Okay, lets just set this straight...

[skull_bearer]

The Nazis did not have an atheist manifesto.
They did go against any organisation that wasn't the Nazi party, and so organised religion, such as Catholicism, was not so hot with them. But the same could be said of everything from youth groups to trade unions, anything that could potentially get in the way of party authority was disbanded, some more forcibly than others.
Frankly, the treatment organised religion got, when compared to trade unions and rival political parties, was a fucking feather touch. They were mostly left alone as long as the individual priests didn't say anything bad about Nazi policy and leaders. If they did, well, they got what everyone else got who spoke against the status quo, a stay in a KZ. You weren't even banned from joining the SS if you was devout, sure you got laughed at and passed over for promotion, but these are the friggin' Nazis we're talking about here.
Also, can anyone name me a high-ranking nazi who was an atheist? I really can't think of any. Hitler was Roman Catholic and Himmler was off in his own little Teutonic reality, but I don't know much about the others.

So, Emperor Palpatine, shut the fucking hell up, you are the last person to talk and now I'm going to make a great big 'Gott Mit Uns' sign to take the the protest on Saturday.

Comments

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Actually I'm pretty sure the Nazis did repress organized religion, not out of hostility to the concept as was the case in the Soviet Union but out of wanting to avoid separate power centers that could rival the Party.

The Nazis were hostile to atheism, as they identified it (very justifiably) with Communism. Not many Nazis were churchgoing Christians in the leadership but their base was mostly Protestants in Northern Germany and lapsed Catholics in Southern Germany.

Fascist hostility to organized religion was more about fear of rival organizational centers than it was about seeing religion as a societal weakness. Now, the Soviet Union was indisputably hostile to all religions, including Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity but that's one of the many ways that the Soviet dictatorship differed from the Nazi one.

[sorion.livejournal.com]

It's Palpatine, what did you expect...?

[deborahkla.livejournal.com]

Palpatine always was a jackwipe.

[fishlegs.livejournal.com]

Godwin's law, dude.

[arkan2.livejournal.com]

Er, good show and all that, but would mind explaining for the benefit of those of us not presently in Britain what is the context of this delightful rant/history lesson, and to which protest you refer?

[tarangryph.livejournal.com]

I saw this list of quotes over on atheist blog Pharyngula and thought of you:

List of Hitler quotes — in honor of the papal visit to the UK. Enjoy. ;)

[angels-chinese.livejournal.com]

It wasn't as simple as you think. If you don't believe me, believe Ian Kershaw. Read "Mein Kampf" at least to know what Hitler thought about Christian Churches in 1924. Of course, it's simplier to be sure that you already know all the answers. Especially when these answers perfectly match your personal beliefs.