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Mr. Kool is taking history out of its context here. By the time the Nuremburg Laws were enacted in 1935, "Christian Europe" did not need the teaching of Jesus to consistently label the Jews as "other". The social darwinists, racists, and other pseudo-scientists of the late 19th and early 20th century had already done that. Equating a "moral collapse of European Christian ethics and morality" with the growth of Nazism is yet another specious argument. Weaknesses in Christian morality allowed neither the growth of Nazism nor "its expression in the annihilation of European Jewry". The growth of Nazism is rooted in social, economic and political problems which reach far deeper than such a perfunctory statement can explain. Jonathan Koehler > From: Richard Kool <rkool@cln.etc.bc.ca> > The longer I speak with students about the Holocaust, the more I come to > realize that this issue needs to be seen in the context of it being a > problem of/for Christendom, and less as a problem for Jews. The Holocaust > was a tragedy for both cultures perhaps: the destruction of the Jewish > community on the one hand, the moral collapse of European Christian ethics > and morality on the other. Humanistic education, growing from roots in our > essentially Christian culture, needs to understand the weakness of Christian > morality that could allow both the growth of Nazi ideology and its > expression in the annihilation of European Jewry. How Christian Europe > could take the teachings of Jesus and consistently isolate Jews as "other" > is a problem that needs to be examined in any educational context. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jonathan Koehler jlkoehler@ucdavis.edu University of California, Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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