# Was Hitler a Christian? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 23, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977 "2003-05-23T05:35:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Major\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Major\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/1 "2003-05-23T05:35:40Z")
I believe he was raised Catholic, but is there any evidence he considered himself a Christian as a an adult? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/2 "2003-05-23T05:48:01Z")
[Was Hitler a Christian?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhitlerchristian.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mayor\_McJesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@Mayor\_McJesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayor_McJesus)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/3 "2003-05-23T07:05:51Z")
I always took Hitler’s occasional public Christianity as a purely political attempt to create yet another philosphical difference from Stalin and the Godless communists. If he was a Christian (or any religion for that matter) he _really_ missed the point, to say the least. The Staff Report quotes from his speeches, writings, and scholarly opinions from historians, but lots of political leaders have payed lip service to churches or contradicted their stated personal beliefs. Just look at Thomas Jefferson and his wavering agnosticism. But is there any real evidence that Hitler worshipped anything other than himself/the state? There must be thousands of hours of film of Hitler. It seems like half of the History Channel’s programs are devoted to the guy. But has anybody ever seen film or a photo of Adolf in church or doing anything overtly religious? I assume there was at least a propaganda picture taken at some point, but I can’t recall having seen any. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/4 "2003-05-23T10:09:22Z")
We Christians (and specifically, we Catholics) understandably want to distance ourselves from history’s most infamous individual. But he’s definitely a self-described Christian, in a way that he was not a self-described Buddhist, Muslim or Zoroastrian. As for what he believed in his heart of hearts: We don’t get to know that about any public figures. Many people claim that Washington, in fact all of the first five US presidents, were atheists or deists who only went to church to keep up public appearances. (With the possible exception of Jefferson, it’s a pretty specious claim.) I say anyone who claims to be a Christian counts as one, and few other yardsticks are relevant (Catholics, Mormons and Unitarians all consider themselves Christian, but don’t necessarily consider one another to be; it’s sectarian rivalry, not relevant theology, that makes this distinction.) By any relevant criterion, Hitler was a Christian. The evil monster was one of us, and we’re capable of producing more just like him. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/5 "2003-05-23T11:51:18Z")
Most of Hitler’s inner circle were rabidly anti-Christian. On the theory that you can judge a person by the company he keeps, this suggests that Hitler’s professed Chirstianity was probably just lip service, to assuage the Christian masses. And as plently of others have mentioned, politicians are famous for claiming whatever religion will get them the most votes. (For example, do you honestly believe that Hillary Clinton is a Southern Baptist?) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/6 "2003-05-23T12:09:37Z")
I’ve read that Ms. Clinton has always identified herself as a Methodist. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/7 "2003-05-23T12:13:29Z")
Hitler seemed to be a somewhat lapsed Christian at one point, but the longer things went on, the more and more heretical his ideas became, and the more hostile the Nazis became to Christians. I suspect this may be partly because of certain Christian groups who simply refused to accept the Nazis on any terms (a great many were liquidated for their non-compliance). In the end, Hitler seems to have believed in race, not religion. At some point the Nazis devolved into a sort of neo-Paganism, unrelated to anything you’d see in America. However, this was more in a theoretical stage and only in the top of the Party. in the lower ranks probably a lot of people thought of themselves as Christian. Of course, it can be argued that they were more or less unrecognized heretics, since their idea explicitly contradicted more or less everything that more or less any Christian group explicity states. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/8 "2003-05-23T12:25:45Z")
So, we can imagine that if Adolf really _was_ a Christian, coupled with the non-Catholic belief that one only has to genuinely accept the Lord in one’s heart to attain salvation, that he’s in Heaven right now. ---
**Author:** ![li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2bfe46/32.png) [@li\_l\_Dickie\_Dirtz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/li_l_Dickie_Dirtz)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/9 "2003-05-23T12:27:18Z")
And I’ll throw in my obligatory reference to [The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/05/ryback.htm), which has an article this month on Hitler’s library, a portion of which ended up at the LOC and at Brown. It talks about his religious beliefs as interpreted through the books he is known to have read. I’ll give you the payoff: > [@](#): > > Back in 1943 Walter Langer had concluded—correctly, to my mind—that in order to understand Hitler one had to understand his profound belief in divine powers. But Hitler believed that the mortal and the divine were one and the same: that the God he was seeking was in fact himself. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/10 "2003-05-23T12:38:07Z")
Hitler often spoke about fate and providence and a few times referred directly to God, but that is not a great indicator that he was actually a Christian. My own personal opinion is that he had vaguely religious beliefs that were to ill-defined to classfied even with the far-reaching phrase ‘Christian’. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/11 "2003-05-23T12:54:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Balthisar \* > \*\*So, we can imagine that if Adolf really _was_ a Christian, coupled with the non-Catholic belief that one only has to genuinely accept the Lord in one’s heart to attain salvation, that he’s in Heaven right now. \*\* I suppose it would depend on what it means to genuinely accept the Lord in one’s heart. ---
**Author:** ![Summertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Summertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Summertime)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/12 "2003-05-23T13:36:09Z")
I’ve read he was a follower of the Thule Society and Blavatsky, which was quite occult. I think theres a book about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/13 "2003-05-23T15:28:08Z")
Hitler is to Christianity what any evil leader is to the respective religion of their country. Even Sadaam Hussein became “devout” over the past 15 years(to Islam, of course). It’s like saying the guys who flew the planes on 9/11 were Muslims. They weren’t. They were crazies who used Islam to bolster their belief in what they were doing. Same with Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/14 "2003-05-23T16:33:33Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve read that Ms. Clinton has always identified herself as a Methodist. Is she? I know Bill Clinton professes Southern Baptism, and I’d never heard anything to suggest Hillary was otherwise. (Although I should know better than to assume that, because my brother, a Catholic, is married to a Lutheran.) Still, you can bet that Hillary kept her identity as a non-Baptist pretty quiet while her husband was governor of Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/15 "2003-05-23T16:59:19Z")
Bill is a Southern Baptist, Hillary is a Methodist, and no, she didn’t keep it a secret when he was a governor of Arkansas. Why would she? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/16 "2003-05-23T18:54:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diceman \* > \*\*Is she? I know Bill Clinton professes Southern Baptism, and I’d never heard anything to suggest Hillary was otherwise. \*\* Hillary Rodham grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where Southern Baptism is not that common, natch. As a high school student she belonged to a local Methodist youth group and went on retreats. Did you know that as an undergraduate at Wellesley College, Hillary was [president](http://hillaryclintonquarterly.hypermart.net/warner.htm) of the Young Republicans Club? ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/17 "2003-05-24T14:22:03Z")
professing christianity and even “accepting Jesus” does not keep you a christian if you’re CONSTANTLY and REPEATEDLY murdering people… and GOD"S CHOSEN at that!!! if he did profess to be christian, he obviously didn’t read or believe all the verses about how God favored the jews and how nations who came against them are cursed and those who help them are blessed. why do you think america is prosperous? and what christian doesn’t know the sixth commandment? and the verse that says ALL MURDERERS wil go to HELL??? don’t get me wrong, i think a murderer can be saved, but not “be saved”, murder more people and go to heaven. it just doesn’t work that way. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/18 "2003-05-24T15:44:09Z")
> [@](#): > > professing christianity and even “accepting Jesus” does not keep you a christian if you’re CONSTANTLY and REPEATEDLY murdering people This gets into a hazy area (and sometimes trips into the [No True Scotsman fallacy](http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman)). As repulsive as Fred Phelps is, I would say that we Christians are not permitted to deny that he is one. He is certainly missing the essential point of the Gospels and he is a loathesome creature, but he gives lip service to following the message of the Gospels and displays the nominal trappings of a Protestant minister. It is easier to indicate that Hitler stopped being a Christian, (although he was certainly raised in a Christian tradition), not because he was a hateful and murderous human being, but because he stopped practicing as a religious person (never attending Mass as an adult, for example). His statements on his beliefs do not demonstrate that he had any particularly _Christian_ concept of God and his statements on religion tended to be political platitudes unconnected to belief. Had Hitler committed all the same acts, but continued to go to Mass and actually express himself in Christian terms, I would say that Christianity and Catholicism would have to own him as “one of ours.” (And, as noted, he was raised in and came to lead a Christian culture, so Christians are not absolved of responsibility for his career. We are simply not compelled to admit him as member of our group(s).) ---
**Author:** ![saiorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@saiorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saiorse)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/19 "2003-05-24T16:00:20Z")
> [@](#): > > And, as noted, he was raised in and came to lead a **Christian culture** , so Christians are not absolved of responsibility for his career. We are simply not compelled to admit him as member of our group(s).) one can not say that hitler ever was to lead a Christian culture , the term hitlerianism does strictly rule that out and by studying the nazi era, one can see that there is only a few tints of Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977/20 "2003-05-24T18:11:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Bill is a Southern Baptist, Hillary is a Methodist, and no, she didn’t keep it a secret when he was a governor of Arkansas. Why would she? I didn’t say that she kept it a secret, just that she didn’t make a big deal over it. I really should have chosen a better example. As for Hitler, I have to admit that he _professed_ Christianity, but it’s quite obvious that he didn’t live a Christian lifestyle, or even attempt to. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-hitler-a-christian/176977.md?page=2)