From the Death of God to the Rise of Hitler

Abstract

Can weakened religiosity facilitate the rise of fascism? The Nazi Party set itself up as a political religion, emphasizing redemption, sacrifice, rituals, and communal spirit. This is highly correlated with its success: Where the Christian Church only had shallow roots, the Nazis received higher electoral support and saw more party entry. "Shallow Christianity" reflects the geography of medieval Christianization and the strength of pagan practices, which we use as sources of historical variation. We also find predictive power at the individual level: Within each municipality, the likelihood of joining the Nazi Party was higher for those with less Christian first names. Data from Italy suggests that the phenomenon is not limited to the German case: more religious Italian municipalities supported the fascist movement less.