With the chants of “Hail Satan!” in Texas still ringing in ears of people of conscience, it should be of note that the Tuesday, July 9th marks the 73rd Anniversary of the German Evangelist Church’s protest of Adolph Hitler’s euthanasia pogroms. It was officially known as Action T4 and it consisted of the murder of around 200 thousand people. They were killed through the use of medication in some cases phenol, by starvation and by gas. These people were mentally or physically disabled- “the least of these” one might say. This came on the heels of a law enacted almost as soon as the Nazi’s took power in Germany: a law that forced the sterilization of people with such diseases as Huntington’s, schizophrenia, and even epilepsy. A Nazi doctor by the name of Hermann Pfannmüller commented that he simply could not abide the thought of the best of the German people should die in that country’s war against the Allies to protect what he called “feebleminded, and irresponsible asocial elements”.
When one considers the unpleasant image of leering sneering hordes shouting “Hail Satan” and placing coat hangers in the hands of children, one must also remember that for otherwise reasonable, compassionate people to become unreasonable and merciless, one only needs to remember that the right of set stimuli can produce those very results.
Had Hitler at the outset told the people of Germany that he would lead them into a war that would devastate their country, turn many of them into sociopaths, lay waste to a continent and brand their nation with a stigma so vile, so odious and so intrinsically violent that its repercussions would stain that nation well into the next century and poison the minds of generations yet unborn, many Germans would have said “No way are we letting you into power.”
But he did not tell them that. He told them that their nation had arrived at its sorry state because of oppression by others. He convinced them to rise up and assert their natural superiority over those who had kept Germany down. And he carefully began to take people and divide them by labels, removing their humanity and making them easy scapegoats and targets. Once people have bought off on the idea that something evil is being done for the common good then slaughtering those who are considered the dead weight of the nation becomes nauseatingly enough, common sense. For many Germans, by the time they realized they had mortgaged their national soul to Satan the bodies were already piling up. It would take a World War to bring a halt to it in Germany.
So in the harsh light of history, the image of people chanting “Hail Satan” has precedent. Although many of those are products of the Happy Meal/You-Tube/My-Crotch-Is-The-Axis-Mundi generation, they have been led to believe that invoking the name of the Enemy makes them erudite, witty and freedom fighters. It is the same mentality that gripped Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s but on a microcosmic scale. In their deranged heart of hearts, these miscreants see themselves as doing something productive in the world, and striking a blow against an oppressor, even as they remain blissfully, and perhaps intentionally unaware of the bloody harvest of Kermit Gosnell.
There was some reaction to the pogroms. The Catholic Church in Germany could not come to terms with the idea. The program in fact evoked widespread protests. Some protestant churchmen protested privately, but not publicly. Letters, from both Protestants and Catholics were drafted and sent at times read publicly. By 1941, Hitler ordered an end to the pogroms. There were those who called themselves Christians who embraced the Nazi ideals, and the Protestant church in Germany would find itself at one point split into three competing groups because of the Nazi party.
And there were some great lights such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer who refused to buckle no matter the cost.
At this moment, the Administration has shrewdly delayed implementing Employer Mandate of the Affordable Healthcare Act until after the election of Hilary Clinton. But it has not delayed the implementation of the Individual Mandate nor has it delayed the mandate that contraception, abortions and abortifacients be covered. And in doing so, it has effectively said that the free exercise of religion no longer exists without government sanction. And had shown that one’s conscience must take a backseat for the greater good.