Page 176 - Global Freemasonry

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

ever religious faith to practice his faith freely. Rather, the model envi-
sioned by Masonry is one of mass brainwashing, designed to remove reli-
gion completely from society and the minds of individuals and, if
necessary, to persecute its adherents.
In every country where it is established, Masonry seeks to put this
program into effect, though in a way that conforms to the culture and con-
ditions prevalent in that country.

One such country is Germany.

THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST RELIGION IN
GERMANY: "KULTURKAMPF"
150 years ago, there was no such country as Germany. The present
territory called Germany consisted of a number of principalities. The

largest of these was Prussia, which occupied the eastern part of today's
Germany and a large part of Poland. In the 1860s, Prussia began to annex
other small German states and founded the German Empire in 1871. The
ruler of this new state was the Prussian Prime Minister and Chancellor of
the new German Empire, Otto von Bismarck.
Bismarck was a successful statesman, especially in foreign politics,
but did not enjoy the same success in domestic affairs. One of the reasons

for this was a group of intellectuals known as the "National Liberals," sim-
ilar to the French anti-clerics, that adopted an anti-religious policy. In
order to achieve the unity of Germany, the National Liberals believed it
was necessary to rid the people of any sense of affiliation outside their
borders, and regarded the relationship between one third of the popula-
tion and the Catholic Pope as the largest obstacle to this. Encouraged by
the National Liberals, Bismarck embarked on an anti-Catholic campaign
known as the Kulturkampf, or "culture war." It was also described as a

struggle to control the minds of Germans. 129
During the Kulturkampf, Catholics, especially in the southern Ger-
many, suffered oppression.

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