September/October 2000

Them Or Us?

by Greg Albrecht

Vienna, Austria

The Austrian national anthem proclaims a "land of mountains, land on the river, land of fields, land of cathedrals." This country of magnificent churches and castles is proud of its culture and history -- its famed orchestras, operas and concert halls. But an ugly new wave of nationalism threatens the beauty and tranquil image of this home of Mozart.

Over the past few decades Europeans have seen their countries invaded by ever increasing immigrant populations from Turkey, Africa, Eastern Europe and the Balkans seeking a better life. At one time the "guestworkers" were invited and welcomed, as they took jobs that no one else wanted. But today alarmist voices all over Europe call for populations to be cleansed from "foreigners." This growing paranoia of fear of "others" is illustrated by packs of young thugs who stalk immigrants in ghettos (also called asylums by Europeans). Ironically, these often unemployed-on-welfare skinheads are hunting "outsiders" who take jobs no one else will.

Led by the Austrian Freedom Party, European right-wing political parties are receiving grassroots support as they demand bans on immigration and crackdowns on crime and welfare swindlers. Political platforms include familiar rhetoric about family values, but behind the saber-rattling of values and morality lies a transparent appeal to racism and nationalism. Austria finds itself taking center stage in this alarming increase of racial hatred and violence that masquerades as national pride and patriotism.

"The Other"

Patrick McCarthy, who teaches European studies at the Bologna campus of Johns Hopkins University observes, "The phenomenon has bred insecurity -- the fear of losing your job, the fear of crime, the fear of immigrants, the fear of 'the other.'"

We humans often deplore the habits and behavior of "others" who are not like us. People who are not from our culture, race or religion -- people who do not live in our neighborhood, shop in our stores, eat our food or worship at our churches.

We shake our heads in disbelief at the religious and racial hatreds so deeply entrenched in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. We call for totalitarian regimes in China and the Sudan to end the unremitting persecution and torture of Christians. We protest the inhuman treatment of women by fanatic Muslims who now rule Afghanistan, who are waging a war on the human rights of women, slowly and methodically restricting their freedoms much like the Nazis did to Jews.

But the recent "ethnic cleansing" in Christian, civilized, contemporary and democratic Europe hits closer to home. This bitter hatred is being promoted and inflicted by people who think, dress and worship like we do.

Just when we were beginning to believe that NATO had ended murderous massacres of ethnic cleansing and racial tribalism in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the charming little nation of Austria -- the country that inspired The Sound of Music -- reminds us that the virus of hatred and racism is part of the human heart.

An Ominous Shadow

Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider is sounding alarm bells across Europe and the world -- casting a long and ominous shadow of the Nazi swastika and inviting chilling comparisons about European history repeating itself. Joerg Haider and his followers are not the kind and gentle Von Trapp family you would love to have living next door.

On February 1, Joerg Haider's Freedom Party became a part of a ruling coalition governing the nation of Austria. As a result of Haider's victory, Israel froze formal relations with Austria, the United States briefly recalled the ambassador to Washington D.C., and the European Union, with one voice, condemned political developments in Austria.

Having led the Freedom Party to victory, Joerg Haider shrewdly stepped into the background, resigning the leadership of the Freedom Party under mounting worldwide protests. He has now become the power behind the throne, continuing as governor of the province of Carinthia, waiting for a future national leadership opportunity.

European concerns about this resurgence of right-wing politics in Austria is understandable. It was here in Vienna that the Austrian Adolph Hitler acquired his anti-Semitism. Some have noted that Vienna has been a breeding ground for political radicals before, with Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Tito all living in Vienna at the same time in 1913.

One hundred years ago, Vienna was an ethnic, religious and cultural melting pot, with non-German-speaking people representing half of the population. In the Vienna of 1900, assimilated Jews rose to prominence, among them composers Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg, not to mention psychologist Sigmund Freud. By contrast, 90 percent of the citizens of today's Austria profess faith in Jesus Christ, and 99 percent speak German.

That was Then -- This is Now

The Vienna of 2000 democratically elected Joerg Haider and his Freedom Party as part of its ruling coalition. Haider's critics call him a "yuppie fascist" -- in the United States he is becoming known as the "Austrian David Duke." The telegenic, trim, polished and articulate millionaire seems poised to become one of Austria's most powerful political leaders.

Haider was born in 1950, in upper Austria, studied law in Vienna and became the leader of the Freedom Party in 1986. His political power base is in the mountainous province of Carinthia in southern Austria, where he was recently re-elected as governor. He enjoys personal wealth amassed by his family from properties they confiscated from wealthy Jews under Hitler's Reich. With Joerg Haider as governor, the hills of Carinthia are alive with a different kind of music than the Von Trapp family produced.

Haider's greatest support is among blue collar workers, but polls have also demonstrated that 23 percent of his voters are young people and that 26 percent are professionals. His relative youth, his charismatic personality, his energy, good looks and his yuppie image make him popular with Austrian youth.

Much of Haider's success comes from rabble-rousing speeches that manipulate fears of others and exploit disenchantment with foreigners. While Haider denies being a Nazi, his glossy version of nationalism and racism is tapping into culturally embedded Austrian nationalism.

Austrian fears and prejudices drive Haider's pop-star like popularity: fear of change, fear of the future and fear of what others might eventually mean to the Austrian way of life. Haider panders to and fans the flames of fear, sprinkling his speeches with jokes about Romanian pickpockets, Albanian welfare sponges and dirt cheap East European labor.

"Cleansing" Austria?

Haider promises sweeping reforms -- an end to immigration, elimination of corruption, job security, social benefits and the end of welfare abuses. Haider does not deny the horrific consequences unleashed by nationalism and racism that resulted in the Holocaust, but downplays its importance. He comments, "If you are going to speak about war crimes, you should admit that such crimes were committed by all sides."

Election posters urging Austrians to vote for Haider's Freedom Party in the election earlier this year warned voters of Ueberfremdung -- a racist term originally coined by Nazis that is roughly translated as "foreign infiltration."

Such patriotic pandering is too close for comfort for those who remember that Adolph Hitler, another Austrian, was also elected democratically, by the will of the people. Critics note that it was Hitler who won the hearts of blue collar workers by rewarding them with vacation programs and bonuses, who set up the program that every German family would own a car (the now famous Volkswagen) and who enforced May-Day as a paid holiday in Germany.

The contemporary Freedom Party is simply a slick new package of an old winning formula in Austrian and German politics. The Christian Social Party, an Austrian Catholic political party, was founded by Karl Lueger in 1893. It appealed in particular to discontented lower and middle-class blue-collar workers such as clerks, artisans and shopkeepers. The party was loyally supported by lower ranks of the clergy, which gave the party and its followers the appearance of God's blessing. Much like the Freedom Party of today's Austria, the Christian Social Party warned of the peril from others (especially Jews) and complained that Austria was misunderstood by the rest of Europe and the world. The Christian Social Party became the dominant political party in Austria after WWI, helping to pave the way for the Austrian cooperation with Adolph Hitler's Germany.

For some Austrians, the worldwide reaction against Joerg Haider and the Freedom Party seems unfair. They are alarmed that the European Community acted so harshly and judgmentally, and in part these diplomatic sanctions appear to have enlarged sympathetic support for the Freedom Party in Austria.

When asked about Joerg Haider and the Freedom Party those Austrians who support him typically respond, "that's democracy." Some also note that Haider is a courageous, democratically elected patriot, not a racist or a bigot. One resident of Vienna said, "Tell the world to leave us alone. No one is suffering here."

Many Austrians argue that however ugly Haider's political philosophy may seem or be, he is the choice of Austrians, and Austrians do not need outsiders to tell them how to elect their leaders.

Austria and Germany -- Two Reactions

One of the most baffling aspects of Haider's democratic mandate is that it comes from Austrians who are prospering. Austria, a small country of eight million people, (less than the population of greater Los Angeles), is the seventh richest nation in the world per capita with unemployment among the lowest in Europe. Hard times do not seem to be fueling Austria's lurch to the right -- but rather the fear of losing what they already have. While such fears do not appear to be based on reality, real issues like immigration are being used to agitate and fan the flames of fear and paranoia.

Austria, like Germany, experienced a miraculous economic recovery in the years immediately following WWII. But unlike Germany, Austria did not face its past with reconciliation, but instead attempted to justify the past with a combination of denial, revision and fabrication. The historical facts and reality of the persecution and mass murder of Jews and "other scapegoats and undesirables" as well as the suppression of minority cultures was swept under Austrian carpets. The myth of Austria as the "first victim of German aggression" was accepted, taught and believed by the new generation.

In the aftermath of the rise to power of Joerg Haider's Freedom Party in a coalition government, the official German view of its responsibility to the past and the official Austrian view of the same historical reality provides a striking political contrast. German President Johannes Rau traveled to Jerusalem in February, addressing Israel's Knesset. Opening his speech with an emotional apology for the Holocaust the 69-year-old Rau said, "With the people of Israel watching, I bow in humility before those murdered, before those who don't have graves where I could ask them for forgiveness."

At the same time, the Austrian ambassador to the United States told the National Press Club in Washington D.C. that Austria had become a scapegoat for European governments who were concerned about right-wing parties of their own. He accused European leaders of "smearing the swastika on Austria by using old clichesand falsifying historic facts."

British historian Paul Johnson has called Austria the most antisemitic country in Europe. Unlike Germany, Austria has never systematically confronted its own antisemitism that is deeply rooted in its historic identity. The Austrian self-deception characterizes Austrians as victims of their native son Hitler, rather than willing partners. This denial of the past, claims of victimhood and revisionism is an all too common human tactic. Critics call this Austrian delusion the lebenleuge (living lie).

Austrians have never convinced the world community that they have accepted the role they played in the horrors of the Holocaust. Before Joerg Haider, the most well-known example of Austrian national denial of the past was the election of Kurt Waldheim as president in 1986, even after Waldheim had been exposed as a former officer in Hitler's army and a part of wartime atrocities in the Balkans.

Actor-comedian Robin Williams offers social commentary by coining the word "Waldheimers" for those whom he describes as having no memory of anything that happened before 1945.

Return to Morality?

Austria, 90 percent Christian, has democratically elected leadership that, among other things, promised a commitment to morality and family values. But are these family values and morals (proclaimed not only in Austria, but in many other parts of the Christian world) identical to those of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Or are they those of some of his misguided and self-styled interpreters who are building walls of hostility in the name of God? Is this the Jesus who healed the outcasts, touched the lepers, proclaimed liberty for the poor and the disenfranchised -- or another Jesus whose message is interpreted as giving humans the justification to govern with a "rod of iron," with political action committees, dirty tricks and propaganda? Which Jesus -- the one whose name is synonymous with love or the one identified with political power? Which Jesus -- the one whose cross tore down walls of hostility or the one in whose name racial and religious invective is preached?

Christians should exercise caution before getting emotionally involved in causes that promise a "return to morality" and carefully examine the motives and appeals of such activism. Are such causes driven by a desire to share the love of Christ, or are they political masquerades that incite Christians to hatred, anger and racism?

While some Austrians violently disagree with the Freedom Party, those who support Joerg Haider dismiss negative reactions to "them and us" politics -- and they are not alone in doing so. Patrick Buchanan, a controversial American politician known for his own extreme views, commented on the global criticism of Haider, "It is an indication, I think, that any candidate of the right can expect universal hostilities."

Christians can be deceived into thinking that political rhetoric about a return to values is the same as the call to be a servant of Jesus Christ. A delegate to the Baptist World Alliance Congress, meeting in 1934 Berlin, commented favorably upon Hitler's reforms -- "It was a great relief to be in a country where salacious sex literature cannot be sold; where putrid motion pictures and gangster films cannot be shown. The new Germany has burned great masses of corrupting books and magazines along with its bonfires of Jewish and communistic libraries."

More recently, we must note that organized Christianity did not take a stand against the butchery directed by Slobodan Milosevic in Bosnia until after NATO troops poured into Kosovo. Then, and only then, did a Serbian Christian bishop condemn the "godless government" in Belgrade. The June 24, 1999, Wall Street Journal quotes the reaction of a British officer who served among the NATO troops to the bishop's condemnation: "It's great to see the church doing this now. But the one question really is whether it should have been a bit more vocal when all these terrible things were going on."

The painful and inescapable reality is that each one of us can be attracted by nationalistic rhetoric and messages that inflame and incite the vanity, jealousy, lust and greed of our sinful human nature. Only Jesus Christ can give us victory over the temptations to fall prey to the virus of hatred, superiority, alienation and fear.

What a sad commentary that Christians often get caught up in political support of candidates in any nation or from any racial or ethnic background who seem, on the surface, to promise the moral high ground. But upon closer inspection, we see that walls of hatred and alienation are being constructed by wolves in sheeps' clothing.

We deceive ourselves by looking and hoping for spiritual direction from political parties and agendas. There is only one compass for Christians -- the cross of Christ.

The biblical gospel that Christians believe is that Jesus Christ has created a new social order, new men and new women, where division and hostility give way to peace and reconciliation. Nothing is more fundamental to Christianity than the peace that Christ brings to those who live within his kingdom and follow him as Lord and Savior.

In the Name of God

The battle between the love of Christ and the power wielded by Christian leaders and authorities has long plagued Christianity. From the days of Constantine to the divine right of kings of the Reformation to the moral majority of our day, Christians have wrestled with this issue -- and often lost. Christians dare not forget the horrible bloodshed and carnage of the Crusades, an attempt to free Jerusalem from the "infidels," a word that included both Jews and Muslims.

We must not forget those who invoked the name of God while conducting pogroms and persecutions of the Jews for 2,000 years. How can we forget that Christians often forcibly "converted" Aztec Indians and native Americans throughout North and South America? Christians in the United States were among the most active and vocal opponents to the abolition of slavery and the civil rights legislation that followed 100 years later.

Just a few years ago the bloodshed in Rwanda took place in a country where 80 percent of the population claimed to be Christian. In Rwanda the values, fears and hatreds of a culture overwhelmed those of Christianity. The culture transformed Christianity -- rather than the church shaping the culture.

It is a historical fact that some who claimed to be following Jesus Christ have interpreted the Bible to justify their own lustful desires, including warfare, slavery and persecution of "others" in the name of Christ (see Luther and the Jews on the facing page).

We Christians are all too quick to point the finger and to judge. As we see the popularity of the message of hate and racism in Austria today, it is tempting to point the finger. We are tempted to condemn the Europeans and remind them that they should learn a lesson from their past, and not to forget the lesson of history. North American Christians should also learn a lesson from history -- a history that includes some sordid episodes of racism and hatred.

The initials W.W.J.D. ("What Would Jesus Do?") have become a popular inscription on jewelry for Christians. It remains a profound question. Would Jesus employ the word "Christian" as a divisive weapon to drive out immigrants? Would Jesus suspend the "love your neighbor" part of his platform in favor of "converting" others, using any means necessary? It was Jesus who was crucified -- with no record of Jesus and his disciples crucifying "others."

In his book, What's So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey comments, "It is all too easy to point fingers at German Christians of the 1930s, southern fundamentalists of the 1960s, or South African Calvinists of the 1970s. What sobers me is that contemporary Christians may someday be judged just as harshly. What trivialities do we obsess over, and weighty matters of the law -- justice, mercy, faithfulness -- might we be missing? Does God care more about nose rings or about urban decay? Grunge music or world hunger? Worship styles or a culture of violence?

"Author Tony Campolo, who makes a regular circuit as a chapel speaker on Christian college campuses, for a time used this provocation to make a point. 'The United Nations reports that over ten thousand people starve to death each day, and most of you don't give a sh -- . However, what is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned about the fact that I just said a bad word than you are about the fact that ten thousand people are going to die today.' The responses proved his point: in nearly every case Tony got a letter from the chaplain or president of the college protesting his foul language. The letters never mentioned world hunger."

The Beast You Say?

Just outside St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, I passed a man whose Rasputin-like appearance was enhanced by the t-shirt he was wearing, bearing numerals 6-6-7. The inscription beneath explained, "My next door neighbor is the Beast."

Incredible as it may seem, some who claim to be Christians welcome the dark news of this nationalistic shadow falling across the European scene. Some believe that the Bible prophesies a despotic madman who will rise to power just before the return of Jesus Christ -- and because such ill-informed students of the Bible desire and anticipate the Second Coming, they are forever searching for a Beast-candidate to crown.

Not unlike the Austrian national denial of its role in the Holocaust, adherents to this view ignore the parade of brutal "beasts" that their biblical interpretations have predicted as ruthless dictators to pave the way for the Second Coming. In fact, all of the political strongmen they have touted and predicted as madmen of Europe, as "signs" that Christ's return was "only a few short years away" now occupy space in European cemeteries.

This dispensational pre-millennial fear-religion methodology has produced many false predictions in the past, but the seduction of this methodology seems to blind adherents to their own perfect record of failed predictions. Many who claim to be Christians, on both sides of the Atlantic, and welcome Haider's brand of nationalism as a "sign of the end," seem to have forgotten their own highly documented and publicized failed predictions about the worldwide collapse from the so-called Y2K crisis a few months ago, not to mention countless failed predictions before that. Perhaps when it's fear you live for, then it's fear you will find -- or invent if necessary.

How pathetic it is that some are so narrow minded as to see what is happening in Europe in terms of some esoteric, broken-beyond-repair methodology that keeps them ever "watching" the newspapers for signs of some totalitarian madman. Meanwhile the clear teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the real business of Christianity is buried by our moral majority agendas like some talent or pound buried in a piece of cloth.

It is an even greater tragedy that Christians can be manipulated into believing appeals of fear-mongers who spin their own gospel of hatred and racism in electronic pulpits, places of worship and from political platforms. Hatred and racism have no place among the people of God. 

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