Gibson: Yes, but Hitler was a maniac, ok? Hitler was a madman, he was also an occultist. You know, he was into devil worship; he, he believed in the superiority of the Aryan race and he was like...all this old Norse Viking kind of stuff, that was what he was into, ok? He was a monster. So, he was already like that; I don't think a passion play turned Hitler around.
There are many even today who still claim that Hitler was a Christian. The evidence for this idea is from selective statements taken from Mein Kampf as well as several public speeches. If the dates are examined, most of Hitler's pro-Christian statements were made either before 1933 (when he assumed the Chancellorship) or during that same year as he consoliated his power. His rise to power was aided by the support of many different groups, one of which was the Catholic Center Party. His later treatment of Catholics (and Protestants) demonstrate how political his Christian lip service truly was.
The official Nazi party program included the following statement: "liberty for all religious denominations in the State as far as they are not a danger to...the moral feelings of the German race. The party stands for Positive Christianity." Before concluding that this is evidence of the Christian nature of the National Socialists, it is important to know what this term actually meant. It was defined by Dr. Hans Kerrl, Minister of Church Affairs, in a speech delivered to submissive churchmen on February 13, 1937:
William L. Shirer
(page 239)
The vision for this national church was clearly drawn up in a thirty-point program, which included the following points:
- The National Reich Church of Germany categorically claims the exclusive right and the exclusive power to control all churches within the borders of the Reich; it declares these to be national churches of the German Reich.
- The National Church is determined to exterminate irrevocably...the strange and foreign Christian faiths imported into Germany in the ill-omened year 800.
- The National Church has no scribes, pastors, chaplains or priests, but National Reich orators are to speak in them.
- The National Church demands immediate cessation of the publishing and dissemination of the Bible in Germany...
- The National Church declares that to it, and therefore to the German nation, it has been decided that the Fuehrer's Mein Kampf is the greatest of all documents. It...not only contains the greatest but it embodies the purest and truest ethics for the present and future life of our nation.
- The National Church will clear away from its altars all crucifixes, Bibles and pictures of saints.
- On the altars there must be nothing but Mein Kampf (to the German and therefore to God the most sacred book) and to the left of the altar a sword.
- On the day of its foundation, the Christian Cross must be removed from all churches, cathedrals and chapels...and it must be superseded by the only unconquerable symbol, the swastika.
William L. Shirer
(page 240)
