The religious establishment and military volunteers...

[switchhitter]

I read recently that there were some elements of the European Catholic church (the account I read was about France) which actively condoned military collaboration with Germany. I believe it was basically along the lines of "go and fight for Germany against Russia, because if Russia wins then communism will sweep over Europe and destroy christianity".

I'll try to dig out the book I was reading about this in. Can anyone shed some light on this? If it is correct, that's a fascinating juxtaposition of Christian and National Socialist beliefs, don't you think? How was it justified, at the time and after?

Switch.

[John W. Howard]

Hello Switch:
I think the backround of such incidents lay in Communist ideology. Few right thinking people of any religion could look too favorably on Communism when they knew how it was being applied in Russia. The butchery of Catholic priests and Nuns in Spain during the Spanish Civil War was of concern to most Catholics, and origins of said violence was placed at the door of the left-wing in Spain who were being supported by the Soviet Union. Europe was on the front-lines of the Communism-Facism debate and many Europeans preferred a political force based on nationalism and religion(although this can be debated) as opposed to internationalism and atheism. Best wishes.