dongiovanni1976x

Say I asked the following instead, "What, if anything, do all religious beliefs have in common with a belief in National Socialism as outlined by Rudolf Hess' speech?"

Since we can distinguish belief from faith based upon the criteria of the former having evidence, and the latter being based upon hope, then what is the difference between Nazis who justified the deaths of many and Christian and Muslims who have done so as well?

dongiovanni1976x

Forget this last question. I see more holes in it than the swiss cheese on my sandwich that I am having for lunch.

dongiovanni1976x

Harris agrees with you Berthold. He says that, "Nazism evolved out of a variety of economic and political factors, of course," but continues by adding that, "it was held together by a belief in the racial purity and superiority of the German people." Harris then claims that, "Even the self-proclaimed "friends of the Jews" who sought the admission of Jews into German society with the full privileges of citizenship did so only on the assumption that the Jews could be reformed thereby and rendered pure by sustained association with the German race." (Harris p.101)

What was the rational basis for this collective belief in German superiority?

Harris cites K. Wilber in his book, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, who claims that the "Holocaust marked the culmination of German tribalism and two thousand years of Christian fulminating against the Jews. Reason had nothing to do with it. Put a telescope in the hands of a chimpanzee, and if he bashes his neighbor over the head with it, reason's "shadow side" will have been equally revealed." (Wilber p.663-64)

The Holocaust is always blamed on unchecked, arrogant secularizism. Harris departs from this by claiming that at its core, the Nazi paradigm was irrational and unjustified...it was based upon the desire to be better than others and not founded in any empirical evidence...and as such it should be labelled a religious movement. This is my interpretation mind you, but assuming it is reasonably accurate, what do you all have to say?