For some reason people cannot see that even the worst tyrants act under the delusion that they are doing good. The idea that Hitler actually thought the same as Churchill – namely that he was a great humanitarian and a noble leader – is something that few people want to, or are able to, grasp. … In 1941 the Church Presidents and Bishops of saxony, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, the Anhalt of Saxony, Thuriungen and Lubeck publiushed the following declaration: “The National Socialist leaders of Germany have provided indisputable documentary evidence that the Jews are responsible for this war in its world-wide magnitude. They have therefore made the necessary steps, both internal and external, to ensure that the life of the German nation is protected from Judaism. As members of that same German nation, the undersigned leaders of the German Evangelical church stand in the forefront of this historical struuggle to defend our country, because of which it has been necessary for the national police to issue a statement to the effect that the Jews are enemies of the German nation and of the world, just as it was also necessary for Dr Martin Luther to demand, on the basis of his own bitter experience, that the severest measures should be taken against the Jews.” And what, exactly, did Dr Martin Luther have to say on the subject of Jews? “We Christians can hardly believe that a Jew’s foul mouth is worthy to speak the name of God in our presence and if any one of us should hear a Jew speak the name, he should at once inform the authorities or else throw pig shit at him …” pp86-88

Hitler had permission from both the people and the priests to go on the warpath. p.92

Who is seriously going to argue that Martin Luther wasn’t a real Christian? He even has a whole sect named after him. Or that the popes who revelled in the Inquisition weren’t ‘real Christians’. Or that the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, Tomas de Torquemada, was not a real Christian. He was such a real Christian that he sent 10 220 people to the staker and 97 371 to the galleys for various forms of heresy. You can’t get any more real than that. … They never tortured a heretic more than once – they merely suspended the process a few hours and then continued the same torture. But don’t think for a moment they were not motivated by anything other than Christian love. The torture instruments were regularly sprinkled with holy water. pp99-101

from Terry Lane “God: The Interview” (ABC; Sydney:1993)

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