Reviews for Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror

The average rating for Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-03-23 00:00:00 Chris Held In this sweeping and comprehensive work, Michael Burleigh examines the role played by religion in politics and politics in religion from the end of the First World War until the Islamic terrorist onslaught taking place today against the free world. It is written from a strongly Catholic perspective, and Burleigh puts forward a robust defense of the Roman Catholic church against charges that it did nothing to try to prevent the Holocaust. One of Burleigh's most important contributions in this book is his outline of the sterling role played by the Christian Democratic Parties in Western Europe, in both helping their countries to overcome the evil legacy of Nazism, and preventing the spread to their countries of the equally evil Communist tyranny. As a traditional Jew, I can say that my communitarian pro-traditionalist and pro-national self-determination outlook (and my belief in a socially responsible market economy as opposed to laissez faire libertarianism), is very similar to an equivalent of the Christian Democrat philosophy, and I believe to prevent a victory by the dark forces of Satanic Islamo-Nazism, a variant of this philosophy needs to be re-established. Beginning with the rise of Nazism and Fascism in Germany and Italy,the author explains how the knee jerk reaction of the Left to label everyone to the right of them as a "Fascist" blinded them to the genuine phenomenon, and how Leftist parties refused to co-operate with the moderate and Christian forces to stop Nazism and Fascism, thus bearing some responsibility for the the rise of these regimes. Already by the 1920s predictions abounded of apocalypse and the end of days. A move to the right took place as a reaction tot he horrors of Bolshevism and the 1919 orgy of violence by Bela Kun in post-war Soviet Budapest. Burleigh quotes the penetrating observation, by Russian religious philosopher Semyon Frank, about the Communist infatuation with the idea: "Sacrificing himself for the sake of this idea, he does not hesitate to sacrifice other people for it. Among his contemporaries he sees either the victim of the world's evil he dreams of eradicating or the perpetrators of that evil...This feeling of hatred for the enemies of the people from the concrete and active psychological foundation of his life. Thus the great love of mankind of the future gives birth to a great hatred for people; the passion for organizing an earthly paradise becomes the passion for destruction". Interestingly in outlining the bloody mass politicide and deliberate creation of famine as as a political weapon by the Bolshevik, the author notes that the Bolsheviks raided and destroyed churches and synagogues but not mosques. Was this because Islam is not part of the Judeo-Christian tradition and ethic. Perhaps this could go some way to explaining the hatred of the extreme left for Christianity and Judaism, but their mania to defend and side with Islamic extremists, and never to condemn, even in passing, Islamic excesses. The author compares the modus operandi of the Soviet Communist Party and Cheka/NKVD during the Stalinist purges with the Spanish Inquisition, the differences and similarities. While he does not approve of praise Franco's administration in Spain, he puts this in some context, describing the massive outrages and massacres against the Catholic clergy and believers in Spain prior to Franco by the leftist Republican forces. He also points out that in the case of Dolfuss in Austria, this was a brave man who courageously opposed both evil systems of Communism and Nazism. Dolfuss chose a benevolent form of authoritarianism in order to combat the totally ruthless and genocidal totalitarianism. before being murdered by the Nazis. Interestingly in the 1938 plebiscite the Austrian Social Democrats supported Aunscluss while the Christian Socialists and most of the Catholic Church opposed it. I completely agree with Burleigh's analysis of the Salazar government in Portugal. Salazar was anti-Communist, anti-Fascist and anti-Nazi. He saw little difference between Communists, Fascists and Nazis, all of whom were wedded to the totalitarian ideal "to whose ends all the activities of citizens are subject and men exist only for it's greatness and glory'. The Salazar administration disassociated itself from Nazi anti-Semitism, welcoming Jewish refugees fleeing their oppressors. The author does not not hide the participation of elements of the Catholic Church in the atrocities against Jews and other minorities in the Nazi puppet regimes,during World War II of Slovakia and Croatia, but also highlight the activities of the the Vatican and many Catholic clergy to save Jews and prevent further atrocities, such as the sterling role of Father Caselli in opposing Nazi genocide. According to the author the Catholic Clergy were far more prominent and active in resisting Nazism in Germany and Italy than were their Protestant counterparts, and a large part of the book is a spirited defense of Pope Pius XVI, who the author puts forward as doing all he could to prevent the genocide of Jews. The author strongly states that there is not a shred of evidence to refer to POpe Pius XVI as "Hitler's Pope", pointing out that this is a title more befitting Hitler's Mufti, the anti-semitic Haj Amin al-Husseini, if one seeks seeks a spiritual leader who endorsed Hitler's racial views. The author outlines the role of clergy, priests and nuns in hiding and rescuing Jewish children from the Nazi killing machine, and the role of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in influencing the King of Bulgaria to save that country's Jews during World War II. This is contrasted to the horrors perpetrated by Romania's Fascist regime during World War II, often with the support of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The author details the role of the Communist dictatorships in violently suppressions religion in all the countries they held under their yplk in Eastern Europe. Moving forward to more recent times I congratulate the author for pointing out the obscenity of German terrorists waving guns over the heads of Israel Jewish hostages when Baader Meinhof gangsters helped Arab terrorists take the Jewish hostages that were rescued at Entebbe in 1976. Moving to Northern Ireland, the author's Catholicism does not at all make him sympathetic to the terrorist IRA. He points out that the father of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams father lit bonfires lit bonfires on the Black Mountain to guide Luftwaffe bombers towards Belfast, where they killed over a thousand people in devastating air raids that wiped out 50% of the housing stock. Sinn Fein also annually celebrates around a statue of Sean Russel, an IRA terrorist whose organization declared war on the British in January, 1939, putting the Nationalist community under the protection of Nazi Germany, to where he was sent to train as a spy. Sinn Fein and the IRA is a long standing supporter of Basque and Palestinian terrorists. he media, in it's decades long love affair with the IRA, has highlighted IRA casualties( such as the 'martyrdom' of IRA terrorist Bobby Sands) and events such as "Bloody Sunday", we are reminded less of IRA atrocities such as the "The Claudy Day Massacre" of 31st July 1972, in which nine innocents dies including nine year old Kathryn Eakin. The last chapter deals with the rise of Islamic terrorism, with the author tracing the roots of the Al Qaeda terrorist network. The arch terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zaqarwi formed his organizational network in Iran, whose evil regime is perpetrating terror in Iraq in order to deflect any attack on their illicit quest for nuclear capability. The author exhorts Europe to gain some backbone in the face of the Islamic onslaught praising leaders like President Bush, and Spain's courageous former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who was repacked by the appeaser of Islamic terror and tyranny, the Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Governments that have taken a stand against terror in Europe have often been victims of the mania in Europe to appease Islamo-Nazism together with a sick anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism. While much has been made of the minor successes of the far-right parties in Europe as a direct result of the Islamicization of the continent, less has been said about politicians who have gained success by courting Islamic extremism, and anti-Israel hate such as the demagogue George Galloway in Britain. He condemns those who howl about the rights of terrorists arrested and imprisoned, while ignoring the rights of innocents not to be blown up. He also traces some of the Islamo-Nazi terror in recent years in Europe. It is a fascinating and enlightening book, one which I will not forget and has taught me a lot.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-12-25 00:00:00 James Maxey Michael Burleigh is a noted European historian, primarily known for a synthesis approach that blends intellectual, cultural and "hard" history, frequently with a heavy focus on religious and moral elements. Sacred Causes, along with its earlier companion, Earthly Powers, aspires to a synthesis of religion and politics in all of Europe, from the French Revolution to now, with a primary focus on "political religions," ranging from Jacobinism to Islamism, that are "the abusive exploitation of the human religious sentiment." Sacred Causes covers the 20th Century, from World War One to the modern day. Much of this is well-covered ground, of course, but Burleigh brings a few new things. First, he is not anti-religious'if anything, he is pro-religion, but at a minimum, he's pained by the facile and ignorant views of the role of religion in European history, and does his best to correct those views. Second, his intellectual sweep is so broad that he is able to illuminate many of his topics, even those that are commonplaces such as the religious aspects of Bolshevism, with new, or at least rarely expressed, insights. Sacred Causes concerns itself heavily with the response of the organized Christian churches to 20th-century political religions. Much of this is actually not very interesting, because it tends to get bogged down in the names of people who were obscure then and are more obscure now (tempered with occasional discussions of people still relevant today, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer). Burleigh does his best to tease out, country by country, the net effect of these interactions between the organized Christian churches and the political religions in each country, but it does tend to make the reader's eyes glaze over. However, one particular thread, going throughout the book, on the organized Christian churches, maintains interest very well. Burleigh discusses at numerous points, each time relevant to the immediate subject matter, the role that Pius XII played in the years around World War II, both in general and with respect to the treatment of the Jews. Burleigh naturally rejects the constant libel of Pius XII, pointing out (as is not disputed) that after the war Pius was generally regarded very positively for his efforts at diplomacy, his condemnation of Nazism balanced with efforts to prevent damage to the national churches, and his active role in saving Jews from destruction. In the 1960s, with the active connivance of the anti-religious left, Communist governments planted lies, produced plays, and generally began a media campaign in an orchestrated attempt to undermine the Catholic Church's role in captive Eastern Europe. This took on a life of its own and is today's Black Legend. Burleigh's approach is weary to this, not because he is tired of the topic, but because he knows that few people have the intellectual heft or interest in learning the truth or the facts, but would rather get their facts from what "everybody knows" or mendacious tracts by James Carroll, today's Jack Chick. Burleigh's approach gives Pius his due, with appropriate hindsight criticism, but leaves no doubt that Pius was hardly the Hitler ally today's anti-Catholics portray him as'and Burleigh is not afraid to draw the parallel between yesterday's Communist and today's libertines, both eager to discredit the Catholic Church for its opposition to their programs for their version of the New Man. Other chapters cover topics that are not well known in the States. For example, there is significant discussion of Irish Protestant/Catholic relations, shot through with a bitter tone of "a pox on both your houses." Burleigh touches on Mexico, with its little-known history of violent and murderous anti-clericalism; and Spain, with its better known internal trials. The second half of the book then focuses on religion under Communism, the role of religion in the collapse of Communism, and completes with a short but pessimistic view of the ability of Europe's Muslims to come to an accommodation with a Europe weakened by the death of Christianity and the rise of relativistic multiculturalism. One thing that strikes the modern reader is the high level of political discourse possible prior to the 1960s. For example, German society in the 1930s was full of discussion about the path forward. Max Weber is quoted as giving an extemporaneous lecture on duties to the state, in a Berlin bookstore, citing obscure verses from Isaiah from memory and using them as the central focus for a complex discussion of how to act. In counterpoint to this, the era featured numerous prophetic charlatans, a la David Koresh, using their messiah status mostly to get their disciples to sleep with them, combined with not-complex-thinking-at-all by gutter street fighters of Right and Left. We today are left with the latter two, but unfortunately have lost the first mode of discussion. In any case, this book is not a light read. It's easier to read with some other reference works at hand or some familiarity with the details of 20th-century European history. But it's worth reading, because the synthesis performed really adds much to any existing knowledge of the period.