Why can't Christians accept the fact that Hitler was a Christian

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The SS officer corps matched the general German demographics to 97%. This included religious belief. So Christians did the Holocaust.

[Simon Moon]

[Isis]

[Simon Moon]

[AceBoogie]

[Alex K]

- that he opposed Atheism is not really showing that he was a Christian. More like a convenient way to get the masses behind him to eliminate communists, intellectuals.
- that he claimed to do God's work doesn't automatically make him a Christian either. He appeared to have some weird mythology and belief in divine providence...


In the end he said what he said for all kinds of reasons, I'm doubtful he deserves the label Christian. This is complicated by the fact that it is far from easy to nail down exactly what one needs to be to count as a Christian.

But more to the point, I also don't worry much about it because it is just a label and its use does not serve to elucidate anything. Quite the opposite, by slapping that category or label on someone and then arguing from that, one always makes an argument less clear and precise. If your argument needs such a blunt generalization to work, it's probably not very good. It's a bit like arguments about evolution that hinge on Archaeopteryx being a bird or not. You need to argue based on the details, not based on some label.

[Minimalist]

[RoadRunner79]

Yes, there are arguement a for both points of view, and we can't just pick only the ones that suite us. My opinion is based on, that the. Oreprivate and personal accounts seem to point against.

And I agree with you, it doesn't effect Christianity either way.

[AceBoogie]

- that he opposed Atheism is not really showing that he was a Christian. More like a convenient way to get the masses behind him to eliminate communists, intellectuals.
- that he claimed to do God's work doesn't automatically make him a Christian either. He appeared to have some weird mythology and belief in divine providence...


In the end he said what he said for all kinds of reasons, I'm doubtful he deserves the label Christian. This is complicated by the fact that it is far from easy to nail down exactly what one needs to be to count as a Christian.

But more to the point,  I also don't worry much about it because it is just a label and its use does not serve to elucidate anything. Quite the opposite, by slapping that category or label on someone and then arguing from that, one always makes an argument less clear and precise. If your argument needs such a blunt generalization to work, it's probably not very good. It's a bit like arguments about evolution that hinge on Archaeopteryx being a bird or not. You need to argue based on the details, not based on some label.

1. This does show that he was more than likely not an atheist.
2. True, but coupled with the fact that most Germans at this time were Christian doesn't do much to steer us away from thinking that he was the same.

We can't really debate why when we don't really know why. Plenty of people debate that Hitler didn't actually harbor any hatred towards Jews, this doesn't change the fact that he ordered the killing of about 6 million of them. Above all else, the requirement for being a christian is belief in god and Jesus Christ. Whether or not he was a good Christian is far more debatable.

I agree it doesn't really matter either way.. but christians denial of the facts comes off as desperate and childish.

[paulpablo]

I don't think it matters if he was a Christian or not.

I don't necesserily think he was, based on his private conversations, his possible interest in Nietzche and Darwin.  Plus another aspect I've mentioned before talking about this subject, his drug intake at certain points in his life.  He probably had times where he believed he was god, was doing gods work, there was no god and everything is futile, all in the same day.

His main goal, which I don't really question much, seems to be the importance of the power of the state above all else.