The Road To Auschwitz

I grew up a Seventh-Day Adventist and many of the things I was taught from the pulpit lead directly to Auschwitz.

Christians did not create Auschwitz (Nazism was profoundly anti-Christian) but without 1900 years of Christian hatred of Jews and Judaism it could never have happened.

I grew up with the message that the Jews have suffered over the past 2,000 years because they rejected Christ. Because they crucified God. That Jews are God-killers.

I was also taught that Jews are not true Jews. Christians are the true Jews. Christianity superceded Judaism. Jews today are therefore imposters, rejected by God.

The official Seventh-Day Adventist church in Germany assisted the Nazis in their isolation and persecution of Jews. Adventist leaders handed over Jewish converts to Adventism to the Nazis to be sent to concentration camps.

On the other hand, some individual Adventists in Europe rescued Jews.

If there was another genocidal targeting of Jews today, what would the Adventist church do? I view the Seventh-Day Adventist church as an essentially amoral organization. I think the church today would be as likely to assist in genocide (as parts of it did in Rwanda last decade) as to oppose genocide. As for individual Adventists, I suspect that perhaps one percent would be rescuers and perhaps one percent would actively assist in genocide.

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
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