As Christ died to save humanity, so does the soldier die to save his nation.

Arlie J. Hoover, writing in The Gospel of Nationalism: "The sacrificial soldier lay at the heart of religious nationalism. The soldier, like Christ, was ready to place his earthly life on the altar of love.”

German pastors looked upon the warrior’s death as the “most beautiful of all deaths,” like the “free will offering of Christ himself."

J.W. Baird writing on the "enduring meaning of Langemark" and the First World War in To Die for Germany:

“Christ’s passion found its parallel in the deeds of those soldiers, who had sacrificed themselves for the nation.”