Created by Brad Thibodeaux
In front of 20,000 people, devoted Nazi Dr. Reinhold Krause gave a speech in Berlin. Its purpose was to fully unite the new German Church with the new Nazi Party. As Mary M Solberg notes in her book A Church Undone, “The stenographers who transcribed the speech noted in parentheses the audience’s frequent and enthusiastic responses to Krause’s performance.” (p. 249). God and Country were uniting under the banner of “the People’s Church”.
This was a huge moment in the story of the German Church. First, it fully laid out the way the Nazi Party would influence the Church. Secondly, it led to a revolt among ministers in Germany. This led to the formation of the Pastor’s Emergency League, which would them transition into The Confessing Church. While I fully support the role of the Confessing Church, it is important to point out fair criticism. The problem was that the State was getting involved in the Church business. Susannah Heschel has noted that the Confessing Church did not take a hard stance against the anit-Semitism that the Reich Church espoused. HERE is a great article.
But let’s save that for another day. Today, let’s look at the speech, and see how much we have in common in 2025.
Action Hero Jesus in Germany
Jesus had become soft and weak to the National German Church. Here is a long (but important) quote from Dr. Krause’s speech in 1933:
“And if it comes to who rules: we need only one regime, the regime of Adolf Hitler and his advisers. (Very loud applause.) We need only one program for our youth, an education in the spirit of Adolf Hitler. (Applause.) And most important of all: we now need but one mission: to remold our German people—without exception and to the depths of their souls—into German National Socialists. (Very loud applause.) Our struggle has to do with nothing less than the spiritual awakening of our Volk. Our religion is the honor of the nation in the spirit of a combative, heroic Christianity.” (emphasis added)
The Nazi Party was supposed to be in control of both the laws and the religion of the land. That was the mission for Dr. Krause. And it is important to note that the ‘German People’ he speaks of are Aryans and Nordics. He goes on later to talk about the ‘halves’ and their inferiority. But, to continue the line of ‘heroic Christianity’, he talks about the need to remove ‘scapegoat’ theology:
“Our state church must also get busy removing all the apparently misplaced and superstitious stories in the New Testament, and there must be a thoroughgoing and outspoken rejection of the rabbi Paul’s scapegoat- and inferiority-theology, which falsified what was a plain and joyful message, namely, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” treat the neighbor as your brother and God as your father.” (emphasis added)
This was also Nietzsche’s critique of Christianity. He says in his work The Antichrist: “Christianity has taken the side of everything weak, base, ill-constituted; it has made an ideal out of opposition to the instincts of strong life.” I don’t know many Christians who take their theology from Nietzsche. Dr. Krause continues:
“We must demand a return to the heroic Jesus, whose life possesses exemplary meaning for us, and whose death is the seal upon this life, the resolution of a heroic and combative life in service to the mission his Father gave him. This is also why we must avoid exalting the Crucified One too much. We do not need as our leader a distant, enthroned God; rather we need only the fearless combatant. Our church needs leaders [Führer]; it has a leader [Führer] in our Redeemer.” (bracketed words included in the original translation, emphasis added).
A Race-Centered Church
Obviously the Nazi Church was centered around the Aryan race. However, throughout the Nazi regime, it became more explicit. This speech is littered with Aryan-centered language:
“Though Luther’s followers, in their limited and confession-bound “churchliness,” did not understand that his life’s work was a mission for his Germans, one he could not accomplish because he did not at that point have a German Volk, today, as we become a Volk, we are living out the Reformer’s ethno-national [völkische] mission. Today it isn’t the theologian Luther, and even less the professor of theology Luther, who interests us, but rather Luther the German popular preacher who stands before us (applause), who from the depths of his soul cried out, ‘I was born for my dear Germans, them will I serve…’” (emphasis added)
Luther took a dramatically negative view of the Jewish people (which is an understatement). His later writings become more anti-Semitic, and it was passed down to Calvin in the 17th century. According to Krause, “Luther came to a personal, inner experience of God, out of the God-forsakenness of an alienating ‘monkery’ into the deep attachment to God characteristic of the Nordic God-seeker.”
“The German fighter Luther was always on the side of the values of German ethno-national identity [deutsche Volkstum] in language and customs, in home and family, in poetry and music. All of this, my fellow Germans, was to him, exactly as Nature was, God’s work and God’s gift.” (emphasis added)
Germany as an ethnic group, and their superiority, was natural and God’s work and gift! But it goes beyond the superiority of a single race. There has to be a dehumanizing of another. How could the German Church negate the Jewish people? After all, the Jewish scripture is included in the Bible:
“If we conjure today the spirit of Martin Luther, we should not suppress Luther’s position on the Old Testament and the Jews, when he writes: “Therefore let Moses be the law book for the Jews, and let us heathens not be confused by it. The law of Moses applies only to the Jews. The Old Testament is not of God’s grace, but the result of human effort.” The Jews are certainly not God’s people. (Hearty applause.) If we National Socialists are ashamed to buy a necktie from a Jew, then we should really be ashamed to accept from a Jew anything that speaks to our soul, the most intimate matters of religion. (Sustained applause.)” (emphasis added)
Honestly, most of this speech is racially charged, as you might expect. So, rather than sitting in this muck too much, let’s move to something a little more interesting. A little more timely.
God’s Anointed Fighting for Jesus
It wasn’t enough that Jesus became more manly. Or more Aryan. Or more like John Wayne. These things are part of the equation, but the missing piece is the leader. This leader needed to be anointed by God to do what was needed. They needed to put Jesus back in power. And Jesus (and by extension Germany) was being attacked.
“Hence this church was caught up in every state crisis, dragged in each time the state became corrupt, and in the end, with the dissolution of all sense of community, sank into an existence as a mere ‘religious association’ in the liberalistic state. Marxism had already set itself, under the camouflage of the notion that ‘religion is private’ to eradicate from the German people, root and branch, all feeling of connection with God, until the day when Adolf Hitler came and swept away this rubbish of alienation, soullessness, and degeneracy. (Strong applause)” (emphasis added)
“And this is why as children of God we do not want a doctrine of slavery. This is something that the old fighters in the Party have always emphasized to me: we do not want slavish people, but rather proud people, people who feel themselves bound and obligated to what is godly.” (emphasis added)
This is not about doing the work of God on earth. This is a nation, utterly humiliated and destitute after the Treaty of Versailles, trying to show themselves and the world that they aren’t weak. It’s trying to claw back to a position of power. But in order to justify the actions that will have to be taken, the leader needs to be protected. There must be a divine source and ‘hedge of protection’ around this person.
“And if Adolf Hitler is the liberator and savior whom God has sent, then this spirit is the Spirit of God. The new church can never grow alongside the state, but only within it, and all of the same laws of life apply to the church. (Applause)” (emphasis added)
It’s pretty explicit. Dr. Krause is saying that Hitler is God’s appointed savior for Germany. He has been endowed with the Spirit of God. We have the benefit from hindsight, so this is clearly not true. However, Hitler was claiming love for countrymen, mercy, and peace. But, peace came at the cost of exclusion:
“But I may surely say that the greatest concern has been inspired by the first announcement from the national church: the Peace Decree issued by the national bishop. (That’s right.) He provoked in us German Christians a terrible insecurity, and in our adversaries a sense of triumph (That’s right! Strong applause.), a triumph, my fellow Germans, expressed in the fact that these people have a new burst of energy (Very true!) and think that when peace is offered them they can respond with aggression… This is the thanks they give us for the offer of peace. (Shouts from the audience: We don’t need any white Jews!) We don’t need any Jews at all in the church. (Loud applause.)” (emphasis added)
The table of the Lamb is expansive and invites all to take a seat.
The Church Reinforces the Empire
The idea of the separation of Church and State is deeply rooted in the United States. Puritans left Britain (in part) due to religious persecution. The British Church was a state-run Church that told the people how to be Christian. This was common throughout Europe, with State Churches throughout most of the countries in that time. Much of Søren Kierkegaard’s struggle with faith came from the fact that, to be Danish meant to be Christian, and to be Christian meant to be a Dane.
But the churches in Germany were a little different. They had different councils and synods that worked together. This helped keep the Church invested in the local communities – and this made it hard for the Nazi’s to consolidate their power in the Church. This is one reason that there was a push for a National German Church in 1933. Dr. Krause talks about the importance of the
National Church:
” The emerging Volk wants to shape a new church, and so we cry out in these times to the fiery spirit of Dr. Martinus, asking that he help us to complete his work, to create not a Lutheran, not a Reformed, not a unified, not a synodical or consistorial, not a bishops’ or a General Superintendents’ church, but rather a powerful, new, all-encompassing German people’s church [Volkskirche]. (Very strong applause)” (emphasis added)
Not only would there be a single National German Church, this Church would be in full support of the Third Reich. The National German Church flew the Nazi flags in their sanctuaries and on the altars. There was no separation between the Church and the State. To be a German was to be Christian, and to be Christian was to be a Nazi.
America’s ‘New’ Christianity
Many of us think White Christian Nationalism is a new phenomenon. However, Jemar Tisby’s work The Color Of Compromise sheds light on the White-centric and racist past of American Christianity. Still, most of us might not remember the roots of American Christianity. I highly recommend reading his work if you’re interested in the history of the Church in America.
As I finish here, I’d like to take a few paragraphs to talk through what we’ve seen become more prevalent and more acceptable in American Christianity. While there has always been racism and White supremacy in the American Church, my goal is to show how we are falling for the same false promises and fear tactics that worked in Nazi Germany. I’m reminded of a quote often credited to Mark Twain, “history doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes.”
American Action Hero Jesus
Historian and writer Kristin Kobes Du Mez talks a lot about the action hero Jesus. In her book Jesus and John Wayne, she looks at post-war America as having a masculinity problem. Christianity was viewed as being weak and too feminine. In order to change this, Jesus had to be turned into an action hero and warrior. She notes where this came from, “The unspoken mantra of post-war evangelicalism was simple: Jesus can save your soul; but John Wayne will save your ass.”
And it’s not just historians and left-wing progressive Christians that are noticing this. Russell Moore, former President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, resigned after increased White Christian Nationalist pressure. After leaving the Southern Baptist Convention altogether, he has become outspoke against the direction of Conservative Evangelicalism. As he said in an NPR interview:
“It was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — “turn the other cheek” — [and] to have someone come up after to say, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?” And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, “I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,” the response would not be, “I apologize.” The response would be, “Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.” And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we’re in a crisis.” (emphasis added)
White Christian Nationalism
It should come as no surprise that White Christian Nationalism promotes the superiority of Whiteness. While it is more visible, it is still often coded. For example, Representative Marjorie Taylor Green said in a 2022 interview, “We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists.” The wording sounds patriotic, but, knowing the context of the phrase (which I’m sure she does), is a dog whistle for those who agree. And let’s not forget about the recent ‘Roman salutes’ by Elon Musk and Steve Bannon, both integral to the Trump Administration
Pastors like Greg Locke have openly supported Christian Nationalism. From him saying “You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation“, to his involvement at the January 6 insurrection, he is the poster child of Christian Nationalism. After the attempted insurrection, a group of over 1,400 faith leaders of various political backgrounds signed an open letter condemning the action. A quote from the letter:
“We choose to speak out now because we do not want to be quiet accomplices in this on-going sin… Just as it was tragically inconsistent for Christians in the 20th Century to support the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi ideology, it is unthinkable for Christians to support the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, QAnon, 3 Percenters, America Firsters, and similar groups.”
Donald Trump’s Anointing By God
In his first term, Trump was characterized as an imperfect leader who would get the work of God done. This isn’t unheard of in the Christian story – the Hebrew Scriptures talk about God working through the kings of their oppressors. Some thought Trump would be the American Cyrus the Great. This Persian king in the 4th century CE conquered Babylon and let the Israelites return to their land. Celebrity pastor named Jonathan Cahn claimed he was Jehu – the Jewish king who restored godliness to Israel:
“President Trump, you were born into the world to be a trumpet of God, a vessel of the Lord in the hands of God. God called you to walk according to the template; he called you according to the template of Jehu, the warrior king.”
However you figure Trump’s anointing, it only gained favor after the attempted assassination on the 2024 campaign trail. This ‘imperfect vessel’ of God’s hand can seemingly do no wrong. As president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute Robert Jones says, the MAGA movement is bringing about the ‘promised land for white Christians’:
Most broadly, his Make America Great Again mantra, with its mix of racial grievance and nostalgia for a time when white Christians were the undisputed cultural and political majority in the country, is tailor-made for a group that sees itself as a people who have been denied their divinely ordained place as the chosen people in an America they envision as a promised land for white Christians.”
Blurring the Lines Between God and Country
My wife and I were looking for a church a few years back. We found one online that we thought we might like and we headed out Sunday morning to check it out. While we were pulling up, we noticed some little American flags on the lawn. This church was in a larger building so we thought it might not be theirs. Even though we didn’t want a church with an American flag, we went in anyways. However, we forgot it was 4th of July weekend.
We entered the room and the stage was lined with American flags. It looked like a Republican rally or CPAC, not a church. It was one of the most uncomfortable experiences we’ve had in a church! Not to mention the awkward interaction when we tried to leave after the service. Needless to say, this church was not for us, and we never went back.
There is so much bleed of Nationalism in the White American Church that it’s hard to limit this. And as we are coming close to the 3,000 word count, I want to point out one recent instance. This was at the Liberty Ball on inauguration day 2025. Artist Vanessa Horabuena painted a portrait of Trump on stage before he came out to greet the attendees.
I don’t really care that she painted the portrait of Trump. What I care about is that she did so with worship music in the background. The song, The Blessing, is lyrically similar to many mainline benedictions. It goes like this:
“The Lord bless you and keep youMake His face shine upon you and be gracious to youThe Lord turn His face toward youAnd give you peace
May His favor be upon youAnd a thousand generationsAnd your family and your childrenAnd their children, and their children
May His presence go before youAnd behind you, and beside youAll around you, and within youHe is with you, he is with youIn the morning, in the eveningIn your coming, and your goingIn your weeping, and rejoicingHe is for you, he is for youHe is, He is”
What Do We Do Now?
American Christian – this is serious. When God and Country collide, God is used for the purpose and ends of the Country, never the other way around. God cannot be used in favor of the State because the State uses violence to control. Early Christianity was an underground movement, subversively undermining the Roman Empire. The Jesus of the New Testament is aligned with the poor, marginalized, oppressed, and victimized. It’s time we decouple Jesus from our country.
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