Was Hitler Right About More Than He Thought?

I came across this English translation of a 1933 interview with Adolf Hitler in Dave Burchett’s book When Bad Christians Happen to Good People: Where We Have Failed and How to Reverse the Damage. Revised 2011 edition, p.115. The footnote given in the book is listed below. I found it interesting... and disturbing!

“The Catholic Church is already something great. Good God, people, this is an institution, and it has already had a two-thousand-year existence. We must learn from it. It is instilled with wisdom and human understanding. They know their people! They know what people are about. But their time is up! The priests themselves know this. They are smart enough; they realize this and do not engage in a fight. If they should, I will certainly not make martyrs out of them. We will brand them as simple criminals. I will rip the mask of respectability from their faces. And if that is not enough, I will make them laughable and contemptuous. I will have movies written. We will show the history of the priests on film. The people can be amazed at the whole mess of nonsense, selfishness, stupidity and fraud. How they stole money from the peasantry. How they tried to outdo the Jews. How they committed incest.  We will make it so exciting that everyone will want to see it. The people will stand in lines outside the theaters. And if the hair of the pious citizens should stand on their necks, so much the better. The youth will understand it The youth and the people. I will gladly give up the others. I guarantee... if I want I could destroy the church in a few years. It is all so hollow and the whole belief system is fragile and untruthful through and through. When pushed with a little force it will collapse. With their demonstrated desire for profit and good living, we will easily get them. On that point we can be of one accord. I give them a couple of year’s reprieve. Why do we need to argue? They will swallow everything in order to maintain their material position. It won’t come to a fight.”

Dokumente zur Kirchenpolitik des 3 Reiches, Band 1, Das Jahr 1933, trans. David Crabtree, professor at Gutenburg College, Eugene, Oregon. Published in Context, April 1998.

The description and motive of those Hitler was targeting sound too much like many of us who fancy ourselves as “believers” in God. It is so much easier to see on “them” isn’t it?