where credit is due

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Apr 22, 2005

Once again I must lift my hat to the NCR's John Allen and his ability to communicate the thinking of those he disagrees with. Among the dozens and dozens of left-liberal journalists that have discussed the pope's relation to Nazism, Allen is alone in emphasizing, correctly, that Ratzinger understands that his Catholic orthodoxy was a bulwark against Nazism, whereas the fashion-conscious liberal churches proved all too adaptive:

As Ratzinger later reflected on this experience [of the Nazi period], he drew the conclusion that liberal German Christianity proved the most vulnerable to pressure to assimilate to Nazi ideology, while the conservative denominations that were most clear as to their own identity were better able to resist. Some of his ferocious devotion to traditional forms of faith and practice no doubt reflect that experience.

Good work.