It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere

Dear friends,

Following all the D Day celebrations, I thought you might be interested to know a little more of the background to the war. Economic factors have been well attested but Hitler's beliefs are not so often spoken of. The following will show just how important beliefs are. Just being sincere is simply not enough.

Hitler wrote his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) by borrowing ideas from others. Two of these were the German philosophers Hegel and Nietzche. Hegel had introduced the idea that it should be the STATE which rules and not church or king. Nietzche had stated that God is dead and in His place a 'super race' (or super man!) should control the world. Hitler understood this to be the 'Arian' peoples.

Another influence was a monk called Adolph Lanz. Lanz was a weird character who had strange dreams and visions. He believed that the only pure race was Arian and that all the other races were half breed. In his book 'Theozoology' he states that in the Genesis story, Cain reverted to sex with animals and thus half breed races were formed. Worse still women had sex with demons and this race was the Jews! Lanz then applied the book of Revelation to the Arian peoples by saying that the 1000 year rule over the devil was the rule of Arian over Jews. In fairness to Lanz however, he never suggested they be exterminated.

Lanz published all this in a monthly magazine called 'Ostara'. It was like a comic which was published and passed around from 1905 to 1931. Hitler met Lanz in 1909 and became an avid reader of Ostara. In 1924 he published 'Mein Kampf' after a time gaol, and Lanz, not unnaturally, accused Hitler of stealing his ideas!

In light of this history, how does the ever popular statement 'it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere' stand up? I suggest that if this vague woolly belief is true of our society we will be in for trouble before long. We call ourselves a 'CHRISTIAN' country but many do not know even the most basic teachings of Christ or where to find them. It was the same in Germany in the 1930s. Liberal theology meant that the church became incredibly weak and confused. M. Fulbrook in his book 'Germany a Divided Nation' (Fontana) speaks of compromise, ignorance and division among the churches. The church posed no threat to Hitler apart from a few evangelical Christians such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 'Confessing Church' and a number of Jehovah Witnesses who bravely tried to stand up against the Nazi regime.

One pastor, Martin Niemoeller, admits to how slow he was to take up the fight against the Nazi evil. Eventually he did and nearly died for it. He writes:

In Germany, the Nazi's came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I am not a communist. Then they came for the Jews, but I didn't speak up because I am not a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak up because I am not a trade unionist. They then came for the Catholics, and I was a Protestant, so I didn't speak up. Then they came for me... by that time there was no one left to speak up for any one.

What Pastor Niemoeller doesn't say here of course, is that the price of speaking up was physical violence.

Today, not yet in Uffculme but in many of our capital cities, there is the real threat of physical violence against any who 'speak up' about the extreme Muslim factions. George Carey has criticized the Muslim community for not condemning the violence of the few extreme (mostly Arab) Muslims who are causing so much havoc. Maybe it is because anyone who does this runs the risk of a fire bomb through their door or window. Maybe this accounts for the almost complete absence of 'speaking out' by our press. Even writing a little article like this, I realise, might be a dangerous thing to do!

There is however a safer way. This is to consolidate our beliefs as a CHRISTIAN nation. If we are to stay a Christian nation, we all need to know much more about our particular set of beliefs and why we believe them. We need the right set of beliefs, not any old (or new) set. Believing that sincerity is all we need will not protect us or our children from these extremes.

Once again my appeal is to all to check out real Christianity, look again at the teachings of Christ. There are books, there are courses and churches to help do this. Maybe the best way is to sign up for the next Alpha Course starting September. Watch out for the details.

God bless you all.

Alan Dodds

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