NotreDame Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 (edited) Catholics were 50% less likely to vote for Hitler than Protestants: We investigate the role of religion in the electoral success of the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany. Among historians, it is a well known fact that Protestants were much more likely than Catholics to vote for Adolf Hitler. However, in spite of the historical importance of the Nazis’ rise to power, the question of whether this correlation reflects a causal effect of religion has so far remained unanswered. We use an instrumental variable approach by relying on geographic variation in religious beliefs dating back to a peace treaty in the sixteenth century. According to the principle “cuius regio, eius religio.†the Peace of Augsburg granted local rulers the right to determine the religion of their serfs. Using rulers’ choices in the aftermath of the peace as an instrumental variable for the religion of Germans living in the respective areas more than three hundred years later, we are able to document an economically large effect of Protestantism on Nazi vote shares— even after controlling for a wide range of region fixed effects and socioeconomic characteristics. Taken at face value, our estimates suggest that Catholics were about 50% less likely to vote for the Nazi Party than their Protestant counterparts. We are currently testing multiple hypotheses to explain this effect and are in the process of collecting additional data. - So we got that going for us. Edited February 28, 2014 by NotreDame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Screw hitler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotreDame Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Screw hitler Basically, yes, but with a reasoned argument... Hitler, I doth screw you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anastasia13 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Actually, it was Hitler`s dad`s fault because he was a bad dad and he would not let Adolf go to art school. Behold, the value of a good father. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgnatiusofLoyola Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Is not one Catholic going to speak up and say that they find the title of this thread to not only be historically inaccurate, but offensive to Protestants? Perhaps it was meant as a light joke. We wouldn't tolerate "light jokes" around here about other groups. Why are Protestants fair game? Remember, there ARE non-Catholic members of Phatmass. And, who knows what kind of Catholic witness a statement like that, even if meant in jest, gives to guests on Phatmass? They don't know the posters on Phatmass well enough to consider the source. The title of this thread is not just some small post in a long thread (and even those posts are deleted if they are needlessly and unfairly offensive), but it is highly visible if a person simply reads through the titles of threads. Forget about historical accuracy (a person doesn't have to be a history major to know that the causes of WWII were very complex)--if it makes fun of Protestants, it apparently is no big deal. How do you feel when people make inaccurate and negative comments about the Catholic church, particularly if the people making the comments think their comments funny or no big deal? Yes, I did follow the rules. I reported this thead as soon as I read it early this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotreDame Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotreDame Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotreDame Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 obviously what i wrote was sarcastic iggy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatholicCid Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Is not one Catholic going to speak up and say that they find the title of this thread to not only be historically inaccurate, but offensive to Protestants? Perhaps it was meant as a light joke. We wouldn't tolerate "light jokes" around here about other groups. Why are Protestants fair game? Remember, there ARE non-Catholic members of Phatmass. And, who knows what kind of Catholic witness a statement like that, even if meant in jest, gives to guests on Phatmass? They don't know the posters on Phatmass well enough to consider the source. The title of this thread is not just some small post in a long thread (and even those posts are deleted if they are needlessly and unfairly offensive), but it is highly visible if a person simply reads through the titles of threads. Forget about historical accuracy (a person doesn't have to be a history major to know that the causes of WWII were very complex)--if it makes fun of Protestants, it apparently is no big deal. How do you feel when people make inaccurate and negative comments about the Catholic church, particularly if the people making the comments think their comments funny or no big deal? Yes, I did follow the rules. I reported this thead as soon as I read it early this morning. Outside of the title of the thread, what did you think of the actual content linked to in the OP? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotreDame Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 Iggy, this was a movie quote reference, fyi... So we got that going for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgnatiusofLoyola Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Outside of the title of the thread, what did you think of the actual content linked to in the OP? The content of the post itself isn't as offensive as the title, although I'm not sure that the information provided is anything more than marginally helpful when looking at the big picture of all of the things that led to WWII. Statistically, the information may be useful or not. Simply knowing that Catholics were 50% less likely to vote for Hitler doesn't mean very much without a lot of other information, such as, "How was this information collected?" "Did Catholics who stated this actually vote in the election?" "How many Catholic voters participated in the election versus Protestants," etc. etc. etc. There were SO many other factors that led to WWII, that simply reporting this one piece of information is misleading. It wasn't clear at all to me from the post that it was sarcastic. And, I was not aware of the movie that was being referenced. In general, I've found that one good "rule of thumb" is that it's best to not reference Hitler in any conversation that is supposed to light-hearted, sarcastic, etc. It's far too easily misunderstood. I'm sure that if the same post had reported that Protestants were 50% less likely to vote for Hitler, a lot of people here would have had a problem with the thread--including me. Catholics here get upset about anti-Catholic comments--justifably so--even comments meant to be "light" or "sarcastic." If Catholics don't appreciate being made the subject of sarcastic remarks, one response that fits with Biblical teachings is to take the high road and not do the same to Protestants--certainly not Protestants as a whole, rather than individuals. However, bottom line, it was the title of the thread I had the problem with. In addition to being personally offended, I also thought that the title did not reflect what Phatmass is really like. Often there are 10 times as many guests here on Phatmass as there are members logged in. Even if the post was obviously sarcastic to regular Phatmass posters (although it wasn't to me), guests to Phatmass don't usually know individual posters well enough to read their posts in the context of the author of the post. Also, although there is an "ignore" function that is very helpful, the "ignore" function does not apply to the titles of new threads, only to individual posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotreDame Posted February 28, 2014 Author Share Posted February 28, 2014 It's a good movie that was quoted. You should see it. I think you'll like it: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selah Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Don't be silly. Everything on the internet is true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Lent has indeed started early. Do people seriously get grumpier around Lent? I've never had that experience. I'm investigating... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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