History of Christianity

====Christianity and Nazism====
[[File:Papst Pius XI. 1JS.jpg|thumb|right|180px|[[Pope Pius XI]]|alt=image of Pope Pius XI seated on a throne]]
{{See also|Persecution of Christians in Nazi Germany|Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust}}
{{Further|Catholic Church and Nazi Germany|Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Germany|Confessing Church|Kirchenkampf|German Christians (movement)|Positive Christianity}}

[[Pope Pius XI]] declared in ''[[Mit brennender Sorge]]'' (English: "With rising anxiety") that [[Fascism|fascist]] governments had hidden "pagan intentions" and expressed the irreconcilability of the Catholic position with [[totalitarian]] fascist state worship which placed the nation above God, fundamental [[human rights]], and dignity.{{sfn|Holmes|1981|p=116}}

In Poland, Catholic priests were arrested and Polish priests and nuns were executed en masse.{{sfn|Rossino|2003|p=72, 169, 185, 285}}

Most leaders and members of the largest Protestant church in Germany, the [[German Evangelical Church]], which had a long tradition of nationalism and support of the state, supported the Nazis when they came to power.{{sfn|United States Holocaust Memorial Museu|n.d.}} A smaller contingent, about a third of German Protestants, formed the [[Confessing Church]] which opposed Nazism. In a study of sermon content, William Skiles says "Confessing Church pastors opposed the Nazi regime on three fronts... first, they expressed harsh criticism of Nazi persecution of Christians and the German churches; second, they condemned National Socialism as a false ideology that worships false gods; and third, they challenged Nazi anti-Semitic ideology by supporting Jews as the chosen people of God and Judaism as a historic foundation of Christianity".{{sfn|Skiles|2017|p=4}}

Nazis interfered in The Confessing Church's affairs, harassed its members, executed mass arrests and targeted well known pastors like Martin Niemöller and [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]].{{sfn|Skiles|2017|pp=4, 22–23}}{{sfn|Barnett|1992|pp=40, 59, 79–81}}{{refn|group=note|By October 1944, 45% of all pastors and 98% of non-ordained vicars and candidates had been drafted into military service; 117 German pastors of Jewish descent served at this time, and yet at least 43% fled Nazi Germany because it became impossible for them to continue in their ministries.{{sfn|Skiles|2017|pp=22–23}}}} Bonhoeffer, a pacifist, was arrested, found guilty in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and executed.{{sfn|Green|2015|p=203}}
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