Fascism is very similar to Christianity in that both seek to control people and manipulate them to their own ends. Both spread intolerance, hate, ignorance, and mind control. Therefore, the Christian religion should be ostracized from society because of the hypocritical message it sends and because its leaders wish to control the people.

One way Fascism and Christianity are similar is that they both give out a message of intolerance. Christians will mock people of others beliefs, calling them fools and telling them to become a Christian to avoid being tormented in Hell for eternity. Christians are very confident that their beliefs are the right and accepted norms. So confident, in fact, they go door to door and to other countries and disrupt other cultures and religions to tell people "no, your wrong, our religion is the true one." This is much like Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. The Nazi’s would harass other Germans to accept the Nazi way as the truth. If you didn’t agree with the Nazi’s there was a good chance you would be killed. Both Christianity and Fascism take a "their way or the highway view of life." An opposing Christian might counter that he or she is only trying to help people and that they never do any harm. However, history shows that the Christians killed people that wouldn’t follow their example. For instance, When Christian crusaders took Jerusalem during the 1300s, they slaughtered all of people, even little children and women. Just because they were Muslims, an "inferior" belief. However, when the Muslims took the city back, they let the Christians go. Similar to the Nazi attitude, Jews were looked down upon as inferior, because of their religious and cultural beliefs.

Another Example is the message of hatred that both put out to followers. As we know, Fascism as historically targeted Jews, as in Germany and the Soviet Union. Both countries blamed Jews for problems that the country was having. To a lesser degree, Christians have targeted homosexuals as a target which to spew hate on. The reason is because in the bible it is written; "it is an abomination for a man to lie with another man." Thus, because this is said in the bible, Christians believe they have a good cause to deny homosexuals rights that others have. Currently, there is a proposition that will deny gays the right to marry. The reason this is worked out legally is because of a claim that they will pay fewer taxes because they are married, thus increasing the burden of everyone else. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. We might as well ban all marriages then to keep anyone from getting a tax break. The real reason behind this is a hatred for gays the Christians have always had; this is their way of hurting gays in a democratic society. The counterpoint would be that Christians are protecting the "sanctity" of marriage. However, it is not their place to judge what is right and what is wrong.

How does a dictatorship keep in power? By the ignorance of the people. Stalin kept power in the Soviet Union because he kept the people ignorant. Ignorance is and always has been an important part of the Christian religion. When Galileo stated that the earth revolves around the sun, they threatened to excommunicate him, then threatened to execute him. After all his hard work they called him a heretic and so he lost all that he had obtained. All he did was find information that contradicted "the book". Even today Christians ignore science, claiming carbon and radioactive dating is wrong, and that the earth is 6,000 years old. A counter-argument might be that the word of God is the truth. However, I don’t accept that a book that was written nearly 2000 years ago is the unmoving, absolute answer. People believed the earth was flat back then, if this "fact" weren’t challenged we’d still all be living over in Europe, Asia and Africa.

All of us were probably taken to church with our parents as children. As a child, you don’t really have a say in where you want to go or not, so you go. Childhood is the perfect time for religions to grab you and to fill your head with their propaganda, or message. Children are easily influenced by others around them. Take little Timmy as an example, when he was 4 his parents started to bring him to church. He was taught about Jesus, God, and the bible. When he turned 6 his parents enrolled him in several youth church activities. When he turned 11 he started to hear about "other" ideas, but ignored them because his way was the right way. When he was 19 he enrolled in college and took a course in biology, which he held protest against because God made all the animals, nothing ever evolves. At 28 he might secretly start to have ideas other then what the bible preaches, but keeps them to himself so he is not thought of as a follower of Satan. At the age of 47 he is not sure what he believes anymore, is lost because his faith can’t explain the world around him. This is one of many paths Christians can take. Some will never question their beliefs, others might. The point is that Timmy wouldn’t be as confused if he hadn’t been brainwashed as a child into thinking one way and only one way. Children should be allowed to choose what they want to believe, not have to become what is chosen for them. Christians preach about free will, but is that what they allow? While Christians may argue that they do it for God and the benefit of humanity, however, brainwashing is never right. As with the Nazi’s, the children were taught that they were superior, and that they should enslave the other peoples of the world. While many Germans were normal before, they became brainwashed bigots.

As I have shown, The Christian religion is hypocritical and harmful to society. While they preach love and tolerance, in practice they do just the opposite. As with Fascism, there is always a maniac that wishes to impose his beliefs on the people.

Jeff Anderson

March, 2000