Religion & Ethics: Content from Across the ABC




Date/Time 29 Jul 2014 7:52:12pm
This is a rather puzzling statement:

" ... was Hitler a Christian? Emphatically not, if we consider Christianity in its traditional or orthodox form: Jesus as the son of God, dying for the redemption of the sins of all humankind. It is a nonsense to state that Hitler (or any of the Nazis) adhered to Christianity of this form."

Hitler's numerous references in to God and Christ can easily be googled. As Germany was predominantly a Christian country, those statements can reasonably be taken as assertions - however disingenuous - that he identified himself as a Christian.

Many individuals who do very wicked and unchristian things assert that they are Christians. For example, clergy who engage in assaults on children and the numerous individuals who implemented the Inquisition. Their crimes and atrocities don't mean that they must no longer be called "Christians" even though they have no moral claim to be aligned with good Christians.

Similarly, as Samuel Koehne points out, Hitler acted to implement racist opinions which were inconsistent with orthodox dogma concerning Christ. But so did many racist members of the Ku Klux Klan - who held themselves out as Christians.

Despite recent silly comments by Cardinal Pell, there's no evidence that Hitler's conduct whilst in power was directed at promoting either atheism or Christianity. But it does not seem unreasonable to describe Hitler as a Christian, on the basis that he appeared to identify himself as one.