Adomo recommends that we check out the eighth chapter of William L. Shirer's seminal Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich:
There he will find that in their efforts to reorder the German culture, Goering and his kind were enabled in large part by a "church" that had gladly abdicated any role in differentiating between such things as spiritual or unspiritual, patriotic or unpatriotic, and eventually, good or evil.
Germany's multifaceted and fractured "church" helped dispel any clear understanding of Biblical absolutes, whereby the time honored definitions of faith, patriotism, and even "right and wrong," had been upheld. In its place, the Reich stood ready to forcibly substitute its own warped and poisoned version of such things to a pliable population.
Today, many mainline churches in the United States shy away from (what not long ago would have been considered uncontroversial) expressions of patriotism and acknowledgement of our country's Christian heritage, such as the singing of "God Bless America" on the Sunday before Indpendence Day, or recognizing former members of the military on the Sunday closest to Veterans Day.
This brings to mind some of my favorite cautionary quotes:
"Take away a people's heritage and they are easily persuaded." —attributed to Vladimir Lenin
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." —attributed to Edmund Burke
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." —George Santayana, Spanish-born American author (1863-1952)
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