Well, I know this question sounds a bit provoking, but I want to collect reasons to refute that Christians can be Nazis as well. I recently had a debate with someone who noted that the German population was overwhelmingly Christian at the time, concluding that the Nazi ideology could likely be seen to be Christian or at least compatible with Christianity. While that statistic might be true on paper, the question here is whether the conclusion that Christians could also be Nazis can actually be made? => *Were the Nazis "real" Christians?* If the answer is no, does that mean that the statistics used in the Wiki article paint an inaccurate picture of what a Christian is? How so? One of the most intuitive arguments will probably be that Christians at the time that also were part of the Nazi ideology, were not "true" Christians. A possible counter to that is the No Scotsman Fallacy . *Can, and if so, how can the No Scotsman Fallacy be refuted in this case?* Since there is already a related question regarding the catholic perspective I am interested in the protestant perspective. Although I don't mind other or more general viewpoints. **Edit** Since the definition of "real Christian" has been expected: For the scope of this Question, a real Christian is someone who: - practices the teachings of the Bible to the best of his ability - does not practice Christianity out of mere tradition, habit, or cultural peer pressure. - Does not apply syncretism to his belief (Considering the discussion in the comments, I probably need to add, that culture and traditions that are generally viewed as Christian but have a pagan origin are not counted, as most people have forgotten that origin and still celebrate something like Christmas as a Christian tradition. Syncretism in this case is focused on beliefs and direct consequences in action from that foreign belief. E.g. the need to go into battle to get into Valhalla because Norse Gods exist, while also compassionately helping a person that was robbed and hurt, because that is how God said you should show love towards your neighbor. So for all intents and purposes, let's say "obvious syncretism" that mixes beliefs that are either almost or directly antithetical to each other.) ***In the scope*** of ***this question*** this is **not** a Christian: - A person that has *faith* (because that is difficult if not impossible to find out) - A person that is saved (because only God ultimately knows that for each specific individual) - A person who rewrites the Bible to fit his belief - A person who kills Christians for the reason that they are Christian - A person that **only** has a Church Membership Just to make sure: The question is about whether we can call people that officially were Christian during the nazi era really Christian, given the atrocities committed by the Germans at the time. Since those people are now mostly dead, it is difficult/impossible to verify if a person had faith, meaning a relationship with God including receiving the Holy Spirit, etc. Therefore we have to make our conclusions from the actions taken by those people because those are recorded and recordable.

I'm wondering what the Roman Catholic church stance is on this man and whether they will ever declare him a martyr? I'm guessing he is too protestant to ever have any recognition in the Catholic church. What has the stance of the Catholic church been in regards to other Nazi dissidents?

I am here trying to find sources about Pope Benedictus XVI and his history with Nazism. I don't really have a question, but I thought this would be a great place to find resources on this subject from people who are catholics.

Have any members of the Nazi party under Adolf Hitler (including Hitler) ever been excommunicated from the Catholic Church? I suspect the answer is negative. Hitler was raised Catholic. The Church has from time to time carried out posthumous excommunications, so the idea that it wasn't politically feasible to excommunicate Hitler while he was alive is neither here nor there.

In the news recently was the issue of denying communion to those claiming to be Catholic, but allowing for late term abortions as a form of birth control. The Roman Catholic assumption, if I understand it correctly, is that the human life of a child in utero with detectable brain waves & heart beats should be given the same human rights as a child out of the womb. At the Nuremberg trials, the Nazi state encouraged late term abortions as a form of birth control was considered a crime against humanity. However, in the defense of the Nazis , SS General Richard Hildebrandt argued: > Up to now nobody had the idea to see the interruption of [any] > pregnancy as crime against humanity. However, Prosecutor McHaney in the trial testimony, considered the unborn as human beings subject to the protection of the law. McHaney argued: > But protection of the law was denied to *unborn children* [emphasis > mine] of the Russian and Polish women in Nazi Germany. Abortions were > encouraged and even forced on these women. Is there any evidence to indicate that the Catholic Church refused communion to those of its members that participated in government encouraged abortions during the Nazi era? It's interesting to compare the Roman Catholic approach to the Lutheran approach during the Nazi era. Articles, a book & talks can be found of Rev. Henry Gerecke who served as a chaplain during World War II. He was assigned to the war trials of Nuremberg along with a Roman Catholic chaplain. Of particular note is that Goering claimed he was never refused communion by a pastor, though he did not believe. However, after the war, when he was given the conditions for a simple saving faith in Jesus and an acknowledgement of the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, he refused to take communion from the chaplain. See 2 minutes into this talk. Were the Catholics, like the Lutherans, in the practice of giving communion to Nazis without regard to what they did as leaders in the state? A similar question can be found here. But this question is more related to a church's view of denying the sacrament to those encouraging late term abortions as a form of birth control.