The Devil's Notebook [Part 2]

A compilation of quotes from Joseph Goebbels on Christianity taken from his first two private journals

 “The best way to deal with the churches is to claim to be a 'positive Christian'.”

"Afterwards, long discussions about the Vatican and Christianity. The Fuhrer is a fierce opponent of all that humbug, but he forbids me to leave the church. For tactical reasons. And so for a decade now I have paid my church taxes to support such rubbish. That is what hurts most."

“The manager of Father Coughlin, the anti-Semitic radio priest in America, tells us that America is basically more anti-Semitic than we give it credit for. He would like us to take a more positive attitude towards Christianity.”

“The Pope has made a Christmas speech. Full of bitter, covert attacks against us, against the Reich and National Socialism. All the forces of internationalism are against us. We must break them.”

“I put foreward my complaints about the church. The Fuhrer shares them completely, but does not believe that the churches will try anything in the middle of the war.”

“”Thyssen” sent a treasonous letter to Hitler, in the letter it said, “I felt it necessary to voice my protest against the persecution of Christianity, against the brutalization of its priests, against the desecration of its churches.”

 “The Fuhrer is very skeptical about the possibility of finding a substitute for the churches, and rightly so. That will be the task of some future reformer, which the Fuhrer in no way feels himself to be. The problems he wants to solve are purely political. The battle with the churches is unavoidable, but it will certainly last a long time.”

“Only the church stands in our way now. The church has not abandoned its claim to domination over the secular world; it has merely dressed it up in religious clothing. In the days of the Holy Roman Empire, the church possessed that power, too. The state was the tax-collector, so to speak, while the church ruled the people’s lives. This lies at the core of the struggle today, in which we must – and shall – be victorious.”

“Christianity has infused all our erotic attitudes with dishonesty. The so-called ‘morality’ of today is mostly nothing but hypocrisy.”

“The Fuhrer is a man totally attuned to antiquity. He hates Christianity, because it has crippled all that is noble in humanity. According to Schopenhauer, Christianity and syphilis have made humanity unhappy and unfree. What a difference between the benevolent, smiling Zeus and the pain-wracked, crucified Christ. The ancient peoples’ view of God was also much nobler and more humane than the Christians’. What a difference between a gloomy cathedral and a light, airy ancient temple.”

“And so far as the slaves are concerned, the people who were supposedly freed by Christianity: they were far less free and far more oppressed than in ancient Rome.”

“Raeder is making representations in favour of a Christian book about Narvik and has argued very strongly for it to me. He is a very pious Admiral. But the war at sea is being won not with prayers but with U-boats and torpedoes.”

“The Fuhrer is deeply religious, though completely anti-Christian. He views Christianity as a symptom of decay. Rightly so. It is a branch of the Jewish race. This can be seen in the similarity of religious rites. Both (Judaism and Christianity) have no point of contact with the animal element, and thus, in the end, they will be destroyed.”

“Reichsleiter Martin Bormann became Rudolf Hess’s successor as Hitler’s deputy in party matters after Hess's sensational flight to England in 1941. He proved to be one of the most radical and uncompromising Nazis, filled with a hated for the Church.”

“American Newspapers claim that Stalin has been preordained to save Christianity.”

Roosevelt has thought up a new Christian propaganda for the Easter holidays. He compares the road of the vanquished peoples of Europe to the road to Golgotha, and claims that he of all people has been divinely ordained to protect Christianity against neo-paganism–this, of course, with the aid of the exceptionally Christian Soviets, who have distinguished themselves in the past by their religious fanaticism!”

“Göring, too…his whole attitude toward the Christian Churches toward the Christian denominations I quite open and above board. He sees through them, and has no intention whatever of taking them under his protection.”

“It’s a dirty, low thing for the Catholic Church to continue its subversive activity in every way possible… Next to the Jews these politico-divines [politisierenden pfaffen] are about the most loathsome riffraff that we are still sheltering in the Reich. The time will come after the war for an over-all solution of this problem.”

“The Führer spoke very derogatorily abut the arrogance of the higher and lower clergy. The insanity of the Christian doctrine of redemption really doesn’t fit at all into our time. The Führer cited a number of exceptionally drastic and in part even grotesque examples. Whereas the most learned and wisest scientists struggle for a whole lifetime to study but one of the mysterious laws of nature, a little country priest from Bavaria is in a position to decide this matter on the basis of his religious knowledge. One can regard such a disgusting performance only with disdain.”

“The Catholic clergy is collaborating with the enemies of our country in a truly treasonable manner. I could burst with rage when I think that we cannot possibly call the guilty ones to account now. We shall save our vengeance until later.”

“A number of Catholic and Protestant ministers have been sentenced to death. They had offended the German armed forces in a most cowardly manner. I proposed to the Führer that the verdicts, together with the opinion of the court, be published.”

“Reichsleiter Martin Bormann became Rudolf Hess’s successor as Hitler’s deputy in party matters after Hess's sensational flight to England in 1941. He proved to be one of the most radical and uncompromising Nazis, filled with a hated for the Church.”

“American Newspapers claim that Stalin has been preordained to save Christianity.”

Roosevelt has thought up a new Christian propaganda for the Easter holidays. He compares the road of the vanquished peoples of Europe to the road to Golgotha, and claims that he of all people has been divinely ordained to protect Christianity against neo-paganism–this, of course, with the aid of the exceptionally Christian Soviets, who have distinguished themselves in the past by their religious fanaticism!”

“Göring, too…his whole attitude toward the Christian Churches toward the Christian denominations I quite open and above board. He sees through them, and has no intention whatever of taking them under his protection.”

“It’s a dirty, low thing for the Catholic Church to continue its subversive activity in every way possible… Next to the Jews these politico-divines [politisierenden pfaffen] are about the most loathsome riffraff that we are still sheltering in the Reich. The time will come after the war for an over-all solution of this problem.”

“The Führer spoke very derogatorily abut the arrogance of the higher and lower clergy. The insanity of the Christian doctrine of redemption really doesn’t fit at all into our time. The Führer cited a number of exceptionally drastic and in part even grotesque examples. Whereas the most learned and wisest scientists struggle for a whole lifetime to study but one of the mysterious laws of nature, a little country priest from Bavaria is in a position to decide this matter on the basis of his religious knowledge. One can regard such a disgusting performance only with disdain.”

“The Catholic clergy is collaborating with the enemies of our country in a truly treasonable manner. I could burst with rage when I think that we cannot possibly call the guilty ones to account now. We shall save our vengeance until later.”

“A number of Catholic and Protestant ministers have been sentenced to death. They had offended the German armed forces in a most cowardly manner. I proposed to the Führer that the verdicts, together with the opinion of the court, be published.”

The Führer is deeply religious, though completely anti-Christian; he views Christianity as a symptom of decay. Rightly so. It is a branch of the Jewish race. Both [Judaism and Christianity] have no point of contact to the animal element, and thus, in the end, they will be destroyed."