Fun Fact: Hitler was Catholic
Fun Fact: Pickle Smoochers is a Catholic school
I'm reading Bonhoeffer right now so this is right up my alley.
Hitler was baptized and confirmed Roman Catholic, and although he never formally left the church, he was not a practicing RC or a practicing Christian in adulthood. Just as many politicians do today, he stated publicly he was Christian, but privately everyone knew he was not.
Some quotes from Hitler on Christianity:
"The reason why the ancient world was so pure, light and serene was that it knew nothing of the two great scourges : the pox and Christianity."
"Christianity is the worst of the regressions that mankind can ever have undergone, and it's the Jew who, thanks to this diabolic invention, has thrown him back fifteen centuries. The only thing that would be still worse would be victory for the Jew through Bolshevism."
"Science cannot lie, for it's always striving, according to the momentary state of knowledge, to deduce what is true. When it makes a mistake, it does so in good faith. It's Christianity that's the liar. It's in perpetual conflict with itself."
A journal entry from Goebbels on 29 April 1941 said that Hitler was "a fierce opponent" of the Vatican and Christianity, "he forbids me to leave the church. For tactical reasons."
His secretary Albert Speer wrote: "Once I have settled my other problem," [Hitler] occasionally declared, "I'll have my reckoning with the church. I'll have it reeling on the ropes."
Nazism itself was largely atheist/scientific, although many of Hitler's inner circle were pagans. Some wanted to ban Christianity outright and some wanted to simply outlaw the major teachings and gradually convert Christianity back to paganism. Hitler didn't share that vision himself because he was all about power, and since Christianity had destroyed paganism, paganism did not possess power. Rather he wanted the Christian church to submit to him and to teaching Nazi ideology, and if it would not, it would be banned.