 'faith' outlined.

 

[lpetrich]

(Alfred Rosenberg's National Reich Church...)

Trump missed his calling and his chance for glory.

How might that have worked out?

 

[lpetrich]

I made my ldentifications using what was in that quote. But there is another identification that went unstated, but that one is rather obvious: its founder figure, its messiah, its savior. Including it, I have:

• Jesus Christ = Adolf Hitler
• Bible = Mein Kampf
• Pastors = Reich orators
• Hymns = Nazi songs
• Cross = Swastika

One can make a similar dictionary for Auguste Comte's  Religion of Humanity It was very closely modeled on the theology and practice of the Catholic Church.

It has a Great Being, Humanity, instead of the Christian God.

This entity is part of a trinity, with the other two members being the Earth and either Cosmic Space or Destiny.

Its priests were to earn no money and hold no positions outside the priesthood, but unlike Catholic ones, they were to be married rather than celibate.

It was to have a top priest, a pontiff, but he was to live in Paris and not Rome.

The priests were to conduct religious ceremonies that included prayers, defined as "a solemn out-pouring, whether in private or in public, of men's nobler feelings, inspiring them with larger and more comprehensive thoughts."

Like the Catholic Church, it has seven sacraments:

• Introduction (nomination and sponsoring)
• Admission (end of education)
• Destination (choice of a career)
• Marriage
• Retirement (age 63)
• Separation (last rites at death, like Catholic extreme unction)
• Incorporation (absorption into history) – 3 years after death

Its  Positivist calendar has a hero of human progress for each month, week, and day, much like the Catholic calendar of saints.

 

[Politesse]

Is there any difference between this basis for a religion and the basis of other established world religions? A holy text has been offered, a savior identified, and the tenants of the 'faith' outlined.

Staying power.

 

[Lion IRC]

Is there any difference between this basis for a religion and the basis of other established world religions? A holy text has been offered, a savior identified, and the tenants of the 'faith' outlined.

Staying power.

View attachment 30610

Yes. Short lived.

Feuhrers


Dogma


Swastika


Mein Kampf

 

[Politesse]

Yes. Short lived.


.....

That's absurd. No one considers the Horsemen to be actual religious leaders.

 

[Lion IRC]

Not anymore.

 

[lpetrich]

(Alfred Rosenberg's "National Reich Church"...)

This looks like a sort of "Protestantism minus Christianity", much like how Auguste Comte's "Religion of Humanity" was called "Catholicism minus Christianity" by Thomas Huxley.

Bible = Mein Kampf
Pastors = Reich orators
Hymns = Nazi songs
Cross = Swastika

Trump missed his calling and his chance for glory.

What might some Trumpism cult look like?

Donald Trump is its Messiah, of course.

A sacred book? "The Art of the Deal"?

What else?

 

[bilby]

(Alfred Rosenberg's "National Reich Church"...)

This looks like a sort of "Protestantism minus Christianity", much like how Auguste Comte's "Religion of Humanity" was called "Catholicism minus Christianity" by Thomas Huxley.

Bible = Mein Kampf
Pastors = Reich orators
Hymns = Nazi songs
Cross = Swastika

Trump missed his calling and his chance for glory.

What might some Trumpism cult look like?

Donald Trump is its Messiah, of course.

A sacred book? "The Art of the Deal"?

What else?

Bible = Trump's Twitter feed
Pastors = Fox News and OAN editorialists
Cross = Red MAGA hats