The Meaning of the PEACE Symbol

Richard’s Orignal Post:

This “broken cross” bit was started by the fundamentalist Christian movement back when the peace sign first appeared. They claimed that, as part of some Satanic initiation, a person had to turn a coss upside down in their hands and snap th…e cross arms off downward — thus making a “peace sign”-like shape.

As most of the fundamentalists are also anti-Catholic, they claimed that priest’s vestments had the same Satanic upside down cross on them (forgetting that St. Peter was crucified upside down out of reverence for the Christ and that Roman Catholicism claims St. Peter as its first Bishop and exemplar).

Essentially, the fundamentalists equated hippies and Catholics with Satanism, linking the two through a misinterpretation of the real origin of the Peace Sign — which, as Selicia shows, had nothing to do with religion or crosses or Satanism.

My Response #1 :

Richard Van Ingram is probably a really nice guy, but as far as the peace symbol goes, he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. He is probably a philosophy major or something equally useless. [Ok, I admit it. I peeked. He IS… a philosophy major] 😉

Selecia’s excerpt from the link conveniently left out the very next paragraph:
“Another View
The peace sign (minus the circle around it) has a 1300 year history as an anti-Christian symbol. It was also used by the Nazis in WWII.”

A better and more complete history of the broken cross is
http://www.teachpeace.com/peacesymbolhistory.htm

I encourage you to read the entire link, but here is a synopsis. Parts in quotation marks are of course, direct quotations from the link.

This link reports that Gerald Herbert Holtom “created” the modern version of this symbol as a symbol of despair… it was a symbol of a man standing with hands stretched out at his sides, at an angle toward the ground. Holtom later regretted the symbol and wished he had picked a symbol of a person standing joyfully with their hands stretched upwards.

Bertrand Russell picked on and promoted the symbol and was the person who later perpetrated the fiction that Holtom had created the Peace symbol from superimposed symbols for N and D of the naval semaphore code. “Bertrand Russell was a historian and member of the Fabian Society. A 1970 article in the American Opinion magazine claimed Russell knew the historical occult meaning and intentionally selected an “anti-Christian design long associated with Satanism”

“While it appears reasonable that the modern day peace symbol comes from Gerald Holtom, this logic fails to address the fact that the symbol has been used for evil both in modern times and for thousands of years.”
“This same symbol was used by Hitler’s 3rd Panzer Division from 1941 to 1945.”
“The symbol can also be found on some of Hitler’s SS soldiers’ tombstones.”
“Another flaw in the Holtom creation story is the use of the symbol as an anti-Christian symbol by the Saracens as early as 711 A.D.8 For the Saracens, the image placed on their shields symbolized the breaking of the Christian cross.”

“The symbol has also been used to communicate support for communism. Bertrand Russell once said: “There is no hope in anything but the Soviet way.” Governments–both those who supported communism and those opposed to it–have perceived benefits in aligning the peace symbol with communist ideology. For people like Bertrand Russell, the author of the 1927 essay Why I Am Not Christian, the symbol represented not only a pro-communism meaning but peace without God.”

And finally: “the founder of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey… used the symbol as the backdrop for his altar”

The “Peace” sign is as revolting as the Swastika if you look with an open mind at the past 2,000 years of history.

I consider you a pal Marie, but I have to come down on your estranged husband’s side on this one. The symbol has consistently been used as an anti-Christian symbol.

I know that it is tempting, when you emotions are negative, to want to automatically disagree with someone you dislike. But you should do this for your daughter, and not let the fact that you don’t want to agree with your estranged effect your decision.

Richard’s Response Back:

“I apologize for dragging out the lunatic with my post. Reasonable people are able to do their own research — in real history books, not only the internet or revisionist fringe group nonsense. As an example of the multiple errors in Mr. Grizzle’s dissertation, though, I point out that Anton LaVey’s altar always had a pentagram behind it. It’s easy to look up photos. LaVey openly taught that he did not believe in “peace,” but strength and vengeance. And Bertrand Russell lived to be nearly 100 — he openly said and then changed his mind about more things than most people do in his lifetime. As for Nazis with “peace symbols,” “broken crosses,” etc. all of that is anachronistic. Most Nazi symbols are pre-Christian runes. I have studied Nazi Germany and the SS for decades, literally, and have never seen a photo of anything like a peace symbol associated with that abomination. I may not know my ass from anything — but there are historians who do. Ask and trust them. As for Mr. Grizzle: If you wish to argue with me, either friend me on Facebook or write me an e-mail. Don’t fill up Ms. Roughead’s Facebook page with a response.”

See Final Post HERE.