What is with....?

Question

...Religious people saying Hitler was an atheist? I'm sorry, he was not. Nothing I have ever read suggested he was anything other than Catholic. MOST information I have ever heard/seen has suggested Hitler's hatred of Jews, partially based on them supposedly killing Jesus Christ. Yet I have heard many religious people say he was an Atheist. I'm sorry but trying to say anyone who commits any form of 'evil' is atheist is just offensive. Allthough, anyone who can give me links to one or more NON-biased sites saying Hitler is anything But a catholic person, is more than welcome to. I'm always open to new information. Don't hate, I'm honestly curious. Atheists don't want him, PLEASE, have him all for yourself. hah. Thank you

-Same Two

Cxyaa, I'm not "speaking up" for him, I simply find it unfair that an evil man like that is cast off as being Atheist. What if The Christian population claimed he was Morman? That just wouldn't fly.

P.S., of course he was a sick person, my question has nothing to do with how twisted a man he was. The core of my question lies in the validity of his religious beliefes and why he is cast as believing the same as myself, Simply because he was a sick person. So i'll thank people to keep their "he was a sick person, enough said" out of my question. Thank you.

a_blvr, I'm sorry, you must not Know how to read... You may want to have someone translate this question for you, because you completely negated everything i said. I would suggest re-writing your answer, AFTER you have read the whole question. Thank you.

Answer 1

In George Orwell's, 1984, it was stated, "Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past."

Who is going to control the present - fundamentalism or freedom? History is being distorted by many preachers and politicians. They are heard on the airwaves condemning atheists and routinely claim Adolph Hitler was one. What a crock! Hitler was a Roman Catholic, baptized into that religio-political institution as an infant in Austria. He became a communicant and an altar boy in his youth, and was confirmed as a "soldier of Christ" in that church. The worst doctrines of that church never left him. He was steeped in its liturgy, which contained the words, "perfidious Jew." This hateful statement was not removed until 1961. Perfidy means treachery.

In his day, hatred of Jews was the norm. In great measure it was sponsored by the two major religions of Germany, Catholicism and Lutheranism. He greatly admired Martin Luther, who openly hated the Jews. Luther condemned the Catholic Church for its pretensions and corruption, but he supported the centuries of papal pogroms against the Jews. Luther said, "The Jews deserve to be hanged on gallows seven times higher than ordinary thieves," and "We ought to take revenge on the Jews and kill them." "Ungodly wretches" he calls the Jews in his widely read Table Talk.

Hitler seeking power, wrote in Mein Kampf. "... I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews. I am doing the Lord's work." Years later, when in power, he quoted those same words in a Reichstag speech in 1938.

Three years later he informed General Gerhart Engel: "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so." He never left the church, and the church never left him. Great literature was banned by his church, but his miserable Mien Kampf never appeared on the Index of Forbidden Books.

He was not excommunicated or even condemned by his church. Popes, in fact, contracted with Hitler and his fascist friends Franco and Mussolini, giving them veto power over whom the pope could appoint as a bishop in Germany, Spain and Italy. The three thugs agreed to surtax the Catholics of their countries and send the money to Rome in exchange for making sure the state could control the church.

Those who would make Hitler an atheist should turn their eyes to history books before they address their pews and microphones. Acclaimed Hitler biographer, John Toland, explains his heartlessness as follows: "Still a member in good standing of the Church of Rome despite detestation of its hierarchy, he carried within him its teaching that the Jew was the killer of god. The extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since he was merely acting as the avenging hand of god..."

Hitler's Germany amalgamated state with church. Soldiers of the vermacht wore belt buckles inscribed with the following: "Gott mit uns" (God is with us). His troops were often sprinkled with holy water by the priests. It was a real Christian country whose citizens were indoctrinated by both state and church to blindly follow all authority figures, political and ecclesiastical.

Hitler, like some of today's politicians and preachers, politicized "family values." He liked corporal punishment in home and in school. Jesus prayers became mandatory in all schools under his administration. While abortion was illegal in pre-Hitler Germany he took it to new depths of enforcement, requiring all doctors to report to the government the circumstances of all miscarriages. He openly despised homosexuality and criminalized it. If past is prologue, we know what to expect if liberty becomes license.

Answer 2

Hitler was NOT an athiest, no matter what the desired spin of any Christian or other religious organization.

I'm not sure if there is a real name for Hitler's "beliefs". Hitler believed in himself, and whatever would elevate him into the most supreme power attainable.

Towards that end, Hitler played the Catholic audience with some impressive sounding speaches, even though he was APOSTATE. Hitler had willingly renounced Catholicism, the religion he had been raised in; that automatically barred him from Catholic fellowship--no excommunication needed!

Hitler also checked out some of the old German Pagan religions--anything to gain power, and dabbled in the occult. Hopefully, no occultist would want to claim this monster, even though AH studied their beliefs!

Really, who would want him?

Hitler claimed no greater authority than himself, and eventually committed suicide. If that isn't the greatest expression of "I am god of my own life", then what is?

Answer 3

Being a Catholic does not make you a Christian any more then owning a guitar makes you a guitarist. If I remember right Hitler only used the Catholic angle for political reasons. If you really wanted to troll you could bring up the fact that the Catholic Church supported the Nazi Party and that would have more validity. Hitler was very interested in a weird cult that was into Arianism which was teaching that the Germans were descendants of Angels from Genesis 6 and they were trying to genetically engineer people back into pure Germans and then into angels.

Gen 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
Gen 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they [were] fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Answer 4

I have seen programs and read literature about the fact that Hitler was also very involved/interested in the occult.
Hitler seeking power, wrote in Mein Kampf. "... I am convinced that I am acting as the agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews. I am doing the Lord's work." Years later, when in power, he quoted those same words in a Reichstag speech in 1938.
That pretty well says it all.

Answer 5

Hitler was not an atheist. We know he had a beef with the Catholic Church, but the issue was political, and had nothing to do with personal beliefs.

He made Christian school prayer mandatory for the 1930's German schoolchildren who grew up to be his SS.

Nazi soldiers wore belt buckles inscribed with "Gott mit uns" (God is with us).

“I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.” --Adolph Hitler

“The folkish-minded man, in particular, has the sacred duty, each in his own denomination, of making people stop just talking superficially of God's will, and actually fulfill God's will, and not let God's word be desecrated. For God's will gave men their form, their essence and their abilities. Anyone who destroys His work is declaring war on the Lord's creation, the divine will.”-- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf"

“Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”-- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf"

“My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter." --Adolph Hitler, in a speech delivered at Munich, April 12, 1922

‘Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!’”-- Adolf Hitler, "Mein Kampf"

"“I may not be a light of the church, a pulpiteer, but deep down I am a pious man, and believe that whoever fights bravely in defense of the natural laws framed by God and never capitulates will never be deserted by the Lawgiver, but will, in the end, receive the blessings of Providence.”-- Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered on July 5, 1944

“We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.”--Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered in Berlin, October 24, 1933.

Would an atheist talk about fighting and stamping out the "atheist" movement? For those who are calling people "idiots" and "ignorant fools" for saying that Hitler was not an atheist, I suggest they actually read some quotes from Hitler himself on the subject, and not Christian anti-atheist propoganda. I challenge THEM to come up with one single quote from Hitler himself saying that he did NOT believe in God. (Not quotes against the Church as an institution.) I can provide even more quotes than the ones shown here where he says he DOES believe in God, and that he is a Christian.

Answer 6

Hitler was raised Catholic, but did not practice religion as an adult. So, he probably falls under both categories at different points in his sad, deranged life.

Peace, Love and Blessings,
Greenwood

Answer 7

I don't know why they say it either, except that no true believer would murder like he did. I think they say that because his actions defy his claim to Christianity.

Of course we know that his motives were political and not faith-based. He claimed to be Christian, but lots of people claim that and are not in actuality.

Answer 8

There is no question that Hitler was a Nazi. Nazism was clearly his most important religious affiliation, not in the positive way the word "religion" is often defined, but in the general sense that any philosophy or belief system which is most important in a person's life is that person's "religion," regardless of whether or not it is universally labelled as a "religion." Hitler was also born into a Catholic family, but he specifically rejected Catholicism and he rejected Christianity in general. On occasion we have read people claim that "Hitler was a Catholic" or "Hitler was a Christian" in a meaningful way, implying that Christianity or Catholicism was the primary impetus for his Nazi reign. Such claims are simply vitriolic attacks occasionally voiced by ideologically-inclined anti-Christian, anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi people. Historians agree that Hitler was pointedly anti-Christian. We are not aware of any published sources from acknowledged academic historians or writers that identify Adolf Hitler as significantly Catholic or Christian in his motivations as an adult. If anybody writes to us to point out such resources, we will be happy to cite them and refer to them here. One detailed publication that describes how Hitler was anti-Christian was written by Jewish writer Julie Seltzer Mandel, as described by Matt Kaufman (http://boundless.org/2001/regulars/kaufman/a0000541.html)
Catholicism and Nazism have a more complicated relationship than some might think. Hitler both despised and admired various aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Though the Nazi movement was superficially areligious, even anti-religious, the Nazi's greatest piece of propaganda and self-aggrandizement, Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 film about the Nuremberg Party Rally, Triumph of the Will, is in many ways profoundly religious. The film both makes use of Catholic religious imagery and draws on the Catholic sacramental tradition to give dignity and legitimacy to its construction of Adolf Hitler as the "god" of the Nazi movement... Since the beginning, Catholicism and Nazism had an uncomfortable coexistence. They jarred long before Riefenstahl began filming Hitler's rally in the summer of 1934... The Concordat, along with many other more famous agreements and treaties signed by the Fuehrer, was quickly violated, and the Church was ineffective in protecting Catholics from all manner of religious and cultural harassment. Alfred Rosenberg, the closest Nazism as an ideology ever came to having a philosopher, was consistently and virulently anti-Catholic... Hitler himself was not purely or simply anti-Catholic or anti-Church, and certainly not so before his rise to power. He was a baptized Catholic, as was his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, and a number of other prominent members of his administration. Interestingly, though both men rejected their Catholic faith and recognized that they had excommunicated themselves, neither ever formally left the Church and dutifully continued to pay church taxes until their respective deaths. Hitler's own mother, to whom he was very close, was a devoted Catholic, and Hitler received Catholic schooling during his childhood in Austria... In his extensive, often contradictory writings and "table-talk," Hitler reveals an ambivalent attitude toward the Catholic Church. As an institution on German soil, he is very much opposed to it, and he ridicules the teachings of Church fathers and the practice of the Catholic faith... he detested the doctrines, of the Roman Church... Institutionalized religion, in Hitler's view, was a waning phenomenon...
There is also some dispute about the extent to which Hitler was influenced by paganism or German Neo-Paganism. Clearly Hitler spoke fondly of paganism and many sources are available that identify Germanic pagan influences on Hitler. But I have seen no credible evidence that Hitler was an adherent of Neo-Paganism in the contemporary post-1960 sense of the word, nor have I read anything to indicate that Hitler ever explicitly identified himself as a "Neo-Pagan."

Answer 9

Hitler was a terrible man who did terrible things. enough said

Answer 10

I am pretty sure Hitler was a Christian, but not Catholic.