Posted on 10/04/2009 2:15:22 PM PDT by NYer
Leading atheists are arguing that Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime were theist and specifically Christian.
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How persuasive are these claims? My New York Times bestseller What's So Great About Christianity has the full story and the requisite citations but here's the condensed version. Hitler was born Catholic just as Stalin was born into the Russian Orthodox Church and Mao was raised as a Buddhist. These facts prove nothing as many people reject their religious upbringing, as these three men did. From an early age, historian Allan Bullock writes, Hitler "had no time at all for Catholic teaching, regarding it as a religion fit only for slaves and detesting its ethics."
How then do we account for Hitler's claim that in carrying out his anti-Semitic program he was an instrument of divine providence? During his ascent to power, Hitler needed the support of the German people -- both the Bavarian Catholics and the Prussian Lutherans -- and to secure this he occasionally used rhetoric such as "I am doing the Lord's work." To claim that this rhetoric makes Hitler a Christian is to confuse political opportunism with personal conviction. Hitler himself says in Mein Kampf that his public statements should be understood as propaganda that bears no relation to the truth but is designed to sway the masses.
The Nazi idea of an Aryan Christ who uses the sword to cleanse the earth of the Jews -- what historians call "Aryan Christianity" -- was obviously a radical departure from the traditional Christian understanding and was condemned as such by Pope Pius XI at the time. Moreover, Hitler's anti-Semitism was not religious, it was racial. Jews were targeted not because of their religion -- indeed many German Jews were completely secular in their way of life -- but because of their racial identity. This was an ethnic and not a religious designation. Hitler's anti-Semitism was secular.
Hitler's Table Talk, a revealing collection of the Fuhrer's private opinions, assembled by a close aide during the war years, shows Hitler to be rabidly anti-religious. He called Christianity one of the great "scourges" of history, and said of the Germans, "Let's be the only people who are immunized against this disease." He promised that "through the peasantry we shall be able to destroy Christianity." In fact, he blamed the Jews for inventing Christianity. He also condemned Christianity for its opposition to evolution.
Hitler reserved special scorn for the Christian values of equality and compassion, which he identified with weakness. Hitler's leading advisers like Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich and Bormann were atheists who hated religion and sought to eradicate its influence in Germany.
 In his multi-volume history of the Third Reich, historian Richard Evans writes that "the Nazis regarded the churches as the strongest and toughest reservoirs of ideological opposition to the principles they believed in." Once Hitler and the Nazis came to power, they launched a ruthless drive to subdue and weaken the Christian churches in Germany . |
Recognizing the absurdity of equating Nazism with Christianity, Christopher Hitchens seeks to push Hitler into the religious camp by portraying his ideology as a "quasi-pagan phenomenon." Hitler may have been a polytheist who worshipped the pagan gods, Hitchens suggests, but polytheism is still theism. This argument fails to distinguish between ancient paganism and modern paganism. It's true that Hitler and the Nazis drew heavily on ancient archetypes -- mainly Nordic and Teutonic legends -- to give their vision a mystical aura. But this was secular mysticism, not religious mysticism.
The ancient Germanic peoples truly believed in the pagan gods. Hitler and the Nazis, however, relied on ancient myths in the modern form given to them by Nietzsche and Wagner. For Nietzsche and Wagner, there was no question of the ancient myths being true. Wagner no more believed in the Norse god Wotan than Nietzsche believed in Apollo. For Hitler and the Nazis, the ancient myths were valuable because they could give depth and significance to a secular racial conception of the world.
In his multi-volume history of the Third Reich, historian Richard Evans writes that "the Nazis regarded the churches as the strongest and toughest reservoirs of ideological opposition to the principles they believed in." Once Hitler and the Nazis came to power, they launched a ruthless drive to subdue and weaken the Christian churches in Germany. Evans points out that after 1937 the policies of Hitler's government became increasingly anti-religious.
The Nazis stopped celebrating Christmas, and the Hitler Youth recited a prayer thanking the Fuhrer rather than God for their blessings. Clergy regarded as "troublemakers" were ordered not to preach, hundreds of them were imprisoned, and many were simply murdered. Churches were under constant Gestapo surveillance. The Nazis closed religious schools, forced Christian organizations to disband, dismissed civil servants who were practicing Christians, confiscated church property, and censored religious newspapers. Poor Sam Harris cannot explain how an ideology that Hitler and his associates perceived as a repudiation of Christianity can be portrayed as a "culmination" of Christianity.
If Nazism represented the culmination of anything, it was that of the nineteenth-century and early-twentieth century ideology of social Darwinism. Read historian Richard Weikart's revealing study, From Darwin to Hitler. As Weikart documents, both Hitler and Himmler were admirers of Darwin and often spoke of their role as enacting a "law of nature" that guaranteed the "elimination of the unfit." Weikart argues that Hitler himself "drew upon a bountiful fund of social Darwinist thought to construct his own racist philosophy" and concludes that while Darwinism is not a "sufficient" intellectual explanation for Nazism, it is a "necessary" one. Without Darwinism, quite possibly there would not have been Nazism.
The Nazis also drew on the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, adapting his atheist philosophy to their crude purposes. Nietzsche's vision of the ubermensch and his elevation of a new ethic "beyond good and evil" were avidly embraced by Nazi propagandists. Nietzsche's "will to power" almost became a Nazi recruitment slogan. I am not for a moment suggesting that Darwin or Nietzsche would have approved of Hitler's ideas. But Hitler and his henchmen approved of Darwin's and Nietzsche's ideas. Harris simply ignores the evidence of the Nazis' sympathies for Darwin, Nietzsche, and atheism. So what sense can we make of his claim that the leading Nazis were "knowingly or unknowingly" agents of religion? Clearly, it is nonsense.
So in addition to the mountain of corpses that the God-hating regimes of Stalin, Mao, Pot Pot and others have produced, we must add the body count of the God-hating Nazi regime. The Nazis, like the Communists, deliberately targeted the churches and the believers because they wanted to create a new man and a new utopia freed from the shackles of traditional religion and traditional morality. In an earlier blog, I asked what is atheism's contribution to civilization? One answer to that question: Genocide.
No, end of discussion.
Anyone see a parallel in contemporary society.
More people trying to demonize one of the world’s oldest, and the largest religion.
Hitler was an occultist. His Nazi Church took all the Christian symbols out of it and replaced them w/Nazi images. The Cross was replaced w/a Spear and all of the Jews were taken out of the Bible and replaced w/Nazi/Aryan prophets. There was absolutely no Christianity in those churches and Christians were sent to death camps along w/the Jews.
Pray for America
Hitler, like Judas was a Catholic - a sinner and criminal but unquestionably Catholic. Of course so is Joe Biden and Michael Moore.
I know this one....it's on the tip of my tongue...now don't tell me...
Accordingly, this raises the question of why the Catholic Church never excommunicated him or does it?
No. He was not Christian.
He was as Christian as Obama is American.
No. But Ahmedinejad is a jew! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
Christians are people, who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. And I can’t find any teachings of Jesus Christ, that would justify the murder of millions of people.
No, who would even think he was?
He was kicked out of Catholic school and had nothing to do with the Church thereafter, and was known to hate Christianity because, like Niezsche, he considered Christianity and its parent, Judaism, to be “slave religions.”
Like Napoleon, he was busy trying to establish his own pagan religion, based upon supposed “Nordic” beliefs, so I can hardly see how anybody could consider him even remotely Christian.
Well, there is the "Trinity Christian Church of Our Chickens Coming Home to Roost" on Chicago's Southside.
One thing I think this article doesn’t mention, is that eventually Hitler ordered the Bible to replaced by Mein Kampf on the pulpits of churches across his “Reich”. No Christian would ever concieve of or condone such an act, and that fact alone is enough to show that Hitler was not a follower of any kind of Christian belief.
bookmark
Was Hitler a Christian? NO.
“By their fruits ye shall know them”.
In John 13:35, Jesus said: “35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
Adolph Hitler did not qualify here.
Did Hitler claim to be a Christian? Did the Nazis label themselves Christians? Maybe. But that isn’t the same as BEING a Christian.
No. If anything he was an agnostic/pagan.
What an absurd statement. Didn't he know Jesus was a Jew as were all the disciples and most of the members of the early church?
The apostle Paul (a Jewish Christian) stated in Rom:1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
A Christian is marked by how they live their life and not what someone claims to be. It’s not rocket science to understand Hilter did not live that lifestyle. IMO, he was satan’s pawn killing God’s people.
Love thy neighbor as thyself; thus, no, stupid, no.
Gee, let’s have another Time Magazine cover story and maybe see if Jesus was gay, too.
Sarcasm off.
Q: What’s the difference between Obama and Hitler?
A: Hitler was able to bring home the games!
Not true. You are not a Catholic simply by being baptized as one. Hitler, in his prime, was not a Catholic. Not even an evil one.
“You are not a Catholic simply by being baptized as one.”
Wrong. You may be a bad Catholic, even an evil one, but until either expelled by the Church or apostate by a clear act of will, you are still Catholic.
There needs to be all sorts of cultural contexts to understand not just Hitler but Europe and Christianity to understand what is going on here.
To start, Europe was never “fully Christianized.” Traveling throughout Germany there are still lots of towns with pagan Maypoles, Christmas celebrations that are rife with paganism, and just as intermingled with Christianity as is Voodoo in the Caribbean. This is not limited to Germany, but happens through both Catholic and Protestant Europe.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/mluphoup/germanpagan.jpg
Remember also that Germany had not been a united nation very long, only since 1871, and Germans wanted a historical “mythos” of the Germanic peoples. This was reflected in things like the Wagnerian operas, and centered on a terribly idealized view of Germanic history. Until World War I, Germans had generally been disdained by other Europeans as peasants and farmers, and the Germans resented it terribly.
As far as the Jews are concerned, they had been the European “whipping boy” since the year 250 AD (CE).
http://www.keepthetruthalive.com/2009/08/timeline-of-jews-expulsion.html
For modern Christians to disavow this is proper, but the truth of the matter is that out of the entire history of Christianity, only the last 60 or so years has *not* be strongly anti-Jewish, in at least some major part or parts of the Christian religion.
So from that point of view, Hitler was acting like a Christian, but the last time a Christian could act like that.
Hitler specifically ordered German General Heinrici to quit attending church. He told him Christianity was not compatible with being a German officer.
Heinrici, a devout Christian, ignored Hitler and continued attending church and suffered no consequences. Basically Hitler was anti Christian but did not make the effort to erase it from Germany. If he had won the war he probably would have eventually done so imo.
So what you are saying is that being a Catholic has nothing to do with being a Christian?
The program of the NSDAP
point 24.
We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. The Party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any one denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only succeed from within on the framework: common utility precedes individual utility.
Hitler was already excommunicated ipso facto for a whole range of crimes and could only have returned to the Catholic faith, even assuming that he would ever have wanted to, by having his excommunication lifted by the Pope himself. The lifting of the sentence was reserved to the Holy See, latae sententiae. Besides, the complaint assumes that Hitler took some notice of the Holy See and the Catholic Church. Insofar as he did, it was for purely political reasons, since he was forced to recognize the influence of the Catholic Church and the papacy. Hitler described himself as "a complete pagan" (see Hitler’s Table Talk) and regarded the Catholic Church as his greatest enemy, which he would destroy when he had the opportunity.
Your statement is not true on several levels. First, the Catholic Church has never expelled anyone. At most it has simply denied the sacraments to those who by their own actions are unable to receive them without further sin or scandal. Second, although a valid baptism (whether performed in the Church or not) always remains valid, the Catholic Church makes no claim on people who renounce their faith and take on another. People are, of course, free to leave.
Hitler and all Nazis were excommunicated in about 1930 by the German bishops. The excommunication was lifted as a necessary part of the concordat process later. I don’t know why, but there are millions of people who are ignorant of historical facts like these. I guess they don’t actually read about history.
Why not? People believe in socialist plans, UFO's, batboys...
...anything really; especially anything untrue, unreasonable, unlife, and unchristian.
It's mass insanity. In the scriptures, it's called a "powerful delusion."
*No*. Hitler was an atheist opportunist with islamic sympathies:
“Albert Speer, who was Hitler’s Minister of Armaments and War Production, wrote a contrite memoir of his World War II experiences while serving a 20-year prison sentence imposed by the Nuremberg tribunal.
Speer’s narrative includes a discussion which captures Hitler’s effusive praise for Islam, “…a religion that believed in spreading the faith by the sword and subjugating all nations to that faith. Such a creed was perfectly suited to the Germanic temperament.” Hitler, according to Speer’s account, repeatedly expressed the conviction that, “The Mohammedan religion…would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?”
These sentiments were also expressed by Hitler to Dr. Herman Neubacher, the first Nazi Mayor of Vienna, and subsequently, a special delegate of the Nazi regime in southeastern Europe. Neubacher wrote that Hitler had told him Islam was a “male religion,” and reiterated the belief that the Germans would have been far more successful conquerors had they adopted Islam in the Middle Ages.
Additional confirmation of Hitler’s very favorable inclination towards Islam is provided by General Alexander Loehr, a Lutwaffe commander (executed in 1947 for the mass-murders of Yugoslav civilians). Loehr maintained a smiling Hitler had told him that Islam was such a desirable creed the Fuehrer longed for it to become the official SS religion.”
from
http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/2008/10/22/hitler-and-jihad-part-1/
Great one. I’ll have to steal it for use on some co-workers.
?
He was an Apostle, a Bishop.
You don't see that in Hitler's actions?
Maybe. Judging the state of another’s soul is clearly above my pay grade.
I think Hitler cynically used religion when it was in his interest to do so, but at the very least he was agnostic if not outright atheist.
Guess many are but as such, the question was legitimate.
If I may add to that... It's easy to be a Catholic; it's much harder to be a good Catholic, following the laws of God.
Could he possibly have been ANYTHING good after his actions here on earth?
Some Christians refer to Jews as Christ killers. Maybe he was one of those. Martin Luther was.
By Trevor Ravenscroft
This should confuse everybody...
Exactly.
Let me put it this way, here's my case that Hitler wasn't a Catholic: He did not adhere to Catholic teaching in how he treated others and how he saw himself. He did not attend mass, nor receive any sacraments (vital to a Catholic). He openly made war on the Church. The article itself also gives plenty of background as to why he wasn't even Christian.
Your case that he was? He was probably baptized in a Catholic Church. Maybe he attended mass in his youth. Christianity, Catholicism specifically, is not simply an indelible mark. It must be maintained to be real.
I have to admit, someone saying Hitler was a Catholic rankles me. It is absolutely untrue of a man who did not live as a Catholic and had a deep hatred of the Catholic Church.
Jesus said, “You will know a tree by its’ fruit.”
Hilter’s fruit was evil.
I understand your point of view, it isn’t like I want to claim Adolf as my brother. Sadly though, I see little choice. He was baptized a Catholic, he was Confirmed, he was excommunicated and then readmitted. He may well have repented at the last moment, I have no way to know.
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