Rewriting History = We Will Be Doomed...

So I suppose you've all heard about Iran's little party in which they are gathering all of the "intellectuals" of the world who think the Holocaust never happened (they've even managed to talk some Jews into attending) to try to prove that the Holocaust never happened. So-called "great minds" from all over the world have taken plain, train, and automobile to get together and discuss the fact that while they all believe the Holocaust never happened, they need to find a way to get the rest of the world to agree with them (possibly by the nuclear force they are trying to develop, no doubt.)

For all of those who didn't pay attention in history class in high school (and judging by some of the history teachers I had, perfectly understandable), the Holocaust is when a man who proclaimed himself to be the "right arm of god" tried to eradicate anyone and everyone he deemed to be "not of god," or "unclean," or even just plain in disagreement with him. In recent weeks, a fundie has brought to my attention an article that actually claims that atheists were behind the holocaust as Hitler's actions were so anti-Christian that they didn't want to claim him. Silly, isn't it?

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Fundie: Listen, I know that our religion supposedly has a bloody history, but, I mean--come off it! Hitler obviously wasn't a Christian. Look at how he treated the Jews!
Atheist: So you claim that, because you disagree with his actions, despite the fact that he claimed his actions were endorsed by the creator much like you claim your actions are, he couldn't have been a Christian despite the fact that all of you claim no one can know the mind of god, and therefore, never quite know what Sky god endorses and what he doesn't.
Fundie: Um, no... I mean, it's obvious--
Atheist: It's obvious he was a rotten human being that used religion to justify the killing of millions of Jews, blacks, homosexuals, and many more, all in the name of God.
Fundie: But Hitler was obviously not doing the work of the Christian god--
Atheist: But he was doing what he was doing in the name of god, which isn't any different than what you do.
Fundie: That's preposterous! I've never--
Atheist: Killed a Jew? No, you only manage to judge, try to pass laws, and take away people's rights to live life as they want. Sort of like how you try to, say, ban gay marriage? Abortion? Gambling? Drinking? You try to tell people how they should live their lives regardless of whether they hold to your brand of morality, and you try to get leaders in power that will make people live up to your code. Trying to do the work of sky god. Just like Hitler, you believed so strongly in your religious values, you screw over the very system that allows you to hold those beliefs and practice them regardless of whatever others believe and practice. The only true values of America are be free, and let others do so as well. As long as you aren't trampling someone else's right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, you are free to do whatever you wish for the most part!
Fundie: God would never--
Atheist: God never took away a choice. Your bibble says so. Tell me, after you get all the "sinners" under control, what's next? Those Christians who hold differing values? What about those believers who think divorce is fine? What about Christians who think it's okay to have a drink now and then?
Fundie: Er...

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Er... is right. There is no clear bottom to this slippery slope, is there? Where does it end? With something like the Holocaust, that's where. Scary, isn't it? So not only are some hard-core Muslims trying to claim the Holocaust never happened, if only to try to prove that Israel shouldn't exist, hard-core Christians are trying to claim that Hitler hadn't a religious bone in his body.

And neither of which are true.

Now, I am not advocating that all Christians are fundamentalist law-makers out to crusade by law for god, much of what Hitler tried--and nearly succeeded--in doing to all of known Europe. What I am saying is that religion, like anything, is only good in moderation and in the context of the true human condition. And while I'm also not saying that Hitler was necessarily a good Christian (as it should be fairly obvious), just because you disagree with his conclusions about his religion doesn't mean that he suddenly wasn't a Christian. Listen to some of these excerpts from speeches that Hitler gave:

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"The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people stop just talking superficially of God's will, and actually fulfill God's will, and not let God's word be desecrated. For God's will gave men their form, their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will." --Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

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"I say: my Christian feeling tells me that my lord and savior is a warrior. It calls my attention to the man who, lonely and surrounded by only a few supporters, recognized what they [the Jews] were, and called for a battle against them, and who, by God, was not the greatest sufferer, but the greatest warrior. . .

"As a human being it is my duty to see to it that humanity will not suffer the same catastrophic collapse as did that old civilization two thousand years ago, a civilization which was driven to its ruin by the Jews. . . I am convinced that I am really a devil and not a Christian if I do not feel compassion and do not wage war, as Christ did two thousand years ago, against those who are steeling and exploiting these poverty-stricken people.

"Two thousand years ago a man was similarly denounced by this particular race which today denounces and blasphememes all over the place. . . That man was dragged before a court and they said: he is arousing the people! So he, too, was an agitator!" --Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered on April 12, 1922.

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"We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out." --Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered in Berlin, October 24, 1933.

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"Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise." --Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf.

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"Imbued with the desire to secure for the German people the great religious, moral, and cultural values rooted in the two Christian Confessions, we have abolished the political organizations but strengthened the religious institutions." --Adolf Hitler, in a speech at Reichstag, Berlin, January 30, 1934.

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"The advantages of a personal and political nature that might arise from compromising with atheistic organizations would not outweigh the consequences which would become apparent in the destruction of general moral basic values. The national government regards the two Christian confessions as the weightiest factors for the maintenance of our nationality: their rights are not to be infringed." --Adolf Hitler, in a speech at Reichstag, Berlin, March 23, 1933.

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"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith." --Adolf Hitler, in 26 April 1933, from a speech made during negotiations leading to the Nazi-Vatican Concordant of 1933.

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Now, take away the fact that these speeches were made by Hitler. Does an atheist come to mind as having said these words? I think you can agree that the answer is no. In fact, it sounds a lot like religious leaders in America today, doesn't it? "Put prayer back in schools!"; "We need true Christian leaders in office!"; "We need laws to protect us from the infidels/sinners/world!"

So as Iran tries to deny the brutal, religious atrocity that was the Holocaust, and as fundamentalist Christians in America try to erode the very freedoms of this country in the name of sky god, I ask you to very carefully look at your motives for whatever you do. As dangerous as the lie that "we were created a Christian nation" is, I fear a religious welling up that will lead to even more dangerous times--beginning with these two articles: Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history by Dinesh D'Souza, and Holocaust conference begins in Iran as reported by Yahoo News. These two articles alone should speak of the horrors that religion plans on bringing to our doorstep.

As the two "great" religions of the world unite in rewriting history, I hope the rest of the moderate religious believers, as well as the atheists and agnostics, will stand together, not united by a religious belief, but by a faith in honesty and accurate history. I ask everyone to learn from the past, and not make it fit into your preconceived mold.

Otherwise, in fifty years, if anyone is left, they'll be discussing if the second Holocaust actually happened--not the first.