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Christian nationalism and the far right
We must stand up to, and speak out against, Christian nationalism, especially when it inspires acts of violence and intimidation.
By Dr. Ellen Kennedy, the Rev. John Matthews & the Rev. James Erlandson
Sophie Scholl was beheaded by guillotine in Munich, Germany at the age of 21.
Her crime? Speaking out against the Aryan white supremacy of the Nazi regime.
It was 1943. Sophie was a member of the White Rose, a clandestine group of university students who were distributing leaflets at universities throughout Germany urging resistance to the Third Reich.
A janitor saw Sophie dropping leaflets off a balcony railing into a central hallway at the University of Munich, and he turned her in to the Gestapo. She was arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and murdered four days later.
After the execution, a pro-Nazi rally was held at the university, and the janitor was given a standing ovation.
“Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go,” Sophie said, before she was guillotined. “But what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian who became a leader in what was known as the Confessing Church, which opposed German Christian policies of exclusion and marginalization. He was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler that culminated in a failed coup on July 20, 1944. As a consequence, he was imprisoned for two years and sentenced to death at a court-martial in Flossenbürg concentration camp in Germany.
On April 9, 1945, he was led naked into the execution yard and hanged. His crime? He would not subvert Christianity to a religion that put Hitler ahead of God. He believed that the German Protestant church failed to stand up against the evils of Nazism and he stood in solidarity with the victims.
Sophie Scholl and Dietrich Bonhoeffer have become heroes in the pantheon of “upstanders” against the Christian nationalism of Nazi Germany.
What is Christian nationalism?
As Georgetown University political science professor Paul D. Miller described in Christianity Today, “Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Christian Nationalists assert that America is and must remain a ‘Christian nation’ – not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future.”
We’ve all seen T-shirts proclaiming, “Jesus Christ is my savior and Donald Trump is my president.” This is an example of Christian nationalism.
History repeats
By Burt Baldwin, Ignacio
When I attended seminary many years ago, I was struck by the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Reverend Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran minister, theologian and activist. He is best known for his work, “The Cost of Discipleship,” which was published in the 1930s. Dietrich was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship and Adolf Hitler. He spoke, without fear, against the regime’s euthanasia program and the persecution of the Jews.
As a result, he was imprisoned in April 1943. He was sent to Tegel Prison, and later, transferred to the Flossenburg concentration camp.
Nearly a month before the liberation of Europe, in April 1945, Dietrich was accused in the conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler, which was known as the “July 20 Plot.” Less than a month before the end of the war, Bonhoeffer was stripped of his clothes, ordered up to the gallows and hung.
Dietrich was one of the few people who could see what fascism was doing to his country. He witnessed the destruction of Jewish cemeteries and the rampaging of Jewish businesses during the riots of “Kristallnact,” also known as the night of the broken glass. He watched as Jewish citizens were harassed, beaten and raped. Synagogues were burned. Jews had to register their businesses, which were later confiscated. Jewish professors were banned from universities. Jewish children were ordered to attend only Jewish schools. Book burning became a national event.
The ultimate humiliation was the ordering of Jews to wear a gold star when appearing in public. Of course, this was to be followed by the Holocaust.
There is an old adage that alludes to history repeating itself. It may be true, for it only takes time for people to forget or deny the past. I have recalled some similar events in the past years, which puts me on edge and should sober us all – that history can indeed be repeated.
We have had numerous hate crimes and murders in Jewish synagogues, we have had racist marches and the destruction of Jewish cemeteries. We have had legislation for voter suppression and gerrymandering of voting districts. We have had book-burning sessions and censorship of literature by right-wing groups.
We have had propagandist media companies spewing lies to the public. We have had politicians denying the results of our voting system. We have had professional athletes and entertainment stars embracing anti-Semitic hate speech.
There is another old adage that “those who ignore the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them.”
It is time to self-examine who we are and what we want the future to look like for us and our children.
The Courage to Make Righteous Choices
Let your faith make a difference in your choices.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:10 (NIV)
This isn’t my favorite beatitude, but it’s an important one. As a Christian I like to focus on all that I gain by following Jesus: eternal life, a restored relationship with God, a life of meaning and purpose, a heart of worship, His friendship and guidance, peace that surpasses understanding.
But Jesus has always been honest that following Him on the path of right choices will sometimes cause suffering. Even small choices can require sacrifices. Giving the right of way to the car merging into your lane. Returning the money when a cashier gives too much change. Biting your tongue and changing the subject when someone starts to share juicy gossip. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship, in which he challenged Christians to let their faith make a difference in their choices—large and small. Bonhoeffer faced persecution, including imprisonment and death, for taking a stand against Hitler.
I may never face such heroic choices…
Independent broker dealer recruiter Jon Henschen Publishes “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Speaks to Woke Society Today”
June 2, 2022 8:00 AM
In Jon Henschen’s article, “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Speaks to Woke Society Today,” he references one of the most well known letters written by Bonhoeffer, concluding that the root of the Nazi problem was not malice, but stupidity.
Featured May 25, 2022 on Americanthinker.com, independent broker dealer recruiter Jon Henschen’s “Dietrich Bonhoeffer Speaks to Woke Society Today” references one of the most well known letters written by Bonhoeffer during his time in a Nazi concentration camp, concluding that the root of the Nazi problem was not malice, but stupidity. It was during his time at Tegel Prison that Bonhoeffer wrote numerous letters and papers, with his letter on stupidity being one of his most impactful.
Bonhoeffer concluded that the root of the problem was not malice, but stupidity. “Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice, because while one may protest against evil, and it can be exposed and prevented by the use of force, against stupidity we are defenseless.” Henschen goes on, “Any facts presented to a stupid person that contradict their prejudgment, simply are not to be believed and even if the evidence is irrefutable, they are pushed aside as inconsequential or incidental. The stupid person is self-satisfied and, if irritated by counterarguments, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.”
Henschen also notes that “The people who live in solitude manifest this defect less frequently than individuals in groups. It would seem that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem. Under rising power like what we saw in 1940’s Germany, humans are deprived of their inner independence and, more or less consciously, give up an autonomous position. In conversations with a stupid person, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him.”
from-sin-to-saint
This is From Sin to Saints, a podcast from Patheos. In each season, we will look at the true stories of redemption of saintly figures from all faiths. Our goal is to to understand the passions that drove them and the challenges they overcame on the journey. Over the next four episodes, we will sit down with experts to examine the life and legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A saintly figure whose story has never been more relevant.
Christians cannot sit idly by
- By Jim Brown; April 16, 2022
In church recently, we sang a hymn, “We Wait the Peaceful Kingdom,” which includes a sentiment that has haunted me as the fog of war settles over Ukraine and the world: “Still peace in all its fullness will only have begun/shalom for all creation begins with justice done.” Agonizing over this line led me to reappraise the witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and pastor who laid down his life in opposition to Adolph Hitler during World War II.
Bonhoeffer was a young pastor in the 1930s who became alarmed as Hitler rose to power. At first, he worked to remove Hitler through peaceful means, but the 1933 Enabling Act foreshadowed the horrors to come by giving Hitler complete authority over legislative acts governing German life. Churches were not immune for long, with the so-called Reich Church ultimately replacing independent regional churches. Ludwig Mueller was named bishop of the Reich Church and Hitler’s “confidential adviser” on questions concerning church life. Bonhoeffer was soon aware that “what we are going to get is a big, popular national church whose nature cannot be reconciled with Christianity.”
The similarities between Hitler’s Third Reich and President Vladimir Putin’s stranglehold on Russia are stark. A recent Russian law on “fake news” calls for 15 years in prison for anyone using the word “war” in connection with Putin’s attack on Ukraine. He rages against opponents with a tyrant’s gusto: “The Russian people will always be able to distinguish true patriots from scum and traitors and simply spit them out.” His religious confidant, Archbishop Kirill, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, has remained silent on the invasion of Ukraine while sermonizing that Russia “has entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance.”
This brings me back to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A pacifist in his early years, Hitler’s pogroms against Jews and the barbarous war he masterminded led Bonhoeffer to agree with American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr that such atrocities may require the use of force in response. In the early 1940s, he became a co-conspirator with like-minded persons to assassinate Hitler. Several attempts were made, including planting a bomb in Hitler’s plane that failed to detonate.
His justification for taking such a radical departure from nonviolence was spelled out from his prison cell after his arrest by the Gestapo in 1943: “If we want to be Christians, we must have some share in Christ’s large-heartedness … by showing a real sympathy that springs not from fear, but from the liberating and redeeming love of Christ for all who suffer. Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior.”
Bonhoeffer had risked everything by conspiring to bring Hitler’s reign of terror to a close. “Only the true God in the beyond knows whether, at the moment of action, that action has really been taken in the name of life. Everything depends on a God who demands responsible action … and who promises forgiveness and consolation to the man who becomes a sinner in that venture.”
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