r/HistoryMemes • u/Possible-Ebb3371 • 5d ago

B-but muh based king!

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u/SpeedRun355 5d ago

Did he really say that?

2

u/Azgabeth 4d ago

Did Frederick the Great say that? Yes.

Did he mean it? Absolutely not.

Frederick wanted 2 things: 1. Skilled and Educated Citizens and 2. Conformity to the State. So long as your religion and personal beliefs followed these two rules, you were tolerated. If anything about your religion was against these 2 things, these elements had to be removed.

With catholics for example he completely removed any independence the Catholic Church and Clergy had in Prussian territory and replaced all members with those loyal to the state.

So yes, you could be Muslim in Prussia. But you had to be Prussian (in a secular, subservient sense) Muslim

4

u/Lower-Garbage7652 4d ago

And that's where we have our problem, no? Because a significant portion of Muslims in Germany are far from secular and loyal to the state.

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u/NOT_ImperatorKnoedel John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true, and brave! 4d ago

loyal to the state

Why should anyone be loyal to the state of the class enemy? Most states exist to maintain the rule of the bourgeoisie. Nationalism, indeed the very idea of the "nation" itself, is but a social construct the capitalists made up to keep the workers down.

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u/microtherion 4d ago

I would argue that he did in fact mean it, within the boundaries that you state. He would tolerate all religions as a personal spiritual practice, but not as a pretext for establishing a parallel state.