GERMANY'S NEW RELIGION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22609, 28 June 1935, Page 12

GERMANY'S NEW RELIGION

RETURN TO PAGANISM ;; ANXIETY OF ENGLISH BISHOPS (From Our Own Correspondent.)' ' (Br. Air Mail) LONDON, June 8. ,' In his speech on May 21 Herr Hitler, as Fuhrer and Chancellor of Germany, ; made a great point of his strong desireV 1 - for the friendliest relations with the-: • British people. In a letter to The Times . the Bishop of Chichester points out that ~ the British*people are lovers of freedom,' and loathe and abhor religious persecu'" tion. Their friendship cannot be ■« won ■'<•■ while freedom is denied and -religious persecution prevails. .-:::; In the same speech Herr Hitler also * maintained that he and the German'-' Government lived in the firm conviction > that "not the decline of the Occident but" its resurrection will- be fulfilled in bur time," and he added "that Germany may make an imperishable contribution to this •, great work is our proud hope and our ". unshakable belief." ~ , , ■-' "■'.. .''.'". "This also is the hope and longing of" all true friends of Germany," writes the Bishop of Chichester. "But the reaurir" rection of the Occident is not to. be achieved by making the principle of race -■ into a religion and attempting to substi-. -, tute it for the Christian faith, which has given its distinctive character to our V common Western civilisation and been the source and inspiration of many of its ;, highest Values.". ,r • .3. -rjr-j The Bishop of Durham also enters into .. the discussion. Reports from he says, "compel the considering reader to accept the strange and almost incred- ' ible conclusion that, in the heart of historic Christendom, in a nation renowned for the thoroughness of its educational Bystem and the intellectual vigour df-its - people, there has been a reversion to doctrines and methods which reconcile neither with Christianity nor with civil- " isation. ■". '- •■''.'•.'> .'".""."';"'■'"■ .".:„,, "Everysection of the Christian society J; is being confronted with the same sinister " fact. Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Pro- '*„ testant stand together under a calamity which goes deeper than their differences , of creed and system, and menaces the ; ultimate truths which bring, them,under, " the. common description _of Christians.. s^l *| "la Russia the relative backwardness • of the people and,their remoteness from Western Europe tend to conceal from us H the extent of the disaster which has be- J fallen religion. - v;j V SALT THAT HAS LOST ITS SAVOUR. "Germany is very close to us," the '.; Bishop of Durham continues. "We'canv-w not be indifferent to the fortunes of Ger-' ' man Christianity, nor indulge the de-••-;;-lusion that the ideas and procedures * f which prevail on one side of. the German : 7 ocean can be without effect on the other. It may well be the case that the Lutheran r - pastors and Roman priests who, in the : ' teeth of extreme pressure and peril, are withstanding the resuscitated paganism ' called ' German Christianity,' are fighting "■ ■ our battle also, and can claim from us something more than barren sympathy or blank unconcern. ;., ' '■

"If Christianity, the religion of selfrespect and fraternity, shall be frankly nationalised, then the only power that* can exorcise from human minds .the distorting passions of national pride and greed will have disappeared, and the last hope of 'peace on earth, good will among men' will have been extinguished. Such apostate Christianity, the. tool of tyranny and the inspiration of racial pride, will merit the . description of 'salt that has lost its savour.' It is, said, Christ, 'good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.'"

SUBSTITUTE FOR CONFIRMATION, i In a lecture to budding youth leaders in Berlin (writes The Times correspondent) Herr Werner Kuhnt, a regional " leader of the Hitler Youth, said that as '•* many as 40 per cent, of the young people were still outside the and:; every means would have to be tried in \ order to get them into it. It could be - said that those who did not yet belong. * to the movement were holding themselves - aloof from that national companionship : which National-Socialism was striving. " Kerr Kuhnt proceeded in his lecture , . to declare that the 'solemn ceremony of admission Hitler Youth must take 7 the place of the Christian confirmation ceremony.' . . '",,,._ "This idea can only be regarded as a further indication of the development of that 'new religion' of which Herr Baldur von Schirach, the Reich Youth - Leader, would seem to have given the fundamental principle in his words: 'We build lirthe hearts of youth a great altar on which Germany stands.' This is the , kernel of the whole religious. and philo.-,£! sophical struggle in Germany to-day, and > the issue is bound to be of extreme portance in international affairs as well . as in the internal development of the:; German people." ■ ""*., "GOD, BUT NOT CHRISTIANITY.'■"*: Herr Baldur von Schirach, the f Reich Youth Leader (the come correspondent ' says), is delivering _ speeches or broadcasts almost daily in his campaign for - making good the claim of the Hitler Youth to comprise the entire youth of the country, however the Church youth organisations may feel•■• about it..: In-'-■" a~ speech at Neisse to-270 Youth leader*- of<; various ranks from five Prussian districts..: he again defined his idea of the religion:; of German youth, mentioning God but - not Christianity. • -y it "The leaders of the Hitler Youth,".'he said, "are determined to raise in Ger-;7 many a generation which is not, in the:; : first instance. Catholic, Protestant, or in "i my other way confessionally inclined,but first and foremost German. >■s. "The Hitler Youth will not allow itself to be hindered in the fulfilment of this task by anybody, nor will it allow anyone... to make it ashamed of its faith.in God. The Hitler Youth, more than any other; in the world, is bound up with God and \ looks upon its service to our nation;as, : a veritable service to God. We are con- V cerned with the political and philosophical . unity of the young generation, and-we, ' are protesting against criticism of our performance of this task from a quarter" " L which, during past generations of German history, haa taken a stand against; Ger-.- .• man unity. It is a matter ; of cdurae--? that we shall do all possible to bring: : 1 about appeasement in the confessional: -. life of Germany. We feel we are mak-.'ii ing the greatest contribution towards thi? V end in that .we are training the i youth ... of the country in unity, comradeship, and::mutual loyalty." ■ •*.,>' The Reich Youth leader concluded:'-". "We want nothing but our German .-.;.' Reich, our Germanism, and our nation; ii: In serving Germanism we are Berving i : Almighty God."