Fascism ALWAYS Devours Religion

If you’re religious, and especially if you’re a Christian, personally I would think you’d be SUPER scared right now with the encroachment of the government on freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press. Officials are crushing any idea they don’t like. For example:

• Larry Bushart Jr., a retired police officer in Perry County, Tennessee, shared a Facebook meme after Charlie Kirk was killed. Deputies arrested him for “threatening mass violence,” and a judge set a 2,000,000 dollar bond! He spent a bit over five weeks in jail before prosecutors dropped the case. (He’s suing…) OVER A MEME!!!
• Eric Meyer and the Marion County Record had their newsroom and Meyer’s home raided, with devices seized. Police claimed identity theft and computer crimes tied to checking a public record (a reporter accessed a PUBLIC state website). The warrants were withdrawn for insufficient evidence! Because of course, accessing a website isn’t a crime – even if you’re not a reporter.
• In Florida, Brevard County’s Republican-led commission barred atheists and other minority faiths from giving meeting invocations, and the federal appeals court said that was unconstitutional religious discrimination.

And that’s how it starts.

Small. Seemingly unrelated incidents against people who don’t have any power. All the while, authoritarian movements are cozying up to religion to look legit and “unite” people. But once they’ve locked down power, they sideline or crush religion, because a faith with its own moral voice can challenge the state. And that is not allowed.

Fascism and Religion: Useful Allies at the Start

Early on, strongmen love to borrow religion which offers them borrowed credibility. If you can get the church to endorse you, followers just flock along without scrutiny! It seriously greases the wheels. And it’s an important early win that fascists need.

• Mussolini (Italy): signed the Lateran Treaty (1929) with the Vatican, ending a long standoff and winning church support. Priests preached obedience.
  Then: Within a decade, he banned Catholic youth groups, jailed critical priests, and censored church media. By the late 1930s the Church was mostly symbolic.
• Hitler (Germany): He posed as a defender of “positive Christianity” against atheistic communism.
  Then: After the 1933 Concordat with the Vatican, Nazis shut Catholic schools, arrested clergy, and pushed a state-run “Reich Church.” Resisters like Dietrich Bonhoeffer were imprisoned or executed.
• Franco (Spain): Often cited as an exception. But the alliance held only while the Church stayed in line. When clergy later backed social justice, Franco’s police went after them too.

Why Authoritarians Clash with Religion

Fascism will not share moral authority.

Any group that wins loyalty beyond the state: religion, a free press, universities, unions, soon looks like a threat. So early praise of “faith” is really about control. Religion is used as identity politics, not as a moral check. Once power is secure, independent morals become intolerable.

You can see this today:

• Putin’s Russia: Heavy Orthodox imagery, but the church often acts as an arm of the state, blessing war and quieting dissenting clergy.
• Orbán’s Hungary: “Christian” branding pairs with policies that undercut church social work, such as help for refugees.
• Erdoğan’s Turkey: Islam gives cover, while the state tightly controls mosques; sermons are government issued and Christians banned.

By the way, if you’re Christian and it pisses you off to hear of Christianity being banned in another country – consider the hypocrisy of trying to ban Islam in America! A country literally founded on the concepts of religious freedom and separation of church and state.

The Trap of Religious Nationalism

Some Christians think teaming up with a strongman will protect their values. But that repeats the 1930s mistake. They confuse access to power with safety for faith. But that’s not how it works:

• Once a regime controls schools, media, and courts,
• It does not need clergy, except for their silence.
• When silence won’t do, it demands praise and punishes dissent.

In the end, religion is downgraded from moral authority to stage dressing.

What Usually Follows

The pattern is consistent:

1. The Church blesses the leader (“God sent a strong leader”).
2. The leader uses religion to stir nationalism.
3. Clergy who preach compassion or justice get labeled traitors.
4. Religious freedom erodes quietly.
5. Faith becomes theater, with conscience removed.

Moral Authority Cannot Serve Two Masters

Christians, or any faith community, face a hard truth under fascism: You cannot serve both God and the state.

When political power demands total loyalty, it tries to replace divine authority with its own. Every fascist system moves that way: through open persecution, slow co-optation, or the quiet suffocation of conscience.

If you value your own personal and religious freedoms, including speech, assembly, movement and press, you MUST be vigilant in resisting any form of tyranny. Whether it’s coming from a foreign power, or from within.

But… what the hell do I know…