Raised in the Georgian Orthodox faith, Stalin became an atheist. He followed the position adopted by Lenin that religion was an opiate that needed to be removed in order to construct the ideal communist society. His government promoted atheism through special atheistic education in schools, anti-religious propaganda, the antireligious work of public institutions (Society of the Godless), discriminatory laws, and a terror campaign against religious believers. By the late 1930s it had become dangerous to be publicly associated with religion.[105]  What wiki did you rip this out of? Regardless, I asked what atheist doctrine was used. What you posted is political doctrine.  Yeah, dictators do not like to share power, even with the church. The church has been a power center and was a force to be overcome.  Stalin had a different policy outside the Soviet Union; he supported the Communist Uyghur Muslim separatists under Ehmetjan Qasim in the Ili Rebellion against the Anti Communist Republic of China regime. He supplied weapons to the Uyghur Ili army and Red Army support against Chinese forces, and helped them establish the Second East Turkestan Republic of which Islam was the official state religion.  Again, this is a political move. You have really failed to show that it was done as an atheist doctrine.  Hitler's private statements about Christianity were often conflicting. Hitler's intimates, such as Joseph Goebbels, Albert Speer, and Martin Bormann suggest that Hitler generally had negative opinions of Christianity, while Gen. Gerhard Engel and Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber report he was a believer.[5][6]  Ripped right out of wikipedia. I could add that Hitler was a space alien.  Anyone that even spent a cursory amount of time looking at Hitler can conclude that he was a devout catholic.  Gott Mitt Uns (God with us on every nazi belt buckle)  He killed 6.5 million men, women, and children for his beliefs. His beliefs come right out of the catholic playbook starting with Melito of sardis beginnig the concept of Jewish deicide or that the jews killed jesus. This concept was propagated by the church up until the 1960s.  Here's some more direct from the man himself (For an atheist he sure loved to talk about the glory of god a lot!):  Just as the Jew could once incite the mob of Jerusalem against Christ, so today he must succeed in inciting folk who have been duped into madness to attack those who, God's truth! seek to deal with this people in utter honesty and sincerity.  -Adolf Hitler, in Munich, 28 July 1922  In the Bible we find the text, 'That which is neither hot nor cold will I spew out of my mouth.' This utterance of the great Nazarene has kept its profound validity until the present day.  -Adolf Hitler, speech in Munich, 10 April 1923  It will at any rate be my supreme task to see to it that in the newly awakened NSDAP, the adherents of both Confessions can live peacefully together side by side in order that they may take their stand in the common fight against the power which is the mortal foe of any true Christianity.  -Adolf Hitler, in an article headed "A New Beginning," 26 Feb. 1925  A few days ago I was in Eisenach and stood on top of the Wartburg, where a great German once translated the Bible.  -Adolf Hitler, in Schleiz, Thuringia, 18 Jan. 1927  Except the Lord built the house they labour in vain.... The truth of that text was proved if one looks at the house of which the foundations were laid in 1918 and which since then has been in building.... The world will not help, the people must help itself. Its own strength is the source of life. That strength the Almighty has given us to use; that in it and through it we may wage the battle of our life.... The others in the past years have not had the blessing of the Almighty-- of Him Who in the last resort, whatever man may do, holds in His hands the final decision. Lord God, let us never hesitate or play the coward, let us never forget the duty which we have taken upon us.... We are all proud that through God's powerful aid we have become once more true Germans.  -Adolf Hitler, in a speech in March 1933  The Catholic Church considered the Jews pestilent for fifteen hundred years, put them in ghettos, etc, because it recognized the Jews for what they were".... I recognize the representatives of this race as pestilent for the state and for the church and perhaps I am thereby doing Christianity a great service by pushing them out of schools and public functions.  -Adolf Hitler, 26 April 1933  National Socialism has always affirmed that it is determined to take the Christian Churches under the protection of the State.... The decisive factor which can justify the existence alike of Church and State is the maintenance of men's spiritual and bodily health, for it that health were destroyed it would mean the end of the State and also the end of the Church.... It is my sincere hope that thereby for Germany, too, through free agreement there has been produced a final clarification of spheres in the functions of the State and of one Church. -Adolf Hitler, on a wireless on 22 July  The fact that the Vatican is concluding a treaty with the new Germany means the acknowledgement of the National Socialist state by the Catholic Church. This treaty shows the whole world clearly and unequivocally that the assertion that National Socialism [Nazism] is hostile to religion is a lie. -Adolf Hitler, 22 July 1933  The last quote is in reference to this:  The Reichskonkordat was a treaty between the Holy See and Nazi Germany, that guaranteed the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It was signed on 20 July 1933 by Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli (who later became Pope Pius XII) and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of Pope Pius XI and President Paul von Hindenburg respectively. The Reichskonkordat is the most controversial of several concordats agreed between various states and the Vatican during the reign of Pope Pius XI and is frequently discussed in works that deal with the rise of Hitler in the early 1930s and the Holocaust. The concordat has been described as giving moral legitimacy to the Nazi regime soon after Hitler had acquired dictatorial powers, and placing constraints on Catholic critics of the regime, leading to a muted response by the Church to Nazi policies. From a Roman Catholic church perspective it has been argued that the concordat prevented even greater evils being unleashed against the Church. Though the German bishops were unenthusiastic, and the Allies felt it was inappropriate, Pope Pius XII argued to keep the concordat at the end of World War II and the treaty is still in force.  Christians are fond of trying to say that Pious saved "thousands of jews" there is simply no evidence that he had done so. Al efforts on his part was to 'ensure the church endured". It was the church that was the root cause from the outset.  Thomas Jefferson had it right:  In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.  -Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814  Even if you could prove Hitler was not a devout christian (which you cannot), the millions of germans that performed those atrocities were. Any way you slice it the holocaust is Christian baggage. Deal with it.  OH and by the way, My sister happens to have her degree in Holocaust studies and is somewhat of an expert in the area. I don't get my information from conservative blogs. (what a condescending statement!)  No, you get your information from wikipedia.  Xina, listen. Some of us have actually wanted to know why this happened and had no bias in our determinations.  I remember being a young man asking why Hitler killed all those people. I was told he was jealous of them.  Then I read in how he was instrumental in founding the vatican. I didn't understand that either since I was always told he was an atheist.  Then I read his speeches and books and asked again why if an atheist, he would do such things. I got the answer he was using religion as a tool for political gain.  Ok, fair enough. But that simply does not pass the sniff test. Why would you exert such effort in killing all those people. That made no sense from a power perspective, especially shipping them in from all over the place.  Then I came to an epiphany. The people telling me about Hitler had no clue why he did what he did.  Long story short, after much research, in not only Hitler but also the Catholic church it's very clear now why Hitler killed all those people. He felt it was his religious duty to do so. When you add up all the pieces they very clearly support that.  By the way, like I said, I did not presuppose this. It was a conclusion after a long period of investigation (20 years).  Don't take my word for it. Do your own homework. But don't take arguments from authority if they are telling you something that does not jive with the evidence.
Pope Francis on Sunday led his first major service since his election, calling on crowd to shun corruption and reach out to