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"I would add the observation that the Nazism could not be, by any student of history or religion, considered a Christian sect."

I beg to differ, as National Socialism was rooted in Christianity. Lutheranism, predominately, and as you said, corrupted. Terribly corrupted, in fact, and with many of the worst aspects of several forms of paganism grafted in, while the best features were supressed. If you were to ask the Catholics, so is Anglicanism, with perhaps some truth to it. If you ask the Anglicans, so was puritanism, for that matter, and also with some truth to it. In every age and time there have been some who stood for what they thought of as purity, and goodness, who were not good examples of what they claimed to support. The Nazis are very firmly among those. There are some Muslims who bear strong resemblence to the Nazis. Your church has had it's share, too. We've had them in my church, as well. My point was, and is, that all groups have some who actually follow their own teachings, and some who twist and rend them, for some advantage in this world. No human group is perfect.

Some of the aspects of Islam that non-Muslims find most outrageous are those that are adopted from Christianity and Judaism, and then changed. One could properly say warped, if you are a true believer in either of those religions, rather than Islam. Christ was a prophet, not the Son of God, as I know him to be, and from your screen-name, expect you to believe as well. Abraham was to sacrifice Ishmael, rather than Isaac, for the Jews. Lots of others, as well. What the Nazis did was warp some Christian teachings, and shred some others.

Much of modern Christianity is steeped in paganism for that matter. Christmas trees, Yule logs, just to name a couple. There is nothing wrong with adapting local custom to a new purpose, as long as you aren't totally violating the tenets of your faith. What the Nazis did was a total violation of the Christian faith, but it was BASED in that faith, too. Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins, ending the need for blood sacrifices. The Holocaust could be considered a reintroduction of blood sacrifice for purposes I am certain Christ would not have approved of. I am a student of history, for that matter, and consider myself a serious student. Nazism could be considered a Christian sect. It was so terrible an example of what can go wrong in a sect as to cause some to deny it, but the facts still stand.

I'm a Mormon, now. My stepdad, a Baptist minister, felt about Mormons much the way you seem to feel about Nazis. They couldn't possibly be Christians. And as far as the Nazis are concered, I'd have to agree that they aren't, but that doesn't mean that they can't be considered such by some.

Are you familiar with John Chivington? He was a Methodist minister who became a Colonel in the US Army.He was a hero in the Civil War. He's also the one who led the massacre at Sand Creek. Not a good example of a Christian. Neither was Hitler. It is possible to say Hitler wasn't a Christian. There are rumors that he was Jewish, or part Jewish. Kind of hard to tell, at this late date. Chivington WAS a Christian. Something happened to him to cause him to forget what he once believed. Both are good examples of what can happen when someone who should know better forgets what they are supposed to be doing.

I concur that there is little if anything in Christianity that is 'unique.' You will find not only Christmas trees and yule logs in religious traditions prior to Christianity but even such conceptions or practices as trinitarian godheads, crucified saviors, dying & rising god-men, baptismal rites, sacred suppers, etc. With the Church Fathers, with such contemporary figures as C.S. Lewis, I would argue that Christianity is the myth that came true.

The Lutheran Churches in Germany were coopted by Nazism. The 'two kingdoms' idea allowed them to have difficulty in opposing an evil and corrupt regime, but Lutheranism did not create National Socialism. It did not create its rites. Only so far as Lutheranism and Christianity's historic teachings were ignored could policies of eugenics, total war, the leader principle and so forth be implemented.

So, my assertion that Nazism was pagan rather than Christian should simply be understood as a reminder that the essential tenets of Nazism were in opposition to Christian teachings, not rooted in the New Testament. You will not find any exhortations in the Gospels, for instance, to gas Jews or launch out on wars of conquest for the sake of Christ. Individual Christians and even elements of the larger Church have corrupted or ignored Scripture and the better instincts of the Church in order to sin in such ways, but war, aggression, atheistic evolution, racism, are not necessary elements of the Christian faith and there is much in the sacred writings, Church tradition, etc. to oppose such things.

So finally, my critique settles on Islam. There is no comparison with Christianity. The false prophet with dark sayings, a pedophile and coniving warrior cannot be compared with the Prince of Peace who came to bear witness to the passionate love of God for humanity - willing even to suffer the cross for the sake of the beloved.

The militant and authoritarian nature of Islam is rooted in the Quran; it is seen in the historical origins of Islam; it is witnessed in the history of that sad religion - Islam is violent, anti-Jewish, anti-Christian, anti-'everyone else but Muslims.' Moderate and liberal Muslims, and I don't deny such good men and women exist, are an exception to the rule and develop some moderation only in so far as they ignore their own holy book.

You make the point very well yourself. Chivington is one example in a two thousand year history of such examples - beginning with St. Peter and continuing on to you and I - Christians individually and corporately can sin; can forget the teachings of Christ; can ignore the Scriptures; we can turn our backs on Christ, deny him and wound, hurt, kill other people in thought, word and deed. When we do so, we are not being 'good Christians' and are not acting as disciples of Christ.

When a Muslim harbors anti-Jewish thoughts or runs a plane into an office building or ignites a suicide bomb in an Isareli pizza parlor - they are only being true to their own prophet and perverse conception of the deity. They find more than a little justification in the Quran and in the history of their religion.

Islam is a religion of holocaust - it has been throughout its history because that is the nature of the beast. Even our friendly Turks committed horrific genocide against the first Christian nation in the rape and destruction of Armenia & that in the modern era.