Ideological Debate

The Christian debate with National Socialism was primarily ideological and less political. Only the religious socialists and the liberals concerned themselves with the National Socialists’ political aims as well.

Above all, the NSDAP’s 25 point platform, Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and Rosenberg’s “Myth” furnished points for debate. The range of opinions extended from open approval of National Socialism to demands for neutrality toward it up through categorical rejection.

Nazi ideology, above its transformation of the notion of race into an absolute, attracted criticism from Protestants in their print media. The völkisch movement, of which the National Socialists were consider part, was criticized for its attitude toward the Old Testament and for its “Aryan Jesus”. The religious exaltation of the Volkstum and the Führer also aroused displeasure in part. All in all, the reconcilability or irreconcilability of Nazi ideology with Christianity was heatedly debated from 1930 to 1932.