By: Fredric Rice
To: Ed Dutkiewicz
Re: Hitler was a Christian.  Get OVER it.
St: Local
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fr> His actions show that he used the tools and followed the
fr> historic policy of Christianity.  His actions showed that
fr> he was undeniably a Christian.  His own words state that
FR> he was a Christian.  The Christian masters and churches at
fr> the time also stated that he was undeniably a Christian.

ed> Remember that Hitler was a ruthless politician. He could say
ed> anything he wanted, but his actions speak louder than his rhtoric.

Which is exactly true and which evidences the fact that he was a Christian.
He was doing things that Christian "leaders" had done for a dozen centuries
before him -- no difference.  To demand that Hitler wasn't a Christian is to
demand that all the Christians who came before him weren't Christians either.

Are you willing to defend that position?

ed> According to John Gunther in his book, INSIDE EUROPE,1938 ed.,:
ed> *He was born and brought up a Roman Catholic. But lost faith
ed> early and attends no religious services of any kind.

That's contrary to what Hitler said and to what Christian churches were saying
and doing at the time.  Contrary to John Gunther, Adolf Hitler remained a
Christian until his suicide.

    "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" (speech, Reichstag, 1936).

That's 1936, Ed.  That's not "early on."

    I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so"
    -- John Toland (Pulitzer Prize winner), from "Adolf Hitler",
    pp 507, talking about the Autumn of 1941.

Is 1941 "early on?"

Your source has got many things wrong.  I can't help but wonder whether your
source is trying to deny the fact that Hitler was a Christain due to the
mistaken belief that being a Christian somehow stops someone from being a
murdering tyrant and a despot.

History teaches us otherwise.  Why can't you admit it?

ed> His Catholicism means nothing to him....On being formed his
ed> government almost immdiately began a fierce religious war
ed> against Catholics, Protestants, and Jews alike.*

    In 1933 two bishops met for over an hour with Hitler. In his
    notes of that meeting, Bishop Berning happily remarked, "because
    of [Nazism] Christianity was being promoted, the level of
    morality raised, and the struggle against bolshevism and atheism
    carried on with energy and success." (Catholic theologian Uta
    Ranke-Heinemann, "Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven," p. 330.)

    "In January 1934 Hitler saw twelve Evangelical leaders, and
    after this meeting . . . they pledged 'the leaders of the
    German Evangelical Church unanimously affirm their unconditional
    loyalty to the Third Reich and its leader.'" (Johnson, p. 488).

He's meeting with Christian churches, talking with Christian leaders...  That
hardly sounds like he's fighting a religious war now does it?

ed> Gunther contends that Hitler biggest priority was the unification of
ed> Germany, there had to be a removal from the Reich any competition which
ed> was international like the Vatican and Judaism.

And he used the tools that Christianity provided to do it with.  No argument
here.  The lesson to be learned from the bloody history of Christianity is
that one may use deity beliefs as a weapon of mass destruction against
innocent people for the unification and consolidation of power and control.

I don't dispute this fact.  It evidences myself correct.

ed> Hitler considered Catholicism a dangerous enemy and had a
ed> campaign against the *black moles*, as Nazis called priests.
ed> Hitler also tried to  install one his own men as an army
ed> chaplain in the Lutheran Church, so to he could have
ed> some control over it. It never seemed to work, however.

Welcome to how Christianity works, Ed.  Or did you perhaps think that
"confession" inside of Christian churches has something to do with gods?

ed> Some of Hitler's followers turned to Paganism.
ed> They found the Norse myths to their liking.

    "They [Nazis] fiercely rejected accusations that they were
    atheists. Himmler declared that atheism would not be tolerated in
    the ranks of the SS" (Paul Johnson's "A History of Christianity,"
    p. 486).

Looks like your source got that one wrong as well.

-=-

If you would like some _secular_ sources which offer the truth about
Adolf Hitler, please let me know and I'll type them up for you.