What did Adolf Hitler think about Christianity?

"The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity's illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew." - 11th-12th July, 1941

"Christianity is the worst of the regressions that mankind can ever have undergone, and it's the Jew who, thanks to this diabolic invention, has thrown him back 15 centuries."

"Pure Christianity— the Christianity of the catacombs— is concerned with translating the Christian doctrine into facts. It leads quite simply to the annihilation of mankind. It is merely whole hearted Bolshevism, under a tinsel of metaphysics." - 14th December, 1941

"Didn't the world see, carried on right into the Middle Ages, the same old system of martyrs, tortures, faggots? Of old, it was in the name of Christianity. To-day, it's in the name of Bolshevism. Yesterday, the instigator was Saul: the instigator to-day, Mardochai. Saul has changed into St. Paul, and Mardochai into Karl Marx. By exterminating this pest, we shall do humanity a service of which our soldiers can have no idea." - 21st October, 1941

"I'm sure that Nero didn't set fire to Rome. It was the Christian-Bolsheviks who did that, just as the Commune set fire to Paris in 1871 and the Communists set fire to the Reichstag in 1932." - 25th October, 1941

""It was Christianity that brought about the fall of Rome – not the Germans or the Huns." – 27th Jan 1942

"As soon as the idea was introduced that all men were equal before God, that world was bound to collapse." 26th February, 1942

"By means of the struggle, the elites are continually renewed. The law of selection justifies this incessant struggle, by allowing the survival of the fittest. Christianity is rebellion against natural law, a protest against nature. Taken to its logical extreme, Christianity would mean the systematic cultivation of failure." - 10th October, 1941

"It is deplorable that the Bible should have been translated into German, and that the whole of the German Folk should have thus become exposed to the whole of this Jewish mumbo jumbo… As a sane German, one is flabbergasted to think that German human beings could have let themselves be brought to such a pass by Jewish filth and priestly twaddle, that they were little different from the howling dervish of the Turks and the negroes, at whom we laugh so scornfully. It angers one to think that, while in other parts of the globe religious teaching like that of Confucius, Buddha and Mohammed offers an undeniably broad basis for the religious-minded, Germans should have been duped by a theological exposition devoid of all honest depth." - 5th June, 1942

"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." - 14th October, 1941

"I shall never believe that what is founded on lies can endure for ever. I believe in truth. I'm sure that, in the long run, truth must be victorious. It's probable that, as regards religion, we are about to enter an era of tolerance. Everybody will be allowed to seek his own salvation in the way that suits him best. The ancient world knew this climate of tolerance. Nobody took to proselytising." 27th February, 1942

"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. Christianity is a prototype of Bolshevism: the mobilisation by the Jew of the masses of slaves with the object of undermining society." - 19th October, 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."

"Our epoch will certainly see the end of the disease of Christianity. It will last another hundred years, two hundred years perhaps. My regret will have been that I couldn't, like whoever the prophet was, behold the promised land from afar. We are entering into a conception of the world that will be a sunny era, an era of tolerance. Man must be put in a position to develop freely the talents that God has given him." 27th February, 1942

"I don't interfere in matters of belief. Therefore I can't allow churchmen to interfere with temporal affairs. The organised lie must be smashed. The State must remain the absolute master." 13th December, 1941

"The American statesmen, by subjecting the Church to the same regulations governing all other associations and institutions, have limited its field of activity to reasonable proportions; and, as the State does not contribute from State Funds one single cent to the church, the whole clergy cringes and sings hymns in praise of Government. This is not to be wondered at! The parson, like everyone else, has got to live; what he makes out of the public offertory doesn't amount to much, and so he is more or less dependent on State charity. As he has no legal claim whatever on the State, he therefore takes very good care that his demeanour is always pleasing in the eyes of the State and therefore deserving of the crumbs it cares to toss to him." - 4th July, 1942

"The development of relations between State and Church affords a very instructive example of how the carelessness of a single statesman can have after-effects which last for centuries. When Charlemagne was kneeling at prayer in St. Peter's, Rome, at Christmas in the year 8oo, the Pope, giving him no time to work out the possible effects of so symbolic an action, suddenly bent down and presto! popped a golden crown on his head! By permitting it, the Emperor delivered himself and his successors into the hands of a power which subjected the German Government and the German people to five hundred years of martyrdom." - 4th July, 1942

"Here is a lesson we would do well to learn: if we do not complete the conquest of the East utterly and irrevocably, each successive generation will have a war on its hand, to a greater or lesser degree. Even stupid races can accomplish something, given good leadership. Genghiz Khan’s genius for organisation was something quite unique. Only in the Roman Empire and in Spain under Arab domination has culture been a potent factor. Under the latter, the standard of civilisation achieved was wholly admirable; to Spain flocked the greatest scientists, thinkers, astronomers and mathematicians of the world, and side by side there flourished a spirit of sweet human tolerance and a sense of the purest chivalry. Then with the advent of Christianity, came the barbarians. The chivalry of the Castilians had been inherited by the Arabs. 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 which glorifies 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." – 28th August 1942

"I can imagine people being enthusiastic about the paradise of Mahomet, but as for the insipid paradise of the Christians! In your lifetime, you used to hear the music of Richard Wagner. After your death, it will be nothing but hallelujahs, the waving of palms, children of an age for the feeding-bottle, and hoary old men. The man of the isles pays homage to the forces of nature. But Christianity is an invention of sick brains: one could imagine nothing more senseless, nor any more indecent way of turning the idea of the Godhead into a mockery. A negro with his taboos is crushingly superior to the human being who seriously believes in Transubstantiation." - 13th December, 1941

"The fact that the Japanese have retained their political philosophy, which is one of the essential reasons for their success, is due to their having been saved in time from the views of Christianity. Just as in Islam, there is no terrorism in the Japanese State religion, but, on the contrary, a promise of happiness. This terrorism in religion is , 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." – 4th April, 1942

If I recall from the History Channel show, "Last Secrets Of The Axis,"
[http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=43190&browseCategoryId=&location=&parentcatid=&subcatid=]
Hitler was highly influenced by German General Karl Haushofer who as then part of the German General Staff visited Japan in the early part of the century (before WWI I think) and adapted ideas from there. The Japanese Emperor was considered a god then and was synonymous with the homeland(?), and this [may have] become the origin of the "Fuhrer" concept. (My assumption is that Hitler came to see himself not unlike a god and that Nietche's concept of the Superman also factored in, i.e. anything that would justify unrestrained self-aggrandizement).

Also according to the show Haushofer met with the Japanese secret societies such as the Black Dragons which were influenced by the (pagan?) Samurai "The Way of War" Bushido traditions (which continue in some ways today as part of the Japanese criminal underground) which later influenced the Nazi SS troopers. Some information about the German secret societies is here (cannot vouch for the accuracy)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysticism_in_Nazi_Germany]

Haushofer also picked up Aryan mystical traditions influenced somehow by Hinduism (I'm no expert obviously) traveling through India (I think this is where the swastika symbol came from). (Haushofer met regularly during the writing of Mein Kampt with Hitler in prison - and is said to have influenced it - by way of his contact, one-time student, Rudolf Hess.)

What makes Hitler so dangerous is how he was able to exploit conflicts and half-truths and by putting them through a propaganda prism and using moral absolutism captured the conscience of a nation.

Some of the quotes referenced above may have been influenced by Nietzche (again I'm no expert or even a knowledgeable lay person) who was struggling (my speculation) with how does one exert power within the context of Christian ethics, which he saw as in some ways disabling.

Dostoevsky even wrote a novel called "The Idiot" and the famous chapter, "The Grand Inquisitor" from "The Brothers Karamazov" that dealt with these conflicts.

So there was in some ways to my best estimation a crisis regarding Christian ethics that was coming out of a misinterpretation of Christianity as requiring moral perfection or moral absolutism (and later the carnage of WWI in a battle between several "Christian" nations) and the crisis of faith this caused for many. (The inability to live up to what some saw as impossible standards created a backlash of hostility and resentment among some and thus they turned to atheism "God is Dead" - Communism became atheistic). What put me on the idea of moral absolutism (perfectionism) and its utopian dangers is reading Robert D. Kaplan's essay, "The Media and Medievalism."

Robert D. Kaplan talks about the dangers of moral absolutism (moral perfectionism) as a mindset that was present during the terror of medieval times with the religious Grand Inquisitors - (see his article "The Media and Medievalism," at Hoovers Institute's Policy Review Online:
http://www.policyreview.org/dec04/kaplan.html) - and is an ongoing danger for some in the press who function in some ways as "secular priests." Through moral indignancy they are able to destroy careers and individual reputations (as well as make reputations) which is a tremendous power that in some ways has been unaccountable.

I bring this up because he has written a new book (2003) called "Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos" that in some ways addresses this conflict [I haven't yet read the book, sorry]." Quoting from the Amazon.com editorial review: "Robert Kaplan's Warrior Politics is an extended, willfully provocative essay arguing that the bedrock of sound foreign policy should be "comprehensive pragmatism" rather than "utopian hopes." Kaplan calls for a reestablishment of American (primarily) realpolitik, one distanced from Judeo-Christian (or private) virtue and closer to a "pagan" (public) one."

Hitler clearly demagogues what some serious thinkers have struggled with.

The way I reconcile the conflict is in recognizing first that we all have to make decisions. Even not making a decision is a decision, so it is an inescapable aspect of our mortality. Next as the ancient Greeks saw, we have to make decisions with only partial knowledge, thus the inescapably tragic aspect of life and their derivation of a sense of fate. Next we most often have to make decisions between two imperfect alternatives (lesser of two evils) and even when we make the right decision the result most often is imperfect. We can all be "exposed" if the light is shined brightly enough so the process can be highly selective and political if one wants it to be. So we do the best we can under the circumstances and this allows a leader to function without being paralyzed and disabled with moral anguish yet understand both he and his decisions to a certain extent are flawed and not have to maintain the false pretense that they could be completely otherwise.

Now if we are held to a standard of moral absolutism (by the media or the church), one becomes paralyzed by the conflict or turns into a fanatic to escape the conflict and self-awareness. A mature Christianity allows us to accept these limitations and forgives us and doesn't hold us to the moral absolute standard that the Nietzches and the "Idiots" (as in Dostoevsky's "The Idiot") and the atheistic communists and the pagan fascists of Hitler's stripe become morally disabled by.

The mention of the "heroic" in the Islam tradition, and it too being misued by the moral absolutist frame of mind is very interesting, especially in how Hitler seemed to have an admiration for it. Kaplan talks about how the medieval moral perfection standard caused "terror," how the media can cause with the same standard "terror," and how radical Islam can cause "terror." So my best guess is that this might be a clue as to the intellectual and moral crisis that we have to battle in almost every generation and face once again today.

The reason this way of thinking is so difficult to get past is that people are tempted to use moral absolutism because it is a way to gain power, to be sanctimonious, to strip other people of their dignity and power, to morally indict them and thus increase their own standing. (Our litigation crisis may partially be caused by this. Our political culture has moved away from civility to absolutism.) It also requires people to be hypocritical because no one can live by such a standard and they have to deal with the tremendous moral guilt and burden that comes from this approach. We thus see an increased fanatacism whereever we see this mindset.

I've gone on too long, this is obviously cobbled together and not refined, but I wanted to submit it so those who read Hitler's quotes do not become seduced by them and possibly point a way out of the intellectual and moral trap. I'm the first to admit in writing this on many counts I could be wrong, but I've done my best.

Cheers.

Although the swastika was an ancient symbol, one of the reasons that it was chosen and/or maintained by the National Socialist German Workers' Party is because it resembles two "S" letters for "Socialism." Some critics make the absurd argument that during the 25 year existence of the horrid Party no Nazi noticed the "S" shapes nor attached any meaning (nor anyone in the SS Division). They also ignore the fact that the Party leader was an artist. see more graphic examples of the swastika myth debunked with posters from 1933-1945 at http://rexcurry.net/socialism-posters/posters2.html and with pre-1933 National Socialist posters at http://rexcurry.net/socialist-propaganda/posters1.html see the swastika myth debunked with German medals at http://rexcurry.net/socialism/germany.html and http://rexcurry.net/swastikacross.html and with flags & banners at http://rexcurry.net/swastikaflags.html

Three terms sum up popular myths: “Swastika” and “Nazi” and “Roman Salute.” RexCurry.net exposed all three.

The "Roman salute" myth holds that the Nazi salute was from ancient Rome. The myth was refuted by the historic discovery that the salute of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazis) came from a national socialist in the USA who used a straight-arm salute as part of the original pledge of allegiance. http://rexcurry.net/pledgesalute.html

The pledge of allegiance was written by a self-proclaimed National Socialist in the USA in 1892 (Francis Bellamy) who promoted "military socialism" and operated the "Nationalist" magazine and spread the straight-arm salute via kids in schools, three decades before the Nazis adopted similar behavior.

RexCurry.net also exposed the “Nazi” myth, that Nazis hate socialists. The word “Nazi” hides the actual name of the horrid party: the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The practice is so widespread that most people who use the word “Nazi” are ignorant of what the abbreviation abbreviates and why it ties into the pledge of allegiance and to earlier National Socialists in the USA. http://rexcurry.net/mediacover.html
and http://rexcurry.net/swastikamedia.html
and http://rexcurry.net/swastikaweb.html

Nazis always referred to themselves as "National Socialists" and never as "Nazis" and they always used the word "hakenkreuz" and not "swastika."

The "Swastika myth" is that the symbol of the Nazis was a swastika, and used as their "good luck" sign, or reversed for "evil." The use of the word "swastika" coincides with "Nazi" to hide the symbol's meaning for the horrid Party: Socialism and the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): 62 million dead under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; 35 million under the Peoples' Republic of China; 21 million under the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Today, most people would never make the connection between the swastika's "S" shapes and "socialism" because most people do not know that the Nazis were the National Socialist German Workers' Party. http://rexcurry.net/swastikaweb.html

The trio of myths are examples of astounding historical facts that were deliberately shoved down Orwell's "memory hole."

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