One of the more tired old saws of the militant, atheistic set is the claim that Hitler was a "Christian". One would suppose that being that there are no "published sources from acknowledged academic historians or writers that identify Adolf Hitler as significantly Catholic or Christian in his motivations as an adult", that this issue would be over and done with. However, the more socially-challenged will continue to posit that Hitler was a Christian based on choir/church attendance as a youngster. Vox Day has successfully argued that if this is the case then arch-atheists Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins could still be considered Anglicans by such a shoddy standard.
Adding further weight to the argument that Hitler was decidedly NOT a Christian is today's Daily Mail article in which we learn a little bit about Hitler's celebration at Christmas time in 1941...
"..the Nazi Christmas was far from traditional. Hitler believed religion had no place in his 1,000-year Reich, so he replaced the Christian figure of Saint Nicholas with the Norse god Odin and urged Germans to celebrate the season as a holiday of the ‘winter solstice’, rather than Christmas.
Out of sight at the top of the tree behind Hitler was a swastika instead of an angel, and many of the baubles carried runic symbols and iron cross motifs...
In 1944-1945, the Nazis tried to reinvent Christmas once again as a day to commemorate the dead, in particular fallen soldiers – by that time Germany had lost almost four million men in the war. But while many Germans baked biscuits and cakes in the shape of swastikas and adorned their trees with the symbols of the Nazi regime, most still called the festival Christmas."
Let the rationalization begin! I predict that first, the more evangelical of the atheist set will try to argue that the inclusion of the Iron Cross among the symbols used gave the festival a certain Christian flair. To argue as such would be silly and one needs only to look to the words of Richard Dawkins. Even HE recognizes the folly of such reasoning..
"[Hitler] was an opportunistic liar whose words cannot be trusted" The God Delusion, pg. 274
3 comments:
Dawkins points out that the Table Talk quotes seem to contradict Hitler's public statements.
And then Dawkins asks: "It is possible that Hitler had by 1941 experienced some kind of deconversion or disillusionment with Christianity. Or is the resolution of the contradictions simply that he was an opportunistic liar whose words cannot be trusted, in either direction?"
Dawkins doesn't consider the likely proposition that the Table Talk quotes are fake.
Hope you have a great Christmas and a happy new year!
It's Christmas morning already in Australia.
Zilch was suppossed to send me information on how to purchase another book that was based on notes by Martin Bormann in his interviews with Hitler that WEREN'T corrupted like those in Table Talk are reported to be, but the Zilchster sorta disappeared.
Merry Christmas to you too.
Merry Christmas, JD. (And hey, I suppose this comment isn't even completely off-topic.)
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