Monday, April 09, 2012

Tolerance, the Third Reich, and Mark Shea

Mark Shea is complaining that the Third Reich was more tolerant of Rome's demands than the USA is.  Of course, in the U.S. government the Vice President (Biden), the minority leader in the House (Pelosi), and the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Sebelius) are apparently baptized Roman Catholics, whereas in the Third Reich, Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, and Heydrich were apparently baptized Roman Catholics.

Check out the 1933 Concordat between the Vatican and the Third Reich and some analysis of it.

-TurretinFan

N.B. We could also add many other baptized Roman Catholics in the government to the list, including five other cabinet members (Leon Panetta (Secretary of Defense), Kenneth L. Salazar (Secretary for the Interior), Thomas J. Vilsack (Secretary of Agriculture), Hilda L. Solis (Secretary of Labor), Ray LaHood (Secretary of Transportation)), and six of the nine Supreme Court Justices (Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Roberts, Alito, and Sotomayer).

4 comments:

Ken said...

Both the USA RCs and the Nazi RCs - All of their water baptisms as babies by a Roman Catholic priest with ex opere operate powers was really powerful and effective to sanctify them, cause them to be born again, and justify them, wasn't it?

turretinfan said...

Rome's justification doesn't bring peace with God. If they committed any mortal sins, then they (per Rome) failed to be glorified. Of course, under the modern conceptions of what constitutes mortal sins, Roman apologists are hard-pressed to demonstrate that any of them committed mortal sins except, perhaps, the one who was excommunicated (for marrying a divorced woman - tsk tsk).

Karl Winterling said...

The whole issue of what a "mortal sin" is is defined by an act of (1) grave matter, committed with (2) full knowledge, and (3) complete consent. What constitutes (1) tends to depend on whom you ask. A liberal would restrict this to overt outward acts like murder and adultery while a conservative would say that all non-conjugal sexual affections and unjust anger are grave matter. So I guess you need to carefully watch your intentions each time an unwelcome thought or feeling comes into your head.

Some people (in more conservative circles) develop anxiety problems over this. I fail to see how that's "peace."

MBd said...

"Some people (in more conservative circles) develop anxiety problems over this"

Yeah, I'm an example. Though not exclusively because of that, the catholic teachings on mortal sin & especially "leaving the church & losing your salvation" did not particularly help with my anxiety disorder, you know?

Thank God Almighty I'm free now! :)