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Fascism is an ideology which has its roots in Europe. The foundation of fascism was laid by a number of European thinkers in the 19th century, and put into practice in the 20th century by such countries as Italy and Germany. Other countries, which were influenced by fascism or adopted it, "imported" the ideology from Europe. So, in order to examine the roots of fascism, we must turn to the history of Europe.
European history has gone through several stages and periods. But, in the broadest sense, we can divide it into three fundamental periods:
The pre-Christian (pagan) period.
The period when Christianity assumed cultural dominance in Europe.
The post-Christian (materialist) period.
The idea of a "Post-Christian" period may strike many readers as odd, because Christianity is still by far the majority religion in European society. But Christianity is no longer a dominant aspect of European culture: all that remains is lip-service paid to it. The real ideologies and concepts that now direct society have been formed, not by the dictates of religion, but from the materialist philosophy. This anti-religious current began in the 18th century, and came to dominate science and the realm of ideas in the 19th. And, it was the 20th century when the catastrophic results of materialism were finally witnessed.
In regards to these three periods, we can see that fascism belongs to the first and third. In other words, fascism is a product of paganism, and was later reinforced with the rise of materialism. Fascist ideology or practice was non-existent throughout the thousand or so years when Christianity dominated Europe. The reason being that Christianity is a religion of peace and equality. Christianity, which calls people to love, compassion, self-sacrifice, and humility, is the complete antithesis of fascism.
Christianity is originally a divine religion, incepted by the Prophet Jesus. After Jesus, it departed from its original form with some applications and interpretations. Nevertheless, it has managed to maintain certain aspects of the essence of the true religion, with concepts such love, compassion, sacrifice, and humility, as set out above.
Let us now have a brief look at pre-Christian Europe and examine the roots of fascism.
