Dinesh, Jesus, and Adolph

I watched a debate recently which involved Dinesh D'Souza arguing that Christianity was the most positive force in the world and atheism is one of the most destructive. D'Souza said that the murderous regimes of Mao, Stalin, and Hitler were all fueled by their atheism. Unfortunately for D'Souza's argument, Adolph Hitler was Christian.

I can see why Christians may not want to scream that Hitler was one of them from the mountain tops. Hitler didn't go to church, but he was raised as a Christian and even identified as one. He believed he was performing the Lord's work. Besides being factually accurate, Hitler as a Christian makes a lot more sense than Hitler as an aethist. He despised Jews and homosexuals; between Christians and atheists, who does that sound more like? Atheists don't really have any justification (real or imagined) to hate those two specific groups.

I don't think D'Souza was intentionally dishonest. I believe he was intellectually lazy. Perhaps he grew up with the belief that Hitler was not Christian because his church probably taught him so. Hey, it's easier when you're a kid and don't share a faith with any genocidal dictators. Unfortunately for Christian kids and Dinesh D'Souza's argument, Hitler was a Christian. He also tried to argue that the Spanish Inquisition really wasn't all that bad. On behalf of my Muslim brothers and sisters and my fellow Jews: fuck you asshole!