In 1870, Otto von Bismarck began his Kulturkampf (“culture
war”) against the German Catholics. It was a leftist crackdown against the
major Christian religion in Germany at the time, born out of Bismarck’s fear
that the German Catholics might not be completely loyal to his government and
that they could possibly form their own political party. “Catholicism was seen
by progressive Germans as foreign, antiquated, backward, and un-German.” (362
Goldberg) The man who actually created the term “Kulturkampf” was the German
scientist Rudolf Virchow, who was “a renowned liberal who hoped the Kulturkampf
would liberate men from the clutches of Christian superstition and wed them to
progressive principles.” (362 Goldberg) When the first Kulturkampf laws were passed
in 1873 and “restricted the disciplinary powers of the church, placed the
education of the clergy under state supervision, and provided for the
punishment of those who refused to cooperate.”
(1 Columbia University) Bishops and church officials were put
in prison, sent into exile, and controlled by the state. Although the movement
died out, the idea “that traditional Christianity was a threat to national
progress took permanent root.” (363 Goldberg) Decades later, Hitler would
harness these roots to fuel his regime and rebuild the Christian church in his
own Nazi image, passing laws to place the church under the government’s rule, never
establishing it as the national religion, but most definitely restricting the
free exercise thereof.
Where is the similarity in this day and age? Why, it’s right
here in America. Obama has been fighting his own Kulturkampf against
conservative Christianity – Catholics and Protestants alike – since he took
office, particularly through his Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate under
Obamacare. This mandate forces all employers to provide contraceptives,
sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs to their employees for free despite
any moral or religious convictions the employer may have. Christian charities,
hospitals, churches, and other religious groups will be made to provide
abortions to their employees without exception. In other words, even if you
believe abortion is infanticide (which it is) and is morally repulsive, going
against everything your faith stands for, Obama’s HHS mandate will force the
liberal faith and morality upon you. The only religious freedom you can have is
that of the liberal faith and creed. The State, not the Church, is taking the
only power to define the Church and its areas of influence is a direct assault
on our First Amendment rights and “whether one agrees with the Catholic
position on birth control and abortion or not, the Church’s opposition to both
is rooted in religious principle, and its right to conduct its programs in
accordance with this principle is protected by the First Amendment.” (1 Connor)
Works Cited
Columbia
University, comp. "Infoplease." Infoplease. Infoplease. Web.
31 May 2012. .
Connor,
Ken. "Obama's HHS Mandate Not Just Unconstitutional, But Ungodly |
LifeNews.com." LifeNews.com. LifeNews.com, 29 May 2012. Web. 31 May
2012. .
Goldberg,
Jonah. Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from
Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. New York: Doubleday, 2007. Print.
