Was Hitler an atheist?

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The exact nature of Hitler's religious beliefs in adulthood are unclear, but he did hold religious beliefs. He was not an atheist. Although Hitler spoke endlessly of providence, he didn't attend church. Like most of the Nazi leadership he had a Catholic upbringing, and never formally left the church.

As a child he was an altar boy. While recovering from a chlorine gas attack during World War One Hitler came to the realisation that he wished to exterminate Jewish people and compares this supposed epiphany to Jesus appearing to Saul on the road to Damascus. He makes references in Mein Kampf to driving Jewish people from Germany in a manner similar to Christ driving the money lenders from the Temple in the New Testament.

Later his government was behind the creation of a short lived state church, with a Bishop personally appointed by Hitler. The motto of the SS (Schutz Staffeln), Hitler's personal bodyguard was "Gott mit uns" - God is with us.

According to Albert Speer, Hitler remained a formal member of the Catholic Church until his death (unlike other leading Nazis who had formally, publicly and with agitation left the Church), although Speer also notes that Hitler "had no real attachment to it."

According to Hitler biographer John Toland, writing of Hitler's religious views and their effects: "Still a member in good standing of the Church of Rome despite detestation of its hierarchy, he carried within him its teaching that the Jew 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..."

According to historian Richard Steigmann-Gall, much is known about Hitler's views on religion through Hitler's book, Mein Kampf. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote neither as an atheist, nor an agnostic, nor as a believer in a remote, rationalist divinity; instead he expressed his belief in one providential, active, deity:

"What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and the reproduction of our race...so that our people may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by the creator of the universe...Peoples that bastardize themselves, or let themselves be bastardized, sin against the will of eternal Providence."

First answer by Joncey. Last edit by LubaP. Contributor trust: 140 [recommend contributorrecommended]. Question popularity: 16 [recommend question].