TaO!

I have heard, I think by Dan Barker, that Hitler cited religious motivation for his extermination of the Jews. Doesn anyone have a reference for this?

IRON MAN

I have been reading Mein Kampf, and Hitler makes the point that although the Jews claimed their people was a religion, it was actually a race hiding behind the guise of a religion.

He may have had a point there, since the Jewish practice of lending to other Jews without interest, while charging interest to non-Jews could easily be construed as a veiled form of racism.

In fact given the ambiguity of the situation, it is fair to say that there may be some advantage for the Jews in being able to portray themselves as either a religion or a people, whichever happens to be convenient.

Clearly his personal decision to eliminate the Jews was a idealogical one, I haven't seen any religious justification cited yet, (I am half way through). And I would think that any religious reason given after the fact, would simply be transparent rationalization.

Interestingly Hitler didn't give a shit about the Jews one way or the other until he was exposed to an anti-semitic publication while starting his political career.

I believe the reasons cited were that the Jewish were supposedly the cause of economic division, and moral degradation.

The closest thing he said to religious justification was to say that he was doing God's work, but I think the context was more that God couldn't complain that he was eliminating people responsible for some of the more morally questionable businesses in town.

I'll see if I can locate the exact reference.

Edit: References

"... And so I believe to-day that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord."

The last line of Chapter 2 of Mein Kampf.

When taken out of context, this seems pretty damning, and probably exactly what you are looking for to confirm that Hitler's reason's were religious one's, but I caution you against this.

In context it is obvious that he simply believes the Jews to be a force of moral degradation in society, and therefore simply considers his goals to be congrent with the wishes of God, not that he feels he has been divinely ordered to eliminate them.

TaO!

Soldiers in the German Wehrmacht wore belt buckles with "God is with us" during WWI and WWII. I'm not sure of the relevance, but it's an interesting point to add.

http://www.waffen-ss.no/gott-mit-uns-p.jpg

IRON MAN

Every football team thinks God is with them.

I don't think, "In God we trust" being written on US shit means that George Bush is under divine orders to kill Iraqies.

I know you are not strongly asserting otherwise - just making a point of my own about that.

God's on everyone's side - just ask them.

Diogenes the Cynic

Moving to GRD

DtC, Moderator, BC&H

ziffel

I just listened to a 12 part lecture series by Prof. Ed Larson (of Baylor, I believe) on the history of the Theory of Evolution and it's history of controversy.

He mentions Hitler late in the series, and explained that evolutionary thought was just taking hold across the world. The idea in and around WW1, and the 1920's, was that white man, Nordic man, was the supreme species of humanity, and that other races were 'lesser species', and not quite fully evolved. Hitler believed that God's best work, via evolution, was his race, the master race, and viewed Jews as sub-human, not much higher than animals.

I'm sure there is more than one angle to his views, but I thought I'd throw that in.

Triple Six

There are endless arguments over Hitler's religious views with no conclusive evidence either way. What isn't discussed nearly as much is how the strong anti semitism of the catholic and lutheran churches helped make Hitler's racial views more acceptable to the German public.

Kosh3

"It is said that God is always on the side of the heaviest battalions"
--Voltaire, Letter to M. le Riche, Feb 6, 1770

Mace

He's not on mine, in fact I've actually acquired a feeling of enmity against him.

IRON MAN

Well I think it's quite clear, and you can't get much more from the horse's mouth than Mein Kampf.

Although it might be nice for atheists to misquote him, and say he was a religious whacko, or for theists to say he was an atheist motivated by the theory of evolution, I think the fact is he was using both religion and the theory of evolution after the fact as justifications for his own views, even to himself.

If Astrology supported his view point, I reckon he would have used that too.

The fact is, that to take one view or the other you have to ignore the evidence of the opposite side. This is simply selective observation, made by people who want to put Hitler, (who is as close as you're gonna get to Satan on Earth), on the other team's side.