Hitler

[RileyG]

No non-Catholics please.

Hi!

My younger brother (17) claims that "Hitler was a Christian and professed his Catholic faith". I told him that "Hitler only received Baptism and rejected Christianity at a very early age. He also persecuted not only Jews, but Catholics as well. Likewise, his behavior was very anti-Christian, he failed to bother to love God and his neighbor.

My brother seems to be in a rebellious stage where he is rebelling against God.

He also mentioned Luther's anti-Semitism which, to a certain extent, inspired Hitler. (I actually DO agree with him on that, but I will not go into that).

Any truth to this?

Thanks

-Riley

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Hitler may have been raised a Catholic, but he fell away as an adult. This is apparent since the Church has canonized saints who are martyrs because of Nazism. In Mit Brennender Sorge by Pope Pius XI, the only papal encyclical that was originally published in German, the Pope wrote directly to the German people in their own language to condemn Nazism. Hitler is an example of a Catholic gone bad after falling away from the Church. I recommend the book The Myth of Hitler's Pope by Rabbi David G. Dalin.

 

[kit]

Hitler was raised in the Church. In Germany one is nearly automatically registered as Catholic or Protestant and taxed accordingly. Hitler never formally removed himself from the Catholic tax rolls however he isn't known to have participated in church life in his adulthood.

He didn't seem to care much about Christianity as a whole except when or how it fit his political agenda. There was a movement in the Nazi Party to create a Nazified Protestantism. Using some of Luther's anti-Semitic Rhetoric was handy in that agenda. It had modest success. Hitler somewhat and others in the Party more so were concerned about the Catholic Church in the Third Reich because it was not as easily cowed as the Protestant Church. Catholic Political parties were of course dissolved but the Pope was still an independent figure who countered Nazi propaganda.

There was even a slice of the Nazi Party that was in the process of inventing a new sort of Germanic Paganism. "Race Theory" played a part of this agenda. Hitler didn't seem to encourage or discourage that effort.

When he married Eva Braun it was a completely Civil affair.

 

[football5680]

Anybody can profess to be a Christian but his actions and private conversations prove he had little to no devotion at all. 95% of Germans were Christians so it would make political sense for Hitler to claim to be Christian as well.

Luther's Anti-Semitism may have created an atmosphere in Germany which was more open to this kind of idea but I don't think it inspired Hitler. Luther's anti-Semitism was based on the fact that they reject Christ and if they would sincerely convert to Christianity then Luther would have no problem with them. Hitler's anti-Semitism was based on race and it didn't matter if they practiced Judaism or accepted Christ.

 

[kit]

Anybody can profess to be a Christian but his actions and private conversations prove he had little to no devotion at all. 95% of Germans were Christians so it would make political sense for Hitler to claim to be Christian as well.

Luther's Anti-Semitism may have created an atmosphere in Germany which was more open to this kind of idea but I don't think it inspired Hitler. Luther's anti-Semitism was based on the fact that they reject Christ and if they would sincerely convert to Christianity then Luther would have no problem with them. Hitler's anti-Semitism was based on race and it didn't matter if they practiced Judaism or accepted Christ.

Hitler didn't claim Christianity. No doubt he simply ticked the box when he joined the German Army during the war. At that time it may have been automatic due to his Austrian citizenship.
I have a sense that Luther's antisemitism was not widely known before the Nazis decided to make use of it.

 

[Tallguy88]

Like others have said, Hitler was Catholic in the sense of "Once Catholic, Always Catholic". But there is no evidence he practiced Catholicism or Christianity once he became an adult.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Like others have said, Hitler was Catholic in the sense of "Once Catholic, Always Catholic". But there is no evidence he practiced Catholicism or Christianity once he became an adult.

Exactly. It's more important what the Church has said about him than what he has said about himself.

Here's what the Church said about Hitler's religion:

"None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God, of a national religion; or attempt to lock within the frontiers of a single people, within the narrow limits of a single race, God, the Creator of the universe, King and Legislator of all nations before whose immensity they are 'as a drop of a bucket' (Isaiah xI, 15)." - Pope Pius XI, Mit Brennender Sorge

 

[WarriorAngel]

No non-Catholics please.

Hi!

My younger brother (17) claims that "Hitler was a Christian and professed his Catholic faith". I told him that "Hitler only received Baptism and rejected Christianity at a very early age. He also persecuted not only Jews, but Catholics as well. Likewise, his behavior was very anti-Christian, he failed to bother to love God and his neighbor.

My brother seems to be in a rebellious stage where he is rebelling against God.

He also mentioned Luther's anti-Semitism which, to a certain extent, inspired Hitler. (I actually DO agree with him on that, but I will not go into that).

Any truth to this?

Thanks

-Riley

Any truth to which part?
3 million Catholics were killed, Churches were closed, Hitler hated the Pope who spoke against him while still a Cardinal.
Hitler killed nuns and priests ...

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

Anybody can profess to be a Christian but his actions and private conversations prove he had little to no devotion at all. 95% of Germans were Christians so it would make political sense for Hitler to claim to be Christian as well.

Luther's Anti-Semitism may have created an atmosphere in Germany which was more open to this kind of idea but I don't think it inspired Hitler. Luther's anti-Semitism was based on the fact that they reject Christ and if they would sincerely convert to Christianity then Luther would have no problem with them. Hitler's anti-Semitism was based on race and it didn't matter if they practiced Judaism or accepted Christ.

Not focusing just on Hitler for a moment, if Germany was 95% Christian, it's reasonable to conclude that the vast majority of rank and file soldiers were Christian as well. How were they able to fight for a cause that was so obviously wrong? Why didn't their faith kick in?

 

[WarriorAngel]

Not focusing just on Hitler for a moment, if Germany was 95% Christian, it's reasonable to conclude that the vast majority of rank and file soldiers were Christian as well. How were they able to fight for a cause that was so obviously wrong? Why didn't their faith kick in?

It happens.
People can form their conscience against doctrines to negate them if they believe they are just in their excuses.

 

[stray bullet]

Not focusing just on Hitler for a moment, if Germany was 95% Christian, it's reasonable to conclude that the vast majority of rank and file soldiers were Christian as well. How were they able to fight for a cause that was so obviously wrong? Why didn't their faith kick in?

From their perspective they were fighting a war that was started by other nations. Poland attacked Germany (as Germany claimed) and Germany invaded in response, which brought about the UK and France into the war.

 

[Sword of the Lord]

I've read that Martin Luther's late-in-life anti-Semitic ramblings influenced Hitler.

 

[Armoured]

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

It happens.
People can form their conscience against doctrines to negate them if they believe they are just in their excuses.

Seems like the Holy Spirit ought to be a defense against that.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Seems like the Holy Spirit ought to be a defense against that.

The Holy Spirit doesn't take away people's free will. Catholics can choose to reject the Holy Spirit and choose to sin.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

Sure, but the true faith is supposed to change people, so it's hard to imagine an entire army of people who accept Christ, pushing that aside and committing genocide.

The Holy Spirit doesn't take away people's free will. Catholics can choose to reject the Holy Spirit and choose to sin.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Sure, but the true faith is supposed to change people, so it's hard to imagine an entire army of people who accept Christ, pushing that aside and committing genocide.

If someone is truly open to the Holy Spirit it will change them. But lots of people are Christian in name alone.

 

[RDKirk]

Like others have said, Hitler was Catholic in the sense of "Once Catholic, Always Catholic". But there is no evidence he practiced Catholicism or Christianity once he became an adult.

Wait, honest question: Is that actually true? Don't Catholics believe that a person can fall away from salvation, and wouldn't Hitler certainly fall into that category--out of communion and unsaved? He wouldn't still be considered Catholic at that point, would he?

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

An entire country? How does anyone know that they are true Christians if any of us would do what the German soldiers, guards, and even everyday citizens given a charismatic leader?

If someone is truly open to the Holy Spirit it will change them. But lots of people are Christian in name alone.

 

[Tallguy88]

Wait, honest question: Is that actually true? Don't Catholics believe that a person can fall away from salvation, and wouldn't Hitler certainly fall into that category--out of communion and unsaved? He wouldn't still be considered Catholic at that point, would he?

I don't mean that he was saved. Only that he was baptized and confirmed Catholic and, from a theological standpoint, those cannot be undone.