Are Faith Based Initiatives Constitutional? Part II

This post was also published as a blog in Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc, WI

The History of the Church in Germany, is one of both Protestantism (mostly Lutheran and Brethren) and Catholicism and the interplay between the Church in its various forms and the State. At the turn of the century, German Church-State relations were what they had been for several hundred years: a close, or rather too close alliance between the Church, particularly Protestantism and more particularly Lutheranism, and the State Government. Earlier in German History, the lines had waxed and waned as to the degree of State vs Church control in a number areas of life, and historical German provinces had been ruled by the principle of "Cuis Regio, Eius Regio" meaning His Reign, His Religion in which the Religion of the reigning Prince or Governor was accepted as the State or Provincial Religion for affairs of the State, such that if a sovereign prince was Catholic, then Catholic doctrine and teaching prevailed in the Court, Schools and other institutions of the region; if Protestant, then Protestant doctrine and practice. This rather iron clad Church State principle continued, but after Luther, Germany was characterized by the eminence of Lutheran Protestantism firmly in alliance with the German Government, a principle which held true throughout the reign of the Kaisers.

The Early 20th Century and German Church State Relations

By the early 20th century the German government rather unthinkingly dealt with the population hand in hand with Lutheranism, and since Lutheranism was so widespread, there was little controversy about the blurred lines between Church and State. The State, or Federal Government, even under the Kaisers, thought nothing of supporting Nursing colleges, Orphanages, Church Schools or other Church Benevolences, and the Church in turn strongly supported the government in a consistent working relationship. However, at the end of WWI, the "War to End all Wars", both Germany and the Church were despairing, as the nation met with the War Guilt Clause of the Versailles Treaty, and worldwide nations called in short term loans, holding Germany responsible for starting the war and for damages, and the result on the German domestic and Economic scene was poverty, unemployment, disillusionment and outrage, as many tried to rebuild after the war.

The Weimar Republic and Catholic Socialism

On the heels of the war reparations, the new government, the Weimar Republic was constituted, although it was rather far from being a Republic in the traditional sense, run by Catholic Centre Party (or Central Party), more characterized by Socialism than anything else. Further, with predominately Catholics in control, some Protestants feared the incursion of the Vatican into German politics and a breaking of the ties and favor the Protestants had up till then enjoyed. In the midst of the disillusionment, many conservative and even fascist elements stood in protest to the Weimar, and in Bavaria, in the 1920s, the National Socialists or Nazi Party grew into a 2.5 million member society garnering much power, with a stronghold in Southern Germany, opposing the Weimar on every hand feeling that they had been responsible for the admission of guilt and subsequent debt that Germany had incurred. It was in this stressful desperate situation of a failed economy, and global embarrassment that Hitler and the Nazis came to power, garnering in ten years a change from less than 3% of the vote, to almost 80% of the vote, promising law and order, prosperity, a return to German heritage and values, prosperity and the latest in technology to lead Germany back to the heights of national prominence.



The Nazi Party and the Church

The National Socialists (Nazis) garnered that power in part by making 'deals' with everyone: bartering concessions on all levels of German society, even toward communists, to appease all: labor unions were promised government aid although it turned into replacement of private trade unions with Reich trade unions. The Church was promised the renewal of former ties and funding including e.g. Pastor's pension funds paid by the state, and renewed funding and sponsored schools, but Church members and clergy did not foresee the government control which almost changed German Lutheranism to an unyielding beast. The few voices who understood the dynamics were quickly silenced.

The Vatican, regaining power after the Lateran treaties had begun to make concordats or agreements of cooperation with governments all over Europe and while the famous 1933 Berlin Concordat is seen as cementing Holy See-Nazi relations, the truth is it was merely the zenith of consolidation of several lesser concordats which had already been made with Bavaria and other regions of Germany. Hitler claimed Catholic upbringing and early in the Reich used religious rhetoric although his aim was almost completely political, and he was never given to a Catholic or Protestant controlled State. (His actual beliefs were a synthesis of Volkish Mysticism and politics.) Hitler intended to use the church as a vehicle, to bring about the agenda of the NSDAP, intending after 'taming' it , to eventually, after winning the war, do away with it considering the Church body a moribund entity, which would not fit into his revitalized Germany, nor his new religion of the Volk whose head was the Fuhrer. He considered the new synthesis would have a twofold purpose of satisfying religious sentiment with a return to Volkische archetype and accomplishing the goals of the Reich.



The "Gleichschaltung" of the Church in Nazi Germany

In this short space, one cannot consider the whole of the great 'coordination' process of Nazi Ideals to the Church (gleichschaltung), but from early, Hitler and Goebbels designed an infiltration and adaptation which would eventually overthrow the Church. He began by appointing Kerrl, the Reich Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs by 1935¹ only 2 years after taking office and a Reich Bishop, Mueller to oversee internal Church affairs in defense of the Nazis. Consolidating the Presidency and the Chancellery, and suspending German Civil Rights almost entirely, and completely for German Jews gave the newly constituted Federal Government a total sovereignty. The Lutheran Synod eventually would split into the Deutsche Christen, the portion of Lutherans who gave themselves entirely over to the Nazis to enjoy full benefits of the State, the Confessing Church of Barth, Neimoller and Bonhoeffer who saw constant imprisonments, executions and church and seminary closings and confiscations, and a small group of 'partial politics' the Thuringians.² Before the end of the Shoah, the Church was silenced, 'disembodied', and rendered fruitless. Nazi Oaths were instituted for church positions, sermons censored, compromises even in doctrine demanded, and freedom of belief was non-existent and those in opposition persecuted or killed.



Faith Based Initiatives and the State Church of the Nazis

You may wonder at this point why I draw the comparison between the State overthrow of the Church in the Third Reich and the institution of Obama's "Faith Based Initiative" Board, and see little parallel but there are significant and horrible parallels.

First, in Germany as in the US, there was supposed to be separation of Church and State, meaning that the Church was not to overthrow the government and use it for its own purposes, and likewise the government was to keep its nose out of the Church's business and governance. Most do not know but even birth, death and marriage certificates used to be in both in the US and Germany , entirely in the hand of the Church, not the State. Overtime, in both nations and others, the exclusive rights of the Church over affairs of life and death, were displaced by governmental control.

When Hitler took office, he understood as did his propaganda minister Goebbels, that the Church was a powerful influence against an oppressive government. The only way to eradicate that influence, most despots have understood is to either so water down Church influence that it has none, or to make it into an arm of the State so that its power directs the good, benefit and agenda of the State and not the Church's purpose in the world.



The Obama "Reich Ministry" of Faith Initiatives

The Christian Church and much of Judaism though has given itself to modern ecumenism, although it is actually taught to do the opposite:"friendship with the world is enmity with God" and there are constant admonitions in both Old and New Testaments to 'come ye out from them and be ye separate" or not to be 'unequally yoked'. Still, we live in a day and age where Biblical foundations are erased. In establishing a governmental overseer board to observe, judge, coordinate, fund, or even reward faith based activities, is:

1. UNCONSTITUTIONAL: There is no consensus or role of the government EVER to even look at individually run faith based programs. The headship of those programs is not to be the government but the Church or Synagogue they emanate out of. How can a Christian, called to purity of doctrine, consult with or seek to even discuss a Muslim ministry, or vice versa? Or a Hindu, or Jehovah's Witness ministry? We are called to decry their doctrinal errors, and win them to Christ, not ask them to look in on our ministries while we look in on theirs. And lest this be considered a bigoted approach, so do most of their religions! Understanding this, our founding fathers built protections into the Constitution so that the government could not begin to say yea or nay to religious activities of all kinds.

Article the third [Amendment I]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

A government council even, an appointed group violates this law as it immediately declares the prohibition of free exercise of Religion by even bringing it under government scrutiny or attempts to intervene EVEN IF IT IS FOR THE GOOD!
Further, Obama's Reichministry, has as an objective the coordination of faith based initiatives and that is a very dangerous thing, for it assumes that a Muslim named Patel, or an Evangelical name Hunter, or a Homosexual who works in a youth ministry would
ever come to a righteous consensus on how that should be done and even if they could, it is not the purpose nor right of the government to even begin a process of that sort. It is unthinkable and wholly UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

This is not a little 'manger scene' issue where atheist groups do not want Jesus Mary and Joseph on City Hall lawns. This is a change in the structure of Church State relations, that while the governments be different, and the times be different still contain the same basic error of Church State relations: they may speak to one another, they may advise and even influence but neither is to reign over the other. Our Kingdom, so aptly put is not of this world: theirs is. How can a failing earthly government think to coordinate a food bank at the local Christian Church with one at the Mosque? This is not disallowing those fine efforts: they are indeed a function of the Church: but they are not to be encumbered with government regulation, intrusion, allowance or disallowance etc because the founding fathers very clearly understood the extreme danger of a government overstepping its bounds of headship in a society.

The board that Obama has proposed is not only unconstitutional but unworkable: it contains Eboo Patel, a Muslim, another Gay man who works with youth, a National Baptist and Southern Baptist leader, an Evangelical controversial pastor, a Catholic Priest, etc, but one thing they share in common: they are all overlooking the unconstitutional nature of their position, and they are all extremely liberal even compared to their denominations and agree to across the board ecumenism. They do not represent approximately 70 million conservative Christians, nor any faith of any kind such as Orthodox Judaism, or even Islamic fundamentalism who do not believe in joint efforts in benevolent projects. This is a dangerous, unconstitutional foundation of setting an organization to oversee religious activity by the government constituted of nonrepresentative diverse faiths and homosexuals, which is implicitly declaring that those are the values the nation would set in the fledgling steps toward a state Church. It is a dangerous and illegal move.

For Nazi Germany, it ended in a church which could not even bring itself to repent of genocide. It ended in Nazi loyalty oaths before one could take church positions. It ended in persecutions and deaths to those who stood against those fine government 'coordinations' of faith efforts. Are the times really that different? Compare the parameter of prewar Germany and our own: we have differences, but the similarities should alarm any in the Church who love freedom of faith , teaching and worship.
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¹Nizkor [http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/imt/ftp.py?imt//tgmwc/tgmwc-04/tgmwc-04-28.10]
² Peet, Garnet. History of the Protestant Church in the Third Reich. On Spindleworks.com
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