SoT3: Christ "the first Democrat”; “Christians now called Communists”; "great impact on Karl Marx"

      This continues from Part 2 (Table of Contents in Part 1) in a series presenting C. F. W. Walther's article defending against the political ideology of the socialists and communists coming into America in the 1840s and 1850s. — In this segment we hear about two radical socialists who are spoken of by Walther in other places, in a Der Lutheraner blurb, and in his lectures in 1878 on socialism and communism. Walther had studied these men and knew them inside out. But the following report is not from Walther, but a correspondent to a political newspaper. — From Der Lutheraner, vol. 7 (1851), pp. 85 (Jan. 21) [EN]: 

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Signs of the Times.

[by C. F. W. Walther, quoting the Spectator newspaper]

Two directions are noticeable that strive for the same goal; one does not want any religion at all and says so openly; the other uses the Bible and Christianity to destroy them.

The first direction says: A revolution has begun that must put an end to all religions. Physical misery is the source of all religion; therefore the friends of the people can do no better than work for the dissolution of the old world, which is still based on religion. In the name of religion, the men of retrogression preach submission and servile obedience to the people, and this is contrary to the destiny of man; religion hinders progress, which is only achieved by illegal means. Christianity, the religion that has become generalized, is a misguided attempt to pacify human happiness in a world that is based only on imagination. The new philosophy ([Ludvig] Feuerbach [Wikipedia], Nuge) has completely antiquated the old Adam, Christianity and the belief in authority. Where this philosophy has passed into our flesh and blood, we understand the new revolution which the new direction will undeniably conjure up. Our age, more mature than the Christian age, needs a different leadership through itself. If we are to be helped, Christianity must be "carefully" removed from the popular consciousness. Man alone is our God, our judge, our redeemer; apart from man there is no salvation! Man is necessary to God, not God to man. It remains the case that belief in a living, personal God, God is the foundation stone of the whole worm-eaten society, and as long as man hangs in the heaven with only one thought fiber, there is no salvation on earth. Atheism, godlessness, and when it forms devils, makes the truth its ally, and purifies its disciples by its fire.

This is the first direction; the other is outrageous! Christ is made into an apostle of freedom and love, after whom a second Messiah will come, greater than the first; there is talk of a kingdom of God, a better, more humane world. — Christ is only regarded as the first Democrat of Judea, the revolutionary of the whole world, who was crucified by the aristocracy. [ELCA] His sacrament is also observed, but how? [Wilhelm] Weitling calls out: 

"We no longer want to enjoy communion with folded hands, hanging our heads and kneeling, but sitting at large tables with the paschal lamb, with wine and bread, with milk, potatoes, meat and fish, we want to enjoy it happily together, one like the other. — But the crucified and tormented must first rise from the night of the grave of deceit, deception and lies. Hello, out of your dark holes! Up, up, you sleepers! The cock has crowed three times already, how many more times will you deny your salvation?" — "What used to be called Christians are now called Communists." —

In the practical consequence, both directions come together. These heroes of liberty say that it is not enough to strip off the yellowed leaves of Christianity and faith, but that the old must be destroyed to make way for human morality, the foundation of the future. 

• "Because Christianity still exists in our time, there is no freedom in it; the real striving for freedom only begins with atheism, man must first become wild again in order to become something." —

•  "He bursts the menagerie cage in which he is led around as a miracle of tameness! — 

• "May the Germans soon learn to use their fists." — 

• "Voltaire and Diderot were not at our height; we are making giant strides on the path of atheism and the overthrow of morality." 

• "The day will come when great fires will be lit with banknotes, bills of exchange, wills, tax lists, rent and lease contracts and promissory notes." — 

• "It is not only the faith of the fathers that must be overthrown, but also their customs." — 

• “Our ingrained mores are the firmest pillars of the present system of tyranny. — To improve these customs, we must destroy them."

• “Therefore the activity of the clubs must be: democracy with all its consequences, — not merely an attack on the existing institutions of the state and the church, but the destruction of all prevailing concepts of religion, state and society, — the filling of the minds with hatred against the existing conditions in order to make them receptive to the revolution." 

• "We are not able to conquer the world with the brute iron in our fist, we must first kill it morally and then carry it to the grave." 

• "Down with the aristocrats, down with the pietists, down with religion, down with those who have servants."

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      The Wikipedia article on Wilhelm Weitling states he was "one of the first theorists of communism". He had a great impact on Karl Marx. The same article hints of the violent language in his writings. The New York Times obituary for him in 1871 only praised his efforts. This newspaper had the same ideology then as now.

      This violent language is not from the protesters of June 2020 of our time, it is from 180+ years ago, the 1840s. It wasn't just 19 people who died in June 2020, it was hundreds in socialist Europe. And this was actively being promoted in America, then as well as now. One financial advisor to me judged that the war of ideologies between socialism and their opponents in America is now over… the socialists have won. In 1851, Walther actively warned against them. Their tool then was newspapers, today it is the Internet. — In the next Part SoT4…