- 03 Nov 2005 21:01
#748818
It can be argued that anti-semitism (or rather anti-Judaism) finds its roots in the catholic religious message, even if it was then captured, in the 19th century mainly, by nationalism and other far-rightist political movements.
But still, the Third Reich wasn't a religious regime stricto sensu, and if it did have a religious aspect it was more leaning towards paganism rather than towards Catholicism. And in Hitler's theories, the argument invoked to chase the Jews wasn't the original religious one but its nationalist heir, describing motherland-less people infiltrating the State and the world of finance, thus causing social problems to the real good German population.
On the other hand, Mussolini's fascism, like Franco's in Spain, used the Catholic church (because the countries were Catholic) as a pillar of the regime, along with the army. And consequently, the Church got to reaffirm its influence on all the issues of society (marriage, homosexuality, church attendance, abortion, etc.), thus restoring the disciplined moral order that the Fascist regime needed and that the Army couldn't achieve on its own: the Army disciplines people in group, but not at home or in their minds.
Both in Fascist Italy and in Franquist Spain, homosexuality and abortion were forbidden, marriage were more than encouraged and restored to a very strict form, public education was merged with religious education, etc.
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