Hitler Was Not An Atheist by John Patrick Michael Murphy The following
article is from Free Inquiry magazine, Volume 19, Number 2. In George
Orwell's 1984, it was stated, "Who controls the past controls the
future, who controls the present controls the past." Who is going to
control the present-fundamentalism or freedom? History is being distorted by
many preachers and politicians. They are heard on the airwaves condemning
atheists and routinely claim Adolph Hitler was one. Hitler was a Roman
Catholic, baptized into that religio-political institution as an infant in
Austria. He became a communicant and an altar boy in his youth and was
confirmed as a "soldier of Christ" in that church. Its worst
doctrines never left him. He was steeped in its liturgy, which contained the
words "perfidious jew." This hateful statement was not removed
until 1961. "Perfidy" means treachery. In his day, hatred of Jews
was the norm. In great measure it was sponsored by two major religions of
Germany, Catholicism, and Lutheranism. He greatly admired Martin Luther, who
openly hated the Jews. Luther condemned the Catholic Church for its
pretensions and corruption, but he supported the centuries of papal pogroms
against the Jews. Luther said, "The Jews deserve to be hanged on
gallows, seven times higher than ordinary thieves," and "We ought
to take revenge on the Jews and kill them." "Ungodly
wretches" he called the Jews in his book Table Talk. Hitler seeking
power, wrote in Mein Kampf, "... I am convinced that I am acting as the
agent of our Creator. By fighting off the Jews. I am doing the Lord's
work." Years later, when in power, he quoted those same words in a
Reichstag speech in 1938. Three years later he informed General Gerhart
Engel: "I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."
He never left the church, and the church never left him. Great literature
was banned by his church, but his miserable Mein Kampf never appeared on the
index of Forbidden Books. He was not excommunicated or even condemned by his
church. Popes, in fact, contracted with Hitler and his fascist friends
Franco and Mussolini, giving them veto power over whom the pope could
appoint as a bishop in Germany, Spain, and Italy. The three thugs agreed to
surtax the Catholics of these countries and send the money to Rome in
exchange for making sure the state could control the church. Those who would
make Hitler an atheist should turn their eyes to history books before they
address their pews and microphones. Acclaimed Hitler biographer John Toland
explains his heartlessness as follows: "Still a member in good standing
of the Church of Rome despite the detestation of its hierarchy, he carried
within him its teaching that the Jews was the killer of god. The
extermination, therefore, could be done without a twinge of conscience since
he was merely acting as the avenging hand of god. ..." Hitler's
Germany amalgamated state with church. Soldiers of the vermacht wore belt
buckles inscribed with the following: "Gott mit uns" (God is with
us). His troops were often sprinkled with holy water by the priests. It was
a real Christian country whose citizens were indoctrinated by both state and
church and blindly followed all authority figures, political and
ecclesiastical. Hitler, like some of the today's politicians and
preachers, politicized "family values." He liked corporeal
punishment in home and school. Jesus prayers became mandatory in all schools
under his administration. While abortion was illegal in pre-Hitler Germany,
he took it to new depths of enforcement, requiring all doctors to report to
the government the circumstances of all miscarriages. He openly despised
homosexuality and criminalized it. If past is prologue, we know what to
expect if liberty becomes license. As a young child, I remember my late
father, Martin J. Murphy, practicing a speech and loudly quoting the
following: "Light up the mountain. Bring out the wild and fiery steed.
Let it be known, that I, Gustavus, have insulted the King." Thinking
for yourself and speaking your true thoughts - now that's a real family
value. John Patrick Michael Murphy, a retired attorney and a member of
Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, co-writes a freethought column for an
alternative weekly newspaper.
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May your unborn fetus be gay

Hitler Was Not An Atheist