Sure, but I was thinking of Hitler himself, who was raised Catholic. I don’t really consider the individual soldiers in the German Army; I’m sure most of them weren’t aware of what they were fighting for. As for most of Hitler’s SS thugs, I don’t know what their religious identities were. The problem I have with your definition of Christianity is that there are sects that elevate the Pope or Joseph Smith, for example, (I hope Ender can elaborate on his views) to the level of near-divinity. The Pope takes the title of “Holy Father”, which is only used in the Bible to refer to God himself.
Joseph Smith is certainly not elevated above humanity in Mormon teaching.
I was thinking that in the Mormon faith Joseph Smith played a role in the final judgement. Apparently it was Brigham Young, his successor and respected Mormon leader, who stated that Joseph Smith was the one who essentially chose who gets to heaven. How much more elevated can you get? Sadly, the LDS website has no clear answers and I honestly don’t have the patience to dig much deeper. Hopefully Ender can shed light on his position.
Brigham Young’s statement is as follows:
“Joseph Smith holds the keys of this last dispensation, and is now engaged behind the vail in the great work of the last days. I can tell our beloved brother Christians who have slain the Prophets and butchered and otherwise caused the death of thousands of Latter-day Saints, the priests who have thanked God in their prayers and thanksgiving from the pulpit that we have been plundered, driven, and slain, and the deacons under the pulpit, and their brethren and sisters in their closets, who have thanked God, thinking that the Latter-day Saints were wasted away, something that no doubt will mortify them—something that, to say the least, is a matter of deep regret to them—namely, that no man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith.”
It is intended to be understood in the same light as Jesus Christ’s own words in Matthew 19:
“27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? 28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Note some key phrases. First, Jesus Christ has delegated his authority to judge to his chosen servants, and clearly the original apostles are the primes judges next to Jesus Christ himself. Next, note that Brigham Young specifically stated that Joseph Smith’s judgement will apply to people of this dispensation. We Mormons believe that God has revealed himself multiple times, dispensing knowledge to mankind (a dispensation), and that there has been a falling away each time, and that Joseph Smith is the head of the last dispensation before Jesus Christ comes again. In that position, we believe he too has delegated authority, beneath the original apostles and beneath Jesus Christ, but still relevant to those who have lived in this dispensation.
Make sense?