Embarrassed at the murderous legacy of atheist Communist regimes in the twentieth century, leading atheists seek to even the score with believers by portraying Adolf Hitler and his Nazi regime as theist and specifically Christian. Christopher Hitchens in God Is Not Great depicts Hitler as a pagan polytheist-not exactly a conventional theist but still a theist. Atheist websites routinely claim that Hitler was a Christian because he was born Catholic, he never publicly renounced his Catholicism, and he wrote in Mein Kampf, "By defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord." Atheist writer Sam Harris writes that "the Holocaust marked the culmination of...two hundred years of Christian fulminating against the Jews" and therefore "knowingly or not, the Nazis were agents of religion."
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.
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
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
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.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 39)
16. well, he sure weren't no jew. and neither is bush. bush and hitler: good christian men. and thank god for that.
stuart joshua at 6:59AM on Nov 2nd 2007
17. D'souza, you are as full of "it" as a Christmas Turkey. My mom and her family are some of those Bavarian Catholics you refer to. She was born in 1925 in Germany and came to the USA in 1950. I learned very much FIRST HAND from her and the others in my family who LIVED THROUGH NAZI GERMANY and I can tell you Hitler was NO Atheist. In fact the Atheist Communists were the FIRST to be eradicated even before the Holocaust, then the Socialists of the SPD party were outlawed and many sent to camps, my great grandfather was one of those. Hitler HATED atheists and promoted the glorification of the Church as STATE. If you know so much about the NAZI regime then you would know that the FIRST Reich was the Roman Empire, The Second REICH was the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE OF CAROLUS MAGNUS, and the THIRD REICH was modeled on the 1000 year reign of the HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE OF CAROLUS MAGNUS. As far as the anti Jewish aspects of the thrid reich being NON RELIGIOUS in nature, that is also just bunk, Remember that the Jews had been targeted for conversion or expulsion all throughout European History. Issaballa and Ferdinand of Spain expelled all of the Spanish Jews in the 15th century or required them to convert. They did the same to all of the Muslims in Spain at the time . It was completely a religious issue and had nothing to do with race as the Jews and muslims who converted could stay. these sorts of pogroms happened all through out the middle ages right up until the 20th century all for RELIGIOUS REASONS. Geeze read some history!
Heidi at 7:01AM on Nov 2nd 2007
18. Whether Hitler and his relatively few Nazis were "true Christians" will always be a matter of debate.
But what is beyond question is the fact that the dozens of millions of Germans who supported and adored him were indisputably Christian.
There is a very good reason why Hitler proclaimed the virulently anti-semitic Martin Luther "history's greatest German."
Ken C. at 7:11AM on Nov 2nd 2007
19. It seems that we must accept the fact that Hitler was not a Christian. However, we must go further. Using similar reasoning, we have to conclude that "Islamic" terrorism is, to most Muslims, a contradiction in terms. Likewise the so-called Zionist Christians are not Christian in their zeal for destroying the lives of Palestinians. Nor are they Zionists, because they assert that in the end Jews cannot remain Jews if they want to escape the wrath of God. Perhaps the fanatics of all religions should band together in one place and allow the rest of humanity to live in peace.
Peter Yff at 7:20AM on Nov 2nd 2007
20. Reply to: 18. It seems that we must accept the fact that Hitler was not a Christian.
No, Mr. D'Souza has apparently won this issue the same way he did before; by cutting off the people who actually KNOW the Correct Answer, and then LYING about it.
I've posted 5 messages. Each time, I am told that I will be sent an e-mail with a link to post. So, the moderators are liars, too.
Hitler hated Christianity - but in the sense that "Christianity" meant the Church that he had to deal with as the Fuhrer of Germany. A Church that might oppose his plans for genocide.
According to "The Goebbels Diaries" Translated and Edited by Fred Taylor:
(December 29, 1939): "The Fuhrer is deeply
religious, though completely anti-Christian. He views Christianity as a symbol of decay. Rightly so. It is a branch of the Jewish race." (p. 77).
(April 29, 1941): "Afterwards, long discussions about the Vatican and Christianity. The Fuhrer is a fierce opponent of all that humbug, but he forbids me to leave the church. For tactical reasons. And so for a decade now I have paid my church taxes to
support such rubbish. That is what hurts most." (p.
340).
In Mein Kampf, talking about Jewish citizens of Germany: "His life is only of this world, and his spirit is inwardly as alien to true Christianity as his nature two thousand years previous was to the great founder of the new doctrine."
"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."
Hitler was NOT an atheist. He believed that he had been given a mission by God, to carry on the work that Jesus began in the Temple, when he overturned the tables of the moneychangers.
Hitler recalled how a mysterious voice had told him to leave a crowded dugout during a minor barrage. Within minutes of walking out into the trenches an incoming shell flattened the bunker killing all of its occupants.
Hitler was a Christian who followed what he considered the True teachings of Jesus, but he despised "Christianity" as weak and unwilling to carry out the genocide that would make Germany great again.
On 10 November, 1918, an elderly priest from Pasewalk, Germany, walked into the nearby military hospital to deliver grave news to its wounded occupants - the war was lost and Imperial Germany was no more.
Lance-Corporal Adolf Hitler, recovering from the effects of poison gas, later wrote in his memoirs he
wrote: "I staggered and stumbled back to my ward and
buried my aching head between the blankets and
pillow."
Adolf Hitler, a veteran of the War's worst firestorms, began to cry. It was inexplicable; Germany, the nation of Aryans, the nation destined to dominate the 20th Century had lost. He desperately sought a reason for defeat. Imbued with a burning hatred of Jews, Bolsheviks and even Democrats, the solution was simple - the country had been stabbed in the back by Fifth Columnists, or in Hitler's words: "a gang of despicable and depraved criminals!"
Hilter ALWAYS believed in a God. But a God who had chosen him to be the new Messiah.... the SAME God who had sent Jesus.
Reply to: 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."
Almost right.... except you didn't READ all the assigned material, and at the end, posted the WRONG answer.
William Hays at 8:03AM on Nov 2nd 2007
21. Dinesh claims that Hitler "condemned Christianity for its opposition to evolution", but provides no cite for this and I've never, ever seen anyone else claim that. I'd be very curious, since Hitler expressly denied evolution. His racism was based on the creationist notion of 'kinds':
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/2437/nazis.htm
http://www.skepticwiki.org/index.php/Hitler_and_evolution
Ray Ingles at 8:50AM on Nov 2nd 2007
22. Notice how their definition of christianity keeps changing. Whenever they want to claim popular support they always call anyone who claims to believe in Jesus a christian. But if any 'christian' does anything wrong, they shrink the definition to whoever they claim behaves 'christian.' That usually means them.
Additionally, even though this should be obvious, believers in the occult are NOT athiests. People like Dinesh call anyone not of their particular religion athiests, or, more accurately, satanists.
Will at 8:52AM on Nov 2nd 2007
23. Hitler thought he was god. The reason he went after Jews was because they were easy to identify as people to hate. Once he had the Germans united in hate they could take all of their land, belongings, and life. Blacks are easy to identify in hate becasuse of the color of their skin. Now arabs are getting that automatic hatred. I don't think that Hitler was a Christian but as some one who could manipulate people with propoganda.Tell them what they want to hear. Make them do what you what them to do. Mixing up truth and lies is a great way to do that. Look how we got sucked into the war with Iraq.We were told truth and lies. It up to individuals to tell the difference and to pick what they want to believe or not.
MichelleP at 8:59AM on Nov 2nd 2007
24. I think it's important to focus not on what Hitler was, but what Hitler did. Evil comes from all corners of the globe, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, and so on. It's not a matter of what religion or nationality has been held by these individuals.
Tony Messinger at 9:00AM on Nov 2nd 2007
25. Whatever Hitler's religious beliefs were, he could not have done what he did without appealing to the Volk of Germany - the vast majority Christian. His success owed much more to Martin Luther's open and venomous anti-Semitism than to the warped misunderstandings of 'social Darwinism', which was never part of evolutionary theory, or science at all.
For more, see here:
http://www.edwardtbabinski.us/darwin_hitler.html
http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/2005/05/from_darwin_to.html
Ray Ingles at 9:05AM on Nov 2nd 2007
26. To Christians who take offense at Hitler being a Christian: It is not the issue for this blog.
The issue is that DD implies that atheism is the cause of all the holocausts. I personally respect everyone's right to believe as they like. The point is that were the world atheist, would morality vanish? Of course not. Atheists are as moral and ethical as any religious person. Just get to know a few of us and you'll see.
Linda at 9:11AM on Nov 2nd 2007
27. Hitler's Religeous beliefs were no different than George Bush's beliefs....."The national government will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality. Today Christians stand at the head of our country. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press-- in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past years."
[The Speeches of Adolph Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1 (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pg. 871-872]
RobertMN at 9:12AM on Nov 2nd 2007
28. I know you have a new book out and congratulations on its success but how much longer before you change the topic. Granted, I'm no history buff thouhj I do enjoy to topic but enough is enough.
A wise man once said "If there isn't a God man would have to make one up". So, there are no winners or losers in this debate. How about we start a new one?
dungal1 at 9:29AM on Nov 2nd 2007
29. #8. "Worship of false gods (which are demons) and involvement in the occult, is Satanism. Ultimately, occultists and paganists worship Satan."
That is incorrect. People have worshipped various gods and goddesses throughout history and most of those people had never heard of Satan. Involvement in the occult (which means "hidden") can include
Satanism, but most pagans (not “paganists”) are NOT Satanists. If you think they are, you really should consider taking a comparative religions class. Wiccans don’t believe in Satan, and there is nothing evil about their religion. They believe that if you do something bad, it will come back on you three times over…so where is the evil? Many pagans don’t believe in any supernatural being, but celebrate Nature and the Earth. Again, where is the evil?
I know a lot of people who practice Wicca and other pagan religions, and they are some of the most ethical people I’ve ever known.
I guess this just goes to show how Christians tend to think that anyone who doesn't hold to their religion is automatically evil.
Tatiana at 1:27PM on Nov 2nd 2007
30. This guy just can't accept that one bad thing was ever ever done by a Christian.
Christian good...Athiest bad...yeah we get it Dinesh.
In fact, he goes beyond that into the scary realm of any believer (including Muslims) better than any non-believer. I'm sorry but give me an Athiest any day over a lot of religious people.
In this "debate" he could have stopped with Hitchen's description of Hitler's religious beliefs, which seem to be right on the money. He was a deist of some kind, with some twisted Catholism and occult stuff thrown in. He obviously wanted German to be religious, he did not steer them toward athiesm.
Dinesh just can't quit plugging his book or blasting anyone who dares to not believe in a traditional sense.
I just can't believe he gets paid for it.
Davidg at 9:18AM on Nov 2nd 2007