My subtitle today is, in fact, the title of an essay by Hector Avalos in John Loftus’ 2010 anthology, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails. In this essay, Avalos provides a thorough, scathing critique of conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza’s claim that “atheism in Nazi Germany” caused “some 10 million deaths, including that of 6 million Jews.” (p. 368) D’Souza’s observation is part of a broader strategy to blame the holocaust on immoral atheists instead of on Christian beliefs
that have caused so much pain and suffering for hundreds of years. The origins of anti-Semitism can be found in the New Testament itself. In Mark 15 we find the story of Pilate releasing the insurrectionist Barabbas, yielding to the crowd that had been whipped up by the chief priests:
“Pilate spoke to them again, ‘Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ Pilate asked them, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus he handed him over to be crucified.” (Mark 15:12-15)
Historians have doubted this story for a long time, since releasing an insurrectionist is the last thing Pilate would have done. There is no way whatever to verify that this actually happened. Yet, this story has caused considerable damage. As a kid growing up in rural northern Indiana, I was familiar with the charge that “the Jews killed Jesus.” Likewise, one verse in John’s gospel has been used to fuel hatred of Jews; Jesus is debating with Jewish leaders and makes this accusation:
Perhaps the biggest advocate of hatred for Jews in Christian history was Martin Luther. His was hatred on a savage level. In 1543 he published a document in which he advocated burning synagogues, and destroying Jewish homes. Their sacred books should be taken from them, and rabbis should be forbidden to teach. This document included seven chilling recommendations for punishing Jews. Avalos notes:
“Every single point in Luther's plan was implemented by Nazi policy. For example, during Kristallnacht, the horrific anti-Jewish rampage of 1938, Jewish synagogues, businesses, and homes were burned or ransacked, just as Luther's first and second points direct. Moreover, whether by coincidence or not, Kristallnacht spanned Luther's birthday on November 10.” (p. 373)
In the Wikipedia article on Martin Luther, we find this observation:
“…Christopher J. Probst, in his book Demonizing the Jews: Luther and the Protestant Church in Nazi Germany (2012), shows that a large number of German Protestant clergy and theologians during the Nazi era used Luther's hostile publications towards the Jews and their Jewish religion to justify at least in part the antisemitic policies of the National Socialists. The pro-Nazi Christian group Deutsche Christen drew parallels between Martin Luther and the ‘Führer’ Adolf Hitler.”
On 29 January 2026, Richard Carrier published a major essay on his blog: Christianity in Hitler’s Ideology: The Definitive Study. This is worth very careful study—for anyone curious about whether Nazis were atheists or religious. He opens with this comment: “I’ve long pointed out that attempts to make Hitler and the Nazis into atheists is counterfactual propaganda. They were stalwartly and predominately Christian, and largely driven by Christian motives.” He makes crucial points:
“Their vision was of a church not independent from the state, but preaching a Christianity freed from all Jewish corruption.”
“Hitler appears to have genuinely believed he was doing God’s will and would go to heaven—while he despised and vilified atheists for not believing in a Creator, or his message or salvation.”
This is especially important:
“There were a few atheists among the Nazi ranks (like Martin Bormann) but they nevertheless approved Hitler’s plan to ‘reestablish’ this ‘true’ Christianity—for them, in a Neoconservative sense: as an opiate for the masses, to be understood by the elite as all just metaphor. But for most Nazis, Hitler included, it was no metaphor. They were true believers. It is to no avail to say, ‘But they are interpreting the Bible weirdly,’ because all Christians do. Nazi Christianity is Christianity. Just as any other sect of Christianity is. ‘It’s the wrong Christianity’ is a mere theological dispute, built out of bullshit on either side. Which means the Nazis have as good an argument as any for their side... Both sides get to ignore whatever evidence in the Bible they want, and interpret the rest any way they want.”
Carrier recommends three books that are important in the study of religion as practiced by the Nazis:
· Richard Steigmann-Gall’s The Holy Reich: Nazi Conceptions of Christianity, 1919-1945 (2004)
· Susannah Heschel’s The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany (2010)
· Mikael Nilsson’s Christianity in Hitler’s Ideology (2024)
Steigmann-Gall states the following:
“…the Nazis’ determined effort to coordinate the Protestant churches suggests that they were seen as compatible—in a particular institutional form—with the Nazi order. This was true as well for the secular institutions and activities of the church. The practical Christianity exercised by church bodies for the health of the nation was of paramount interest to the Nazis. As we have seen, many Nazis proclaimed that their worldview largely revolved around ethical and social precepts found in Christianity.” (p. 189)
The argument of some Christian theologians that their religion enhances morality, while atheism does not, is falsified by history. For example, the American Holocaust following the discovery of the new world by European explorers, was truly horrific, and is described in detail by David E. Stannard in his 1992 book, American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. The discoverers and explorers, so used to Christianity, for the most part treated native Americans with contempt and violence. And remember the behavior of opposing Christians during the American Civil War. Some felt that slavery was part of their god’s natural order; others figured out that slavery was brutal, contemptible. And these two factions of “the one true faith” went to war, during which so many people died.
But this illustrates the major scandal of the Christian faith: it has splintered into thousands of different brands, with so many conflicting understandings of what it means to be a true Christian. And this is based on the scandal of a Bible that presents so many contradictions, so many differing ideas about god. Come on devout believers: it’s time to snap out of it.
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
· Guessing About God (2023)
· Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
· Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
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