Crosspost from [email protected].
An overview of studies which investigate correlations between morality and religious vs. secular / atheist ideologies presented by Phil Zuckerman who is a professor of sociology and secular studies at the Claremont colleges in California, USA.
Summary: Atheists / secular people not only have morals but are even more moral than religious people.
Note: Of course moral is a matter of perspective. In this context we agree that compassion and empathy are our foundations of moral.
Hitler was not really irreligious. Some historians claim he remained a Christian, despite disliking the church. Others claim he was not a Christian in the traditional sense of the word, but did keep some level of reverence for Jesus.
The most commonly held belief it seems is that Hitler was a deist, believing in some god that would protect the German people, though not necessarily the Judeo-Christian god. He did however remain a member of the Catholic church until his suicide.
Regardless of his own beliefs, he did use religion as a tool to further his genocidal plans.