What Was Hitler's Religion?

[Sunstone]

What was Hitler's religion? I'm very confused about this. I've heard so many different ideas about what his religion was. Can you help me with this?

 

[Mike182]

i suspect he was an atheist, but i have no proof of that...

what other theories are there about his religious persuasion? any evidence for them?

 

[kai]

hitler was a catholic but there is thought that National socialism became a "religion of sorts"

 

[Fluffy]

I feel that Hitler was a Protestant Christian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_religious_beliefs#Hitler_and_Protestantism

Evidence for this view includes his desire to establish a state Church, claims of Christianity by the man and his religious background.

However, he also said he was a Catholic... but then again so did Thomas Cromwell .

I would suggest that much of the confusion is due to his essential rejection by many Christian churches in Germany to conform with Nazism. This lead to a faith in Jesus but a sense of corruption (from his point of view) in current day Christianity. This is not really surprising since he was an extremist and extremists tend to reject their mainstream religion. For example, look at almost all modern day Islamic terrorists who denounce the vast majority of moderate Muslims.

 

[BUDDY]

A person's religion can be defined more by their actions than by what they say they believe. With this in mond I would say hat Hitler's religion was racism and human suffering.

 

[kai]

A person's religion can be defined more by their actions than by what they say they believe. With this in mond I would say hat Hitler's religion was racism and human suffering.

thats a very good point.

 

[Mike182]

A person's religion can be defined more by their actions than by what they say they believe. With this in mond I would say hat Hitler's religion was racism and human suffering.

agreed.

 

[kateyes]

“I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.”
[FONT=Bookman Old Style, Arial]( Adolf Hitler, from John Toland [Pulitzer Prize winner], Adolf Hitler, New York: Anchor Publishing, 1992, p. 507. )[/FONT]


“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.”
[FONT=Bookman Old Style, Arial]( Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, 1999, p. 65. )[/FONT]


“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.”
[FONT=Bookman Old Style, Arial]( Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered on July 5, 1944; from Charles Bracelen Flood, Hitler: The Path to Power, Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989, p. 208. )[/FONT]



These and many more quotes can be found at

http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/quotes_hitler.html


While you can certainly condemn his acts as non-Christian--there is not much doubt that Hitler considered himself a Christian and viewed his persecution of the Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, etc as a Christian act.

 

[Bishka]

Hitler's religion was hate.

 

[Comet]

There is a great book that talks about what Hitler grew up as, his changing views, and the Nazi involvement in the occult. I have it at home, but am at work right now. I can see it, but I can't remember the title. I'll post the name when I remember what it is or dig it out.

**Unholy Alliance is one book. There is another one, but I can't think of that name right now either***

 

[kreeden]

An interesting side note is that at the time of the rise of Fascism , the Church supportted it . They both viewed Communisn and Democracy as emenies . The Church viewed them as anti-christian because communism had a policy agaisnt all forms of religion and democary eroded christian values by allowing too much freedom . { or so they thought }.

So , considering the times , couldn't Hitler have been a Christian ? Pergaps not by today's views { or our person views } , but by the views of the time ?

 

[Quiddity]

Jewish writer says the following about the Nazi movement,

"A lot of people will say, 'I didn't realize that they were trying to convert Christians to a Nazi philosophy.' . . . They wanted to eliminate the Jews altogether, but they were also looking to eliminate Christianity."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/605604/posts

Also,
Only later, when Hitler assumed dictatorial powers, did his true policy toward both Catholics and Protestants become apparent. By 1937, Pope Pius XI denounced the Nazis for waging “a war of extermination” against the church, and dissidents like the Lutheran clergyman Martin Niemoller openly denounced state control of Protestant churches.

http://boundless.org/2001/regulars/kaufman/a0000541.html

End point. He was a pagan who was born into a Catholic family.

 

[James the Persian]

Jewish writer says the following about the Nazi movement,

"A lot of people will say, 'I didn't realize that they were trying to convert Christians to a Nazi philosophy.' . . . They wanted to eliminate the Jews altogether, but they were also looking to eliminate Christianity."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/605604/posts

Also,
Only later, when Hitler assumed dictatorial powers, did his true policy toward both Catholics and Protestants become apparent. By 1937, Pope Pius XI denounced the Nazis for waging “a war of extermination” against the church, and dissidents like the Lutheran clergyman Martin Niemoller openly denounced state control of Protestant churches.

http://boundless.org/2001/regulars/kaufman/a0000541.html

End point. He was a pagan who was born into a Catholic family.

I agree completely. I actually had a great uncle who was a 'lost German' (read blonde haired, blue eyed Czech) and was forced into first the Hitler youth and later (toward the end of the war) the Waffen SS and sent to fight on the Eastern Front. The pagan religious ritual that was foisted on the SS by the NSDAP is certainly not an argument in favour of Hitler's Christianity. He may have started out as a Roman Catholic but he did not remain so any more than I have remained a Lutheran.

James

 

[almifkhar]

some say that hitlar believed himself to be the antichrist. i am not sure if this is true or not, but if it was, i would have to say he certanly was not christian.

my clue would be that he was not christian nor was he athiest because of the swastica (not sure if this is spelled right or not?) on the nazi flag. i'm not sure so don't quote me, but i am thinking that occult ideas would have been baned in europe durring his day. and this symbol is indeed occult, and he and those with him who decided to put it on the flag would have had to be into this kind of knowledge.

 

[James the Persian]

some say that hitlar believed himself to be the antichrist. i am not sure if this is true or not, but if it was, i would have to say he certanly was not christian.

my clue would be that he was not christian nor was he athiest because of the swastica (not sure if this is spelled right or not?) on the nazi flag. i'm not sure so don't quote me, but i am thinking that occult ideas would have been baned in europe durring his day. and this symbol is indeed occult, and he and those with him who decided to put it on the flag would have had to be into this kind of knowledge.

Oh, there's no doubt that Hitler was heavily into the occult (I don't believe that occult symbols were banned in Europe during his days, though). You only have to look at his ideas about the origins of the Aryans and the attempt to revive old Teutonic religious rituals for use by the SS to see that. If Hitler was a Christian then I'm a Hindu.

James

 

[!Fluffy!]

Oh uh BTW sorry to have gone in that direction if it is off topic I am sorry but to answer the OPs question I always heard he was raised a Catholic.

 

[James the Persian]

(Unlike Rushtie, when a fatawa was issued against her she just got mad and wrote another book).

Salman Rushdie is a man. And, not only is your post off topic, it is also inflammatory and insulting to Muslims.

James

 

[kreeden]

Oh, there's no doubt that Hitler was heavily into the occult (I don't believe that occult symbols were banned in Europe during his days, though). You only have to look at his ideas about the origins of the Aryans and the attempt to revive old Teutonic religious rituals for use by the SS to see that. If Hitler was a Christian then I'm a Hindu.

James

But isn't it true the many " Christians " have been heavily into the occult ?

Now I'm not saying that Hilter was a " good " Christian . In fact , I believe that he would have placed power over anything else . But again , there have been other " Christians " that the same could be said about .

First and formost , he was human .

 

[robtex]

footnotes for thread
http://www.hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/

http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_AHitler.htm

http://www.ffrf.org/fttoday/back/hitler.html

http://www.adherents.com/people/ph/Adolf_Hitler.html

http://www.the-tribulation-network....seasons/hitler_and_the_christian_religion.htm

http://www.nobeliefs.com/nazis.htm

http://www.sullivan-county.com/nf0/hitler/hitler1.htm

 

[!Fluffy!]

Salman Rushdie is a man.

You misread the sentence. The 'she' in that sentence obviously referred to Oriana Fallaci, not Rushdie.

And, not only is your post off topic, it is also inflammatory and insulting to Muslims.

James

If the post is untrue, please prove it. Have you read Mein Kampf? Have you read the Q'uran? Did you even read the post? None of it was pulled from thin air. As a Muslim apologist perhaps you can explain how Muslim beliefs as stated within Muslim texts would constitute an insult.

The suppression of truth out of fear, is but the first step towards the denial of individual freedom.

Oh, and you can always move your rebuttal to a new thread rather than hijacking this one.