Introduction
The Christian faith is diametrically opposed to fascist ideologies for three fundamental reasons.
First, they differ over the nature of human identity.
Second, they differ as to what is the final authority
Third, they differ concerning what actions produce human flourishing?
As I was reading about Charlie Kirk’s death, one person’s comment in an article was that he was glad that Kirk was dead because he advocated “Christian fascism.” I don’t think that Kirk was a fascist. More importantly, Christianity is fundamentally opposed to fascism, although fascists have tried to use Christianity for their political goals and, unfortunately, we Christians have often failed to live according to our faith’s demands.
In my video, “Killing Words: Reflections on the Death of Charlie Kirk,”[1] I critiqued the dangerous misuse of the words “fascism” and “Nazism” by the left in contemporary political discourse. In that video I highlighted the three main categories for understanding fascism and Nazism: the mythic, the political, and the economic. Then I spoke briefly about their exaltation of violence.
I believe that the mythic is the most important element in fascist and Nazi ideologies. It is also intimately related to their glorification of violence and war. If we emphasize the mythic, as I think we should, at its core fascism is the deification or idolatry of the nation. With Hitler the nation was understood in racial categories.
Difference over the Nature of Human Identity
Let’s look now at the difference between fascism and Christianity concerning the nature of human identity. There are two aspects to human identity—humans considered as individuals and humans considered as members of a community.
Italian Fascism: The Nation Above the Individual
In 1932 Mussolini coauthored with Giovanni Gentile The Doctrine of Fascism for the Enciclopedia Italiana.[2] It is the most significant statement of Italian fascism. Mussolini explained, “the key-stone of Fascism is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aim. For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups are relative. Individuals and groups are admissible in so far as they come within the State” (27). Or in his famous words from a speech in 1928, “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
But Mussolini did not think of the state as a merely political or governmental entity. For Mussolini the state “transmits and guards the spirit of the people, elaborated down the ages in its language, its customs, its faith. The State is not only the present, it is also the past and above all the future. Transcending the individual’s brief spell of life, the State stands for the immanent conscience (or spirit) of the nation” (27).
In contrast to what he held were materialistic views like socialism and liberalism, Gentile argues that the fascist attitude toward life is spiritual, even religious. Consequently fascism “builds up a higher life, founded on duty, a life free from the limitations of time and space, in which the individual, by self-sacrifice, the renunciation of self-interest, by death itself, can achieve that purely spiritual existence in which his value as a man exists” (8). By fascism man is “raised to conscious membership of a spiritual society” (9).
So, for the Italian fascists the nation was “the spirit of the people” expressed in their cultural heritage, and the individual existed to serve the nation.
German Nazism: The Race above the Individual
Hitler too maintained in Mein Kampf [3] that the individual must sacrifice for the community. He writes, “The innermost essence of all organization requires that the individual renounce putting forward his personal opinion and interests and sacrifice both in favor of a larger group” (297).
But the community for Hitler is not so much the cultural heritage of a people but its shared race. A superior race creates superior culture and that race is the Aryan race. Hitler claims, “All the human culture, all the results of art, science, and technology that we see before us today are almost exclusively the creative product of the Aryan” (290).
Because race is the key to culture, the mixing of races or, as he calls it, “blood poisoning” (289) is destructive of culture. Lower types are to be used as slaves (295). In fact, “all who are not of good race in this world are chaff” (296). As we know all too well, the elimination of inferior races, especially the Jews, was sought in order to preserve the purity of the Aryan race.
Christianity: The Individual Created in the Image of God
In contrast the Christian faith teaches that all humans have been created by God in his image. Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created him.” The need for community was seen even before the fall when God declared in Genesis 2:18 “It is not good that the man should be alone.”
In Acts 17:26 Paul tells the Athenians that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth,” a declaration of the fundamental equality of all human races. With one ancestor, no race could claim a natural superiority. And the community that God has designed for man is not for a particular nation, nor for a so-called superior race. Rather, as Paul writes in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Summary of Differences over Human Identity
Fascism and Nazism proclaim a superior nation or race to which all individuals and other nations and races are subservient. Christianity teaches that every human being is made in the image of God, the creator of the universe, and calls men and women to be part of a community that welcomes all races and nations.[4]
Difference over the Final Authority
The second difference between fascism and Christianity is over who or what the final authority is.
Fascism and Nazism: The Leader
In spite of their appeal to their subjects’ greatness as a people, the fascists were anti-egalitarian. Mussolini wrote, “In rejecting democracy, Fascism rejects the absurd conventional lie of political equalitarianism” (23). They looked to a revolutionary vanguard for the elite soldiers of their radical program. In particular, fascism and Nazism exalted the Nietzschean superman who embodied the myth and led the revolution. Mussolini was “Il Duce” and Hitler was “Der Führer.”
According to fascist propaganda, Il Duce was always right. The Füherprinzip or leader principle in Nazi Germany demanded total obedience to Hitler, who embodied the nation’s will. The Nazi political slogan “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer” (“One people, one empire, one leader”) summed up this view of the person of the ruler.
As a result, both fascist Italy and Nazi Germany were totalitarian dictatorships in which the whole nation was to submit to and actively support the leader and his government.
Christianity: God and the Scriptures
In contrast, Christianity denies that any human can have such authority. Unjust rulers are seen in Psalm 2 as setting themselves in opposition to God and his rule and are warned to serve the Lord with fear. Psalm 146 reminds us that all rulers are mortal and thus none of them can provide salvation.
In addition, although in Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 Christians are called to recognize and honor rulers, their words and actions are not above the law. God has revealed his will in the Scriptures. Inspired by God, prophets spoke against unjust rulers. God told Jeremiah, “I have put my words in your mouth” to declare his judgment on nations and kingdoms. In Amos 2:4-5 the prophet declared in God’s name that judgment was coming because they had rejected the law of the Lord and had not kept his statutes. From a Christian perspective, the totalitarian claims of the fascist and Nazi dictators were a false claim to an authority that belonged only to God.
Difference over Human Flourishing
Thirdly fascists and Christian disagree about what actions produce human flourishing.
Fascism and Nazism: War and Violence
As we have seen, both fascists and Nazis held that the Italian or the Aryan found fulfillment in service to the nation or the race. But beyond that there was a glorification of war and violence.
Mussolini wrote, “The Fascist accepts and loves life. … Life as he understands it means duty; elevation and conquest” (19). Therefore, “War alone keys up human energies to their maximum tension and sets the seal of nobility on those peoples who have the courage to face it” (19).
Hitler also believed that struggle and fighting was an essential good. However, with him, the application took an even more ominous turn toward race and nature’s law of the survival of the fittest. Writing in defense of racial purity, Hitler argued, “And struggle is always a means for improving a species’ health and power of resistance and, therefore, a cause of higher development” (285).
More darkly he affirmed that “This preservation is bound up with the rigid law of necessity and the right to victory of the best and stronger in this world. Those who want to live, let them, fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live” (289). The gas chambers of Auschwitz proved that human flourishing was only intended for Aryans.
Therefore, in both fascism and Nazism human relations are considered to be in conflict. It is our nation or our race against theirs.
Christianity: Love
The Christian faith does call upon its followers to struggle against their own personal sins and evil in society. However, that struggle is not interpreted in militaristic terms as in fascism and Nazism, although regrettably in a fallen world, war is all too often necessary.
Nevertheless, war is not the means to human flourishing. Rather, the two great commandments in the Bible sum up the way to human flourishing. Mark 12:29-31 gives Jesus’ answer to the greatest commandments. “The most important is ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The Son of God became human to be with us and deliver us from our sins. Therefore, instead of setting ourselves in opposition to others, we Christians are called to follow Christ’s example by being with others and seeking their good. In giving we receive. This is human flourishing.
Conclusion: Two Pleas
First, I’ll repeat what I said in my previous video. Those on the left need to stop misusing the words “fascist” and “Nazi.” It is used merely as a word to smear their opponents. Not only does it disrupt reasonable dialogue but, as we have seen, it has deadly consequences.
Second, Christians, we need to condemn strongly racism and ultranationalism. Perhaps a greater challenge for us is that we must not allow the natural good of patriotism, the love of one’s country, to descend into a nationalism that places service to our nation above service to our God. As the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, “our citizenship is in heaven.”
[1] Here’s the link to the video Killing Words: Reflections on the Death of Charlie Kirk
[2] All quotations of this work are taken from the 2006 edition published by Howard Fertig. It can be found on the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/doctrineoffascis0000muss/mode/2up
[3] All quotations are from Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, translated by Ralph Manheim (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1943).
[4] For a more detailed critique of racism, see my blog post “Racism Is a Heresy.” http://billisley.com/2015/06/racism-is-a-heresy/
