Without the civlizing influence of religions to impose moral restrictions from within, immoral behavior grows rampant, and people do not reject these repulsive behaviors.
Marc, here is a page that shows how the church co-operated with Hitler, including the Vatican’s alliance with the Nazis:
Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli (later to become Pope Pius XII) signs the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican at a formal ceremony in Rome on 20 July 1933. Nazi Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen sits at the left, Pacelli in the middle, and the Rudolf Buttmann sits at the right.
The Concordat effectively legitimized Hitler and the Nazi government to the eyes of Catholicism, Christianity, and the world.
The most violent and repressive authoritarian ideologies, fascism and communism, were created by people living in predominantly Christian nations. That’s not to say that Christianity is responsible for the millions of deaths and the mass destruction that resulted from these ideologies – but religion didn’t stop it from happening.
Religion can be a solution to many problems, but it doesn’t cure everything.
