It is a testament to GWC and and us geeks that we can take a scifi show and turn it into a good natured debate about the rise and fall of the third reich. 
Just to clarify, I am not blaming the catholic church as a whole for the holocaust, or even Hilter’s rise to power, only stating that they at least played a part in that rise to power.
I recognize that the majority of the “catholic masses”, and even some of his upper echelon supporters, would have been horrified (and were horrified) to know what Hitler was doing behind the scenes.
I seriously doubt that the writers of BSG are drawing any similarities between the rise of WWII era leaders, but in general the concept of evil masquerading as good, and being accepted as such is popular in fiction, and especially in Science Fiction as that genre tends to be a little more liberal in the “anti-god or no god” sentiment.
Ultimately, you final statement is both and correct and profound. We, as a society, are never that far away from complete chaos and anarchy. Granted, we are not likely to fly through space as a “rag tag” fleet of ships, but if the voice of the people is ignored, then we have much to fear, and I think it will be interesting to see how much of that possibility is explored throughout season 4 of BSG.
I imagine/hope that the Baltar story arc, the Tyrol story arc, and the Roslyn/Adama as dictators story arc will all converge to create a situation where the fleet becomes a little more chaotic then it is now…
