Often, Christians apologists try to portray Hitler as a godless heathen and a symbol of the evils caused by atheism. But, this is a very inaccurate picture. He may not have agreed with mainstream Christianity at the time, but he was devoted to Jesus and was personally inspired by him. He makes this clear by expressing his praise for Jesus in some of his speeches and writings.
Many Protestant Christians today have no problem criticizing Catholicism. Hitler was simply doing the same thing; criticizing his religion of birth, Roman Catholicism, and was not attacking Christianity itself. You will find many quotations of Hitler making harsh criticisms of the mainstream institution of Christianity, but you will not find any criticizing Jesus, God the Father, or the Bible.
Another tactic used to distance Christianity from Hitler is to say that the actions of Hitler demonstrate that he was not a Christian. However, that is contrary to how Christianity works. Time and time again I have heard how Christianity is better than all other religions because it is not works based.
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
- Galatians 2:16
The only real qualification to be a Christian is to believe in Jesus Christ which Hitler definitely did.
“My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter.”
- Adolf Hitler (My New Order)
So, even recognizing that Hitler’s actions were sinful do not bar him from Christianity. This is because according to Christian belief all people sin and only redemption through faith in Jesus Christ can absolve them. Therefore, there is also nothing stopping Hitler from being in heaven right now.
There is also no doubt that Hitler believed he was doing God’s work.
“I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”
- Hitler (Mein Kampf)
Christians will of course argue that his was a twisted distortion of Christian faith and cannot be considered Christianity. But, why then was he supported at large by the population of devout German Christians and the highest Protestant and Catholic leaders before and even during the war?
On the contrary, it can be argued that Hitler was more Christian than Christians today because he acknowledged the legitimacy of the Old Testament. For example, he used the Old Testament race laws as the foundation for his views against the Jews, which later became the Nazi Nuremberg race laws.
Even his anti-Semitism was not unusual at the time. Christianity had a long history of distancing itself from Judaism and hatred of Jews. It is undeniable that Christianity was the only source from which Hitler, the Nazis and the general population of Germany could have cultivated such a strong hatred for Jews. Christians may want to attribute his anti-Semitism to evolution or “Darwininism”, but Hitler was a creationist and did not accept evolution.
“For it was by the Will of God that men were made of a certain bodily shape, were given their natures and their faculties.”
- Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
“The fox remains always a fox, the goose remains a goose, and the tiger will retain the character of a tiger. The only difference that can exist within the species must be in the various degrees of structural strength and active power, in the intelligence, efficiency, endurance, etc., with which the individual specimens are endowed.”
- Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)
When you have looked at the facts as I have you can come to no other conclusion that Hitler was a Christian. You may abhor his actions, but you can only attribute this to the ever changing morality of Christianity.
