Christian Faith and Resistance

Christian faith could not only increase the inclination to resist actively but also serve to crush potential for resistance. Reference to government as God’s order and the command to obedience (Romans 13:1) are just as much instances of this as the drawn out debate in resistance groups about the ethical justifiability of tyrannicide in Hitler’s case. This ambivalence is reflected in many biographies, even ones where faith initially made supporters of the NSDAP out of individuals who later turned their backs on National Socialism and became its opponents.