Evangelicals and the German Christians

Part 3, The Führer Principle

We've noted two similarities between some American evangelicals and the German Christians who sought to align Christianity with Nazi Germany. Both groups display/ed a neo-pagan embrace of nationalism, and each are/were given to conspiratorial thinking, beliefs that nefarious forces were controlling the media, stealing elections, destroying Christianity, and killing children.

A third similarity is how the German Christians and many within American evangelicalism have embraced an authoritarian leader to address dangers and threats to the nation.

To begin, it is important here to make a connection between the conspiratorial thinking and the embrace of an authoritarian leader. The two are intimately related, the one justifying the other.

Consider: If the media can't be trusted and political institutions have become corrupted you have to turn toward a leader who can forcefully "do battle" with the malevolent forces at work in the shadows seeking to destroy the nation. And given the dire nature of this situation, there is no time for niceties and civility. The threat demands forceful action. 

In Nazi Germany these feelings were captured by what was called "the Führer principle." According to the Führer principle, whatever the leader did or had to do to protect Germany was, by definition, the right and necessary thing to do. The Führer was the embodiment of the nation. Because of this identification, and given the fight he was involved in, the Führer was handed a blank check in how he wanted to conduct the battle. More, the Führer was the agent of God, acting under God's blessing. As Rudolf Hess said about the Führer, "Hitler is Germany and Germany is Hitler. Whatever he does is necessary. The Führer has divine blessing.”

Now consider evangelical support of Donald Trump. Trump once said during the 2016 campaign, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters. It's, like, incredible." But it isn't incredible if you consider the Führer principle and the lessons from the German Christians. According to his evangelical supporters, Trump is engaged in a life and death struggle with dark forces seeking to destroy both Christianity and America. Consequently, if Trump did shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue one of three things has to be true:

1. The shooting was fake news created by the mainstream media to get Trump removed from office. 

2. The person Trump shot needed to be shot. (Ponder how some evangelicals often muse about shooting liberals.)

3. Doesn't matter. Maybe Trump should not have shot that person, but Trump is the only one who can save us. We have to stand behind him. 

Many have been puzzled by evangelical support of Trump. Why would "family values" Christians so loyally support a two-time divorcee, who paid off porn stars, appeared in porn movies, and bragged about grabbing women by their genitals? The answer is simple: Trump is engaged in a holy war. That Trump himself isn't a good person is irrelevant, because Trump's fight is righteous. In fact, Trump's obvious crudity becomes a virtue in this fight, rather than a liability. As evangelicals have told confused liberals over and over again, "He fights for us." That's all you need to know. 

And the parallels here with the German Christians and Hitler are striking. Like Trump, Hitler wasn't a very Christian person, yet he was embraced by the German Christians. And like Trump, Hitler was loud and coarse and willing to throw some elbows. Hitler's person made many German Christians very uncomfortable, but they supported him because he was fighting for Germany and the church. Sound familiar? 

Hitler was a crude man, but he was a fighter, exactly what the times demanded. And given the threats facing the nation and the church, as they saw them, the German Christians lined up behind the Führer principle. Whatever the Führer did was necessary and blessed by God. Exactly how many evangelicals feel about Donald Trump. When evangelicals say "Jesus is my Savior and Trump is my President" that's the Führer principle. Whatever Trump does evangelicals have his back, because Trump is fighting malevolent forces--liberals, elites, the deep state--bent on the wholesale destruction of our Christian Nation. 

And so, if Trump has to shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue, that's not a problem. There will always be casualties in war.