Hitler and Catholicism

[robwar]

There is a pretty good analysis of Hitler’s religious views

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/religious_views_of_adolf_Hitler

He basically rejected Christianity and believed in an occultic mixture of heresies and lies. He also wanted to destroy Christianity. While on paper he may have been Catholic, he obviously rejected his faith for lies and wanted to ride Christianity of it’s Jewish roots. It also documents and number of Catholic Bishops and priests he imprisoned and killed.

 

[Just_Lurking]

I think your mistaken, plenty of priest and nuns were put into camps for practicing their faith.

I think you misunderstood my point. People of the Jewish race were put into the camps solely because they were of the Jewish race, even if they did not practice their faith at all. Even if they had abandoned their faith. Even if they had converted to Catholicism.

There was no general “roundup” of all Catholic priests or nuns. However, Catholics, whether priests or nuns or other, were certainly put into camps because of other reasons, including because of actions that you may want to label as “practicing their faith”.

 

[NeedImprovement]

Some sources say that Hitler was a little sketchy on his own biography in Mein Kampf . . . Have done a little reading ( wasn’t really one to ever read up on Hitler before this thread was started ) and despite being led through a literal labyrinth trying to trace Hitler’s lineage beginning with his (alleged) grandfather , his father’s illegitimacy, his father being married 3 times , there isn’t anything to go on which would ground any serious doubt as to whether Hitler had been baptized.

. . . links to a couple of articles I read

nytimes.com/books/first/k/kershaw-hitler.html

ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007430

After all that ,the most coherent concise answer I found - as it pertains to this thread’s topic, came from CAF’s own apologist Michelle Arnold who answered this question :

Adolf Hitler claimed to be a Christian, but would it be wrong to say he most certainly was not a Christian?

So far as we know, Adolf Hitler was validly baptized in the Catholic Church. That means he was a Catholic. Baptism is, literally, a new birth that makes the person a Christian in his very being, no matter how well or how poorly he lives out his faith. Just as physical conception means that a person will always be a human person with inherent human dignity, no matter how detestable the crimes he may choose to commit, so a baptized person, no matter how evil he becomes, remains a Christian. In Hitler’s case though, and in the cases of those Christians who also entirely abandon the faith into which they were baptized, it can be said that they no longer believe in Christianity and that their theological beliefs cannot be considered Christian. If they completely abandon their Christian faith, then they are apostates (cf. CCC 2089), though objectively they remain among the baptized.

Answered by Michelle Arnold

 

[_Abyssinia]

Was Hitler a Christian?

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. 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 since “the Holocaust marked the culmination of…two hundred years of Christian fulminating against the Jews,” therefore “knowingly or not, the Nazis were agents of religion.”

How persuasive are these claims? 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. 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. As historian Richard 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, there might 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.

…

 

[_Abyssinia]

Were Any Catholic Nazis Excommunicated?

americancatholic.org/samo/ask-a-franciscan.aspx?IssueID=29#63

In February 1931, the German bishops excommunicated all active Nazi party members. This included Hitler. This penalty was not imposed on those who merely voted Nazi. It was hoped to persuade them by argument. The same policy was in operation against the Communists

churchinhistory.org/pages/leaf-sum/catholicsvnazis.htm

An interreligious group trying to discover the facts regarding Pope Pius XII and his efforts to help Jews during World War II has announced the discovery of documents showing how the Church excommunicated Catholics who joined the Nazis.

The New-York based Pave the Way Foundation said that its representative Michael Hesemann found a large series of documents from 1930 to 1933.

The documents indicate that any Catholic who joined the Nazi party, wore the uniform or flew the swastika flag would no longer be able to receive the sacraments.

This policy set three years before Hitler was elected chancellor made clear that the teachings of the Church were incompatible with Nazi ideology.

“The documents clearly show an ideological war between the Catholic Church and National Socialism already in the pre-war decade," Hesemann explained. “The German bishops and the Roman Curia considered the Nazi doctrine not only as incompatible with the Christian faith, but also as hostile to the Church and dangerous to human morals, even more than Communism.”

zenit.org/article-28937?l=english

Documents from 1930 say of the excommunication of Catholics joining the Nazi party and article in L’Osservatore Romano with English translation:

ptwf.org/Downloads/Excommunication1930.pdf

Orsenigo documents dealing with the condition of excommunication of anyone joining the “Hitler Party”

 

[BroomWagon]

Were Any Catholic Nazis Excommunicated?

americancatholic.org/samo/ask-a-franciscan.aspx?IssueID=29#63

churchinhistory.org/pages/leaf-sum/catholicsvnazis.htm

zenit.org/article-28937?l=english

Documents from 1930 say of the excommunication of Catholics joining the Nazi party and article in L’Osservatore Romano with English translation:

ptwf.org/Downloads/Excommunication1930.pdf

Orsenigo documents dealing with the condition of excommunication of anyone joining the “Hitler Party”

Very informative. Those who don’t want to know differently are just like Ostriches.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Hitler was a Catholic under canon law, as baptism can’t be revoked. He excommunicated himself for numerous of his own actions, latae sententiae.

He hated Christianity, hated Catholicism and saw it as one of his most formidable adversaries, hated the Pope and his bishops, had a warped and unhistorical view of Jesus, and reviled every one of the sacraments. Although many of his henchmen fancied a romantic vision of a neo-pagan Europe, Hitler by his own statements thought that was all nonsense (even if possibly useful nonsense), and his own philosophy was an unfocused form of pantheism mixed with a misunderstanding of Nietzsche.

Hitler’s own statements to his lackeys, faithfully recorded by Bormann’s stenographer, are the best evidence we have as to his true beliefs about the Church. We even know the date, and often the time of day, he said them. I’ll break them down by subject for apologetic use by those who try to defame a Church that stood against the Nazis.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S VIEWS OF JESUS & EARLY CHRISTIANITY

Jesus was most certainly not a Jew. The Jews would never have handed one of their own people to the Roman courts; they would have condemned him themselves. It is quite probable that a large number of the descendants of the Roman legionaries, mostly Gauls, were living in Galilee, and Jesus was probably one of them. His mother may well have been a Jewess. Jesus fought against the materialism of His age, and, therefore, against the Jews. Paul of Tarsus, who was originally one of the most stubborn enemies of the Christians…realized that the judicious exploitation of this idea among non-Jews would give him far greater power in the world…it was then that the future St. Paul distorted with diabolical cunning the Christian idea. Out of this idea, which was a declaration of war on the golden calf, on the egotism and the materialism of the Jews, he created a rallying point for slaves of all kinds against the elite, the masters and those in dominant authority. The religion fabricated by Paul of Tarsus, which was later called Christianity, is nothing but the Communism of today…Burgdorff has just given me a paper which deals with the relationship between Communism and Christianity. It is comforting to see how, even in these days, the fatal relationship between the two is daily becoming clearer to the human intelligence. (#328, Night of 29-30 November 1944)

Originally, Christianity was merely an incarnation of Bolshevism the destroyer. Nevertheless the Galilean, who was later called the Christ, intended something quite different. He must be regarded as a popular leader who took up His position against Jewry. Galilee was a colony where the Romans had probably installed Gallic legionaries, and it’s certain that Jesus was not a Jew. The Jews, by the way, regarded Him as the son of a whore - of a whore and a Roman soldier. (21 October 1941, midday)

The decisive falsification of Jesus’s doctrine was the work of St. Paul. He gave himself to this work with subtlety and for purposes of personal exploitation. For the Galilean’s object was to liberate His country from Jewish oppression. He set himself against Jewish capitalism, and that’s why the Jews liquidated him. (21 October 1941, midday)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S DISTASTE FOR PAGANISM AND A NEW NAZI “RELIGION”

The horoscope, in which the Anglo-Saxons in particular have great faith, is another swindle whose significance must not be underestimated. (#263 - 19 July 1942, midday)

But there will never be any possibility of National Socialism’s setting out to ape religion by establishing a form of worship. Its one ambition must be scientifically to construct a doctrine that is nothing more than a homage to reason. (23 September 1941, evening)

It seems to me that nothing would be more foolish than to reestablish the worship of Wotan. Our old mythology had ceased to be viable when Christianity implanted itself. Nothing dies unless it is moribund. At that period the ancient world was divided between the systems of philosophy and the worship of idols. It’s not desirable that the whole of humanity should be stultified - and the only way of getting rid of Christianity is to allow it to die little by little. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

A movement like ours mustn’t let itself be drawn into metaphysical digressions. It must stick to the spirit of exact science. It’s not the Party’s function to be a counterfeit for religion. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

I especially wouldn’t want our movement to acquire a religious character and institute a form of worship. It would be appalling to me, and I’d wish I’d never lived, if I were to end up in the skin of a Buddha! (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S HATRED OF CHRISTIANITY

One cannot succeed in conceiving how much cruelty, ignominy and falsehood the intrusion of Christianity has spelt for this world of ours. (#137, Night of 3 - 4 February, 1942)

I shall never come personally to terms with the Christian lie. (#163, 27 February 1942, midday)

I adopted a definite attitude on the 21st March 1933 when I refused to to take part in the religious services, organized at Potsdam by the two Churches, for the inauguration of the new Reichstag. I’ve never concerned myself, in the Party, with learning which Church the men around me belonged, or did not belong. But if I were die today, it would shock me to know that there’s a single “sky pilot” within a radius of ten kilometers around me. The idea that one of these fellows could bring me the slightest help would by itself make me despair of Providence. (#163, 27 February 1942, midday)

Our epoch will see the end of the disease of Christianity. (#163, 27 February 1942, midday)

Here Christianity sets the example. What could be more fanatical, more exclusive and more intolerant than this religion which bases everything on the love of the one and only God whom it reveals. (#180, 4 April 1942, midday)

With what clairvoyance the authors of the eighteenth, and especially those of the past, century criticized Christianity and passed judgement on the evolution of the Churches! (#52, 25 October 1941, evening)

It’s said that every man needs a refuge where he can find consolation and help in unhappiness. I don’t believe it! If humanity follows that path, it’s solely a matter of tradition and habit. That’s a lesson, by the way, that can be drawn from the Bolshevik front. The Russians have no God, and that doesn’t prevent them from being able to face death. We don’t want to educate anyone in atheism. (#3, Night of 11 - 12 July 1941)

The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. (#4, Night of 11 - 12 July 1941)

Christianity was the first creed in the world to exterminate its adversaries in the name of love. Its keynote is intolerance. (#4, Night of 11 - 12 July 1941)

Christianity is a rebellion against natural law, a protest against nature. Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of the human failure. (10 October 1941, midday)

The reason why the ancient world was so pure, light and serene was that it knew nothing of the two great scourges: the pox and Christianity. (19 October 1941, night)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

CATHOLIC CHURCH’S POLITICAL OPPOSITION TO HITLER

There’s also the third power - the Vatican. Don’t forget that! Why be surprised if our confidential letters are broadcast to the world a few days after being received? (#132, 3 January 1942, evening)

The established religions, and particularly the Catholic Church, are adepts at presenting an innocent mien and in flattering the man in power. I myself experienced this when, shortly after assuming power, I received a visit from the Bishop Bertram. He brought me the good wishes and the homage of the Catholic clergy with such unction that, had I not known differently from bitter personal experience, I would not have believed it possible that a single National Socialist could have been excluded from the Church on account of his convictions, or could have been persecuted, and even execrated after death.
(#236, 7 June 1942, at dinner)

In Venice, in 1934, the Duce once said to me: “One of these days the Pope will have to leave Italy; there is not room for two Masters!” (#275, 1 August 1942 - evening)

The foulest of the carrion are those who come clothed in the cloak of humility, and the foulest of the foul is Count Preysing! What a beast! The Popish inquisitor is a humane being in comparison. Vileness and hypocrisy walk arm in arm; both must be extirpated. The uselessness of these parsons is nowhere better illustrated than here at the front. Here we have enemies who are dying by the million - and without a single one of these liars. The Catholic Church has but one desire, and that is to see us destroyed! (#287 - 11 August 1942 - Evening)

For historical background, Johann Konrad Maria Augustin Felix Graf von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (August 30, 1880—December 21, 1950) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Berlin from 1935 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1946 by Pope Pius XII. A stern opponent of the Nazi regime, he said “We have fallen into the hands of criminals and fools” when the party came to power…

In 1940, Bishop Preysing ordered that prayers be offered in all of his diocese’s churches for thirty Lutheran Confessional clerics who were arrested in Prussia.

A January 1941 letter from Bishop von Preysing to Pope Pius XII indicated that he was aware of the dire situation of European Jews and that he had been seeking help from the Holy See on the question.

In a sermon in March 1941 Preysing supported and lauded Pius XII’s opposition to the killing of the sick or otherwise infirm on either economic or eugenical grounds as part of the Nazi euthanasia program.

Bishop von Preysing also denounced the Communist National Front, which subsequently called him a “gladiator for American imperialism”.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

THE CONCORDAT AND DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH THE VATICAN

Should we decide to recall our present representative from the Vatican, I can see no adequate reason for sending any fresh incumbents to this Embassy. The relations between Germany and the Vatican are based on the Concordat. But this same Concordat is no more than the survival of agreements reached between the Vatican and the different German States, and with the disappearance of the latter and their incorporation in the German Reich, it has become obsolete. It is true that it has as its basis these various agreements, but it is a confirmation of past agreements rather than a current agreement in force. (#248, 4 July 1942, at dinner)

…I have shown myself unresponsive to the attempts of the Vatican towards extension of the provisions of the Concordat to embrace the newly acquired territories of the Reich. The Saar, Sudetenland, Bohemia and Moravia, the Reichsgau Danzig-East Prussia, the Warthegau, a large part of Silesia and Alsace-Lorraine have, in fact, no relations with the Roman Catholic Church which are supported by international agreement. In those territories, therefore, Church affairs must be settled locally. If the Papal Nuncio seeks audience of the Foreign Office and tries through this channel to gain some say in religious developments in the new territories, his advances must be rejected. (#248, 4 July 1942, at dinner)

Once the war is over we will put a swift end to the Concordat. It will give me the greatest personal pleasure to point out to the Church all those occasions on which it has broken the terms of it. One need only recall the close cooperation between the Church and the murderers of Heydrich. Catholic priests not only allowed them to hide in a church on the outskirts of Prague, but even allowed them to hide in a church on the outskirts of Prague, but even allowed them to entrench themselves in the sanctuary of the altar. (#248, 4 July 1942, at dinner)

Not only the history of the past, but also present times afford numberless examples of the very hard-boiled diplomats to be found in the service of the Catholic Church, and how extremely cautious one must be in dealing with them. (#248, 4 July 1942, at dinner)

The fact that I remain silent in public over Church affairs is not in the least misunderstood by the sly foxes of the Catholic Church, and I am quite sure that a man like the Bishop von Galen knows full well that after the war I shall extract retribution to the last farthing. And, if he does not succeed in getting himself transferred in the meanwhile to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, he may rest assured that in the balancing of our accounts, no “T” will remain uncrossed, no “I” undotted! The attitude of the Bishop von Galen affords just one more argument in favor of terminating the Concordat after the war, substituting for it regional regulation and the immediately withholding from the Church the financial support at present guaranteed to it by that treaty. (#248, 4 July 1942, at dinner)

I have numerous accounts to settle, about which I cannot think today. But that doesn’t mean I forget them. I write them down. The time will come to bring out the big book! …One acts more shrewdly when one bides one’s time…When I read of the speeches of a man like Galen, I tell myself that there’s no point in administering p(name removed by moderator)ricks, and that for the moment it’s preferable to be silent. (#52, 25 October 1941, evening)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S DISPARAGEMENT OF CATHOLIC DOCTRINE AND SACRAMENTS

When one examines the Catholic religion closely, one cannot fail to realize that it is an almost incredibly cunning mixture of hypocrisy and business acumen, which trades with consummate skill on the deeply engrained affection of mankind for the beliefs and superstitions he holds. (#187, 9 April 1942, at dinner)

BAPTISM: As for the fruits of sin, the soul that fears limbo is a candidate for baptism, that is to say, another customer, and so business goes on! (#52, 25 October 1941, evening)

PRAYER: One day [Father Schwarz, Hitler’s catechism teacher] - I’ve forgotten in reference to what - he asked me if I said my prayers in the morning, at midday, and at night. “No, sir, I don’t say prayers. Besides, I don’t see how God could be interested in the prayers of a secondary schoolboy.” (#100, Night of January 8 - 9, 1942)

CHURCH ATTENDANCE: While we’re on the subject, let’s add that, even amongst those who claim to be good Catholics, very few really believe this humbug. Only old women, who have given up everything because life has already withdrawn from them, go regularly to church. (#163, 27 February 1942, midday)

CONFESSION: And those repulsive priests, when they question a child of seven in the confessional, it’s they themselves who incite to sin, by opening its eyes to sin. (#152, Night of 19-20 February, 1942)

I admit confession has its uses; the woman has the satisfaction of absolution and permission to carry on with her little games, and the parson has the pleasure of hearing all about it! (#312, 4 September 1942, midday)

Before Easter we had lessons to prepare us for confession. It was a tremendous rag. As we had to give examples of sins to confess, we chose them in such a way as to tease Father Schwarz.

COMMUNION: Since my fourteenth year I have felt liberated from the superstition that the priests used to teach. Apart from a few Holy Joes, I can say that none of my comrades went on believing in the miracle of the eucharist. (#153, Night of 20 - 21 February 1942)

MARRIAGE: Social prejudices are in the process of disappearing. More and more, nature is reclaiming her rights. We’re moving in the proper direction. I’ve much more respect for a the woman who has an illegitimate child than for an old maid…Marriage, as it is practiced in bourgeoise society, is generally a thing against nature. (#169, 1 March 1943, Evening)

Every marriage concluded as the result of a divorce is regarded by the Church as living in sin. The result is that, in Austria for example, nobody cares about the commandments of the Church. From this point of view, Austria was in advance of Germany. (#52, 25 October 1941, evening)

All the girls whom we bring back from the Eastern territories are medically examined; and 25 percent of them are found to be virgins. That couldn’t happen in Upper Bavaria! Contrary to popular belief, it is wrong to suppose that virginity is a particularly desirable quality; one cannot help suspecting that those who have been spared have nothing particular to offer! And what is popularly said on the subject of Christian virgins I hesitate to repeat. When in the marriage ceremony the priest mentions virginity and the holy bond of matrimony, one always sees some of the lads grin and nudge each other; quite a number of them probably know this “Christian virgin” inside out! (#295, 2 August 1942, midday)

HOLY ORDERS: Originally, religion was merely a prop for human communities. It was a means, not an end in itself. It’s only gradually that it became transformed in this direction, with the object of maintaining the rule of the priests, who can live only to the detriment of society collectively. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

The Church of today is nothing more than a hereditary joint stock company for the exploitation of human stupidity. (#275, 1 August 1942 - evening)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

CONTRACEPTION AND ABORTION:

I recently read an article from the pen of some Herr Doktor advocating the prohibition of the sale in the occupied territories of contraceptives, If any criminal lunatic should really try to introduce this measure I’d soon have his head off! In view of the extraordinary fertility of the local [Ukrainian] inhabitants, we should be only too pleased to encourage the women and the girls to practice the arts of contraception at all times. Far from prohibiting the sale of contraceptives, therefore, we should do our utmost to encourage it. (#267, 22 July 1942, after dinner)

HITLER’S CATHOLIC EDUCATION:

In Austria, religious education was given by priests. I was the eternal asker of questions. Since I was completely master of the material, I was unassailable. I always had the best marks. On the other hand, I was less impeccable under the heading of Behavior. (#100, Night of January 8 - 9, 1942)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S VIEW OF SCIENTISM, NATURAL LAWS AND “GOD”:

I think the man who contemplates the universe with his eyes wide open is the man with the greatest amount of natural piety: not in the religious sense, but in the sense of an intimate harmony with things…In any case, we shall learn to become familiar with the laws by which life is governed, and acquaintance with the laws of nature will guide us on the path of progress, As for the why of this laws, we shall never know anything about it. A thing is so, and our understanding cannot conceive of other schemes. Man has discovered in nature the wonderful notion of that almighty being whose law he worships. Fundamentally in everyone there is the feeling for this almighty, which we call God (that is to say, the dominion of natural laws throughout the whole universe). The priests, who have always succeeded in exploiting this feeling, threaten punishments for the man who refuses to accept the creed they impose. (#3, Night of 11 - 12 July 1941)

The man who lives in communion with nature necessarily finds himself in opposition to the Churches. And that’s why they’re heading for ruin - for science is bound to win. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

Is there a single religion that can exist without a dogma? No, for in that case it would belong to the order of science. Science cannot explain why natural objects are what they are. And that’s where religion comes in, with its comforting certainties. When incarnated in the Churches, religion always finds itself in opposition to life. (24 October 1941, evening)

The Russians were entitled to attack their priests, but they had no right to assail the idea of a supreme force. It’s a fact that we’re feeble creatures, and that a creative force exists. To seek to deny it is folly. In that case, it’s better to believe something false than not to believe anything at all. Who’s that little Bolshevik professor who claims to triumph over creation? People like that, we’ll break them. Whether they rely on the catechism or on philosophy, we have possibilities in reserve, whilst they, with their purely materialistic conceptions, can only devour one another.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S VIEW OF NON JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS

…[T]he religion of the Japanese is above all a cult of heroism, and its heroes are those who do not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for the glory and safety of their country. The Christians, on the other hand, prefer to honor the Saints, that is to say, a man who succeeds in standing on one leg for years at a time, or one who prefers to lie on a bed of thorns rather than respond to the smiles of inviting maidens. There is something very unhealthy about Christianity. Another peculiarity of the Christian faith, as it is taught by the Catholic Church, is that it is a school of pessimism rather than of optimism. The Japanese religion, on the contrary, rouses men to enthusiasm by the promise it holds of the rewards in the Hereafter, while the unfortunate Christian has no prospect before him but the torments of Hell. (#187, 9 April 1942, at dinner)

Just as in Islam, there is no kind of terrorism in the Japanese State religion, but on the contrary. This terrorism in religion is the product, to put it briefly, of a Jewish dogma, which Christianity has universalized and whose effect is to sow trouble and confusion in men’s minds. It’s obvious that, in the realm of belief, terrorist teachings have no other object but to distract men from their natural optimism and to develop in them the instinct of cowardice. (#180, 4 April 1942, midday)

Had Charles Martel not been victorious at Poitiers - already, you see, the world had fallen into the hands of the Jews, so gutless a thing was Christianity! - then we should in all probability have been converted to Mohammedanism, that cult that glorified heroism and which opens the seventh Heaven to the bold warrior alone. Then the Germanic races would have conquered the world. Christianity alone prevented them from doing so. (#302, 28 August 1942, midday)

I’m going to become a religious figure. Soon I’ll be the great chief of the Tartars. Already Arabs and Moroccans are mingling my name with their prayers. Amongst the Tartars I shall become Khan, The only thing of which I shall be incapable is to share the sheiks’ mutton with them. I’m a vegetarian, and they must spare me from their meat. If they don’t wait too long, I’ll fall back on their harems! (#105, Night of January 12 - 13 1942)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S VIEW OF HEAVEN AND HELL AND THE AFTERLIFE

It is no less difficult to eradicate these childish inhibitions than it is to free the human soul of that haunting terror of Hell which the Catholic Church impresses on it with such vigor during its most tender years. A man possessed of a minimum of intelligence who takes the trouble to ponder over these questions has no difficulty in realizing how nonsensical these doctrines of the Church are…And what nonsense it is to aspire to a Heaven to which, according to the Church’s own teaching, only those have entry who have made a complete failure of life on earth! It won’t be much fun, surely, to have to meet again there all whose stupidity, in spite of the biblical tag “blessed are the humble of heart,” has already infuriated one beyond endurance on this earth! (#187, 9 April 1942, at dinner)

The notions represented by Jewish Christianity were strictly unthinkable to Roman brains. The ancient world had a liking for clarity. Scientific research was encouraged there. The gods, for the Romans, were familiar images. It is somewhat difficult tio know whether they had any exact idea of the Beyond. It was necessary for the Jew to appear on the scene and introduce that mad conception of a life that continues into an alleged Beyond! It enables one to regard life as a thing that is negligible here below - since it will nourish later, when it no longer exists. (#148, 17 February 1942, midday)

The Church has succeeded in striking a very pretty balance between life on earth and in the Hereafter. On earth, they say, the poor must remain poor and blessed, for in Heaven the earthly rich will get nothing, and the unfortunate poor on earth believe them! It is only by keeping the masses ignorant that the existing social order of things can be maintained; in the eyes of the faithful, this is the justification for supreme Papal authority. (#275, 1 August 1942 - evening)

I merely call attention to the fact that one cannot escape this world entirely. The elements of which our body is made belong to the cycle of nature; and as for our soul, it’s possible that it might return to limbo, until it gets an opportunity to reincarnate itself. (23 September 1941, evening)

To make death easier for people, the Church holds out to them the bait of a better world. We, for our part, confine ourselves to asking man to fashion his life worthily. For this, it is sufficient for him to conform to the laws of nature. Let’s seek inspiration in these principles, and in the long run we”ll triumph over religion. (23 September 1941, evening)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

ON THE SUPERIORITY OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM OVER CHRISTIANITY:

Maintenance of the nation’s morale is a task which the statesman can accomplish just as well as any Church. All he has to do is to incorporate in the law of the land all the moral beliefs of the healthy elements of the people and then to support those laws uncompromisingly with the authority of force. (#187, 9 April 1942, at dinner)

In the long run, National Socialism and religion will no longer be able to exist together. (#4, Night of 11 - 12 July 1941)

An educated man retains the sense of the mysteries of nature and bows before the unknowable. An uneducated man, on the other hand, runs the risk of going over to atheism (which is a return to the state of the animal) as soon as he perceives that the State, its its sheer opportunism, is making use of false ideas in the matter of religion, whilst in other areas it bases everything on pure science. That’s why I’ve always kept the party aloof from religious questions. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

But one must continue to pay attention to another aspect of the problem. It’s possible to satisfy the needs of the inner life by an intimate communion with nature, or by knowledge of the past. Only a minority, however, at the present stage of the mind’s development, can feel the respect inspired by the unknown, and thus satisfy the metaphysical needs of the soul. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER ON SCIENTISM:

Religion is in perpetual conflict with the spirit of free research…Religion draws all the profit it can from the fact that science postulates the search for, and not the certain knowledge of, the truth. Let’s compare science to a ladder. On every rung, one beholds a wider landscape. But science does not claim to know the essence of things. When science finds that it has to revise one or another nation that it had believed to be definitive, at once religion gloats and declares: “We told you so!” To say that is to forget that it’s in the nature of science to behave itself thus. For if it decided to assume a dogmatic air, it would itself become a church. (#51, 24 October 1941, evening)

From now on, one may consider that there is no gap between the organic and inorganic worlds. Recent experiments make it possible for one to wonder what distinguishes live bodies from inanimate matter. In the face of this discovery, the Church will begin by rising in revolt, then it will continue to teach its “truths.” One day finally, under the battering ram of science, dogma will collapse. It is logical that it should be so, for the human spirit cannot remorselessly apply itself to raising the veil of mystery without peoples’ one day drawing the conclusions. (#51, 24 October 1941, evening)

Being weighed down by a superstitious past, men are afraid of of things that can’t, or can’t yet, be explained - that is to say, of the unknown. If anyone has needs of a metaphysical nature, I can’t satisfy them with the Party’s program. Time will go by until the moment when science can answer all the questions. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

The best thing is to let Christianity die a natural death. A slow death has something comforting about it. The dogma of Christianity gets worn away before the advances of science. Religion will have to make more and more concessions. Gradually the myths crumble. All that’s left is to prove that in nature there is no frontier between the organic and the inorganic. When understanding of the universe has become widespread, when the majority of men know that the stars are not sources of light but worlds, perhaps inhabited worlds like ours, then the Christian doctrine will be convicted of absurdity. (#39, 14 October 1941, midday)

Christianity, of course, has reached the peak of absurdity in this respect. And that’s why one day its structure will collapse. Science has already impregnated humanity. Consequently, the more Christianity clings to its dogmas, the quicker it will decline. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

If, in the course of a thousand or two thousand years, science arrives at the necessity of renewing its points of view, that will not mean that science is a liar. Science cannot lie, for it’s always striving, according to the momentary state of knowledge, to deduce what is true. When it makes a mistake, it does so in good faith. It’s Christianity that’s the liar. It;s in perpetual conflict with itself. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)

 

[Arizona_Mike]

HITLER’S PLANS FOR THE CHURCH:

The evil that’s gnawing at our vitals is the priests, of both creeds. I can’t at present give them the answer they’ve been asking for, but it will cost them nothing to wait. It’s all written down in my big book. The time will come when I’ll settle my account with them, and I’ll go straight to the point. I don’t know which should be considered the more dangerous: the minister of religion who playacts at patriotism, or the man who openly opposes the State…They’ve only got to keep at it, they’ll hear from me, all right. I shan’t let myself be hampered by judicial scruples. Only necessity has legal force. In less than ten years from now, things will have quite another look, I can promise them. We shan’t be able to go on evading the religious problem much longer. If anyone thinks it’s really essential to build the life of human society on a foundation of lies, well in my estimation, such a society is not worth preserving. If, on the other hand, one believes that truth is the indispensable foundation, then conscience bids one intervene in the name of truth, and exterminate the lie…Just as the pyres for heretics have been suppressed, so all these by-products of ignorance and bad faith will have to be eliminated in their turn. (#143, 8 February 1942, midday)

After this war, I’ll take the necessary steps to make recruiting of priests extraordinarily difficult. In particular, I’ll no longer allow children, from the age of ten and upward, to devote their lives to the Church, when they’ve absolutely no notion what they’re undertaking - in accepting celibacy, for example. Only the man who has passed his twenty-fourth year, and has finished his Labor Service and his military service, will be able to embrace an ecclesiastical career. (#184, 7 April 1942, at dinner)

The great ambition of the parson clique is, and always has been, to undermine the power of the State. And for as long as we suffer these parsons in our midst, it serves us right! Every country gets the type of parson it deserves, at the moment I can do nothing about it, and so I shall continue to keep them happy. But one of these days, I shall bring this conflict, as old as Germany itself, to an abrupt and decisive conclusion. I’ll make these damned parsons feel the power of the State in a way they would never have dreamed possible! For the moment I am just keeping my eye on them; if I ever have the slightest suspicion that they are getting dangerous, I will shoot the lot of them. This filthy reptile raises its head wherever there is a sign of weakness in the State, and therefore it must be stamped on wherever it does so. (#287 - 11 August 1942 - Evening)

Methods of persuasion of a moral order are not an effective weapon against those who despise the truth - when we have to do with priests, for example, of a Church who know that everything about it is based on lies, and who live by it. They think me a spoilsport when I rise up in their midst, indeed, I am going to spoil their little games. (#52, 25 October 1941, evening)

I envisage the future, therefore, as follows: First of all, to each man his private creed. Superstition shall not lose its rights. The party is sheltered from the danger of competing with the religions. The latter must simply be forbidden from interfering in future with temporal matters. From the tenderest age, education will be imparted in such a way that each child will know all that is important to the maintenance of the State. As for the men close to me, who, like me, have escaped from the clutches of dogma, I’ve no reason to fear that the Church will get its hooks on them. We’ll see to it that the Churches cannot spread abroad teachings in conflict with the interests of the State. We shall continue to preach the doctrine of National Socialism, and the young will no longer be taught anything but the truth. (#39, 14 October 941, midday)