Have They Come For You?

Recently, I posted a blog which spoke of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his opposition to Adolf Hitler, a stand which cost him imprisonment and finally, execution, in a Nazi concentration camp (see The Era of Stupidity, November 14).  Today, I’m going to refer to another German Lutheran pastor who likewise opposed the Nazis and who also suffered imprisonment for his stand. Also, like Bonhoeffer, this other theologian had important things to say which are as relevant today in America as they were in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s.

Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian who opposed Hitler’s Nazification of the German Church. At first, before Hitler took total power, Niemöller approved of the leader for opposing the atheistic Communists, and actually met with him. During their meeting, Hitler assured Niemöller that the Nazis would respect the freedom and autonomy of the Church. However, when Hitler became chancellor and began asserting control over the churches by appointing Nazi-approved bishops and limiting what could be preached and taught, Niemöller joined other objectors in denouncing Hitler and his party.

Of course, this didn’t sit well with the dictator, so Niemöller was arrested and imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps for seven years, from 1938 to 1945. Fortunately, he survived the ordeal.

Niemöller’s most famous quote, and the one most pertinent to today’s situation, is this one which he wrote in 1946:

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

His poem was a confession of the fact that he, and many others in the Church, did nothing when the government targeted various groups as being undesirable, a burden on society, or non-conforming to its orders. Out of cowardice or complicity, many Christian leaders kept quiet as Jews and others were arrested and persecuted, because it didn’t affect them personally. Even if they didn’t like what was happening, they justified their silence as preserving their own ministries.

What struck me in reading Niemöller’s statement about the costs of remaining silent, was its applicability to today’s “cancel culture” in our country.  We’ve watched as many people have been attacked by various social media, or fired, or “cancelled” from speaking publicly. People are shunning other people – former friends and even relatives – who voice anything they dislike. Even worse, some are attacked just because they don’t agree fervently enough with the attacker. And yet, though we don’t like what is happening, how many of us actually speak out and actively defend those who get cancelled?

This phenomenon is not new. In a sense, warfare and murder itself are forms of cancelling people (permanently). But even when people set out to shut up others peacefully, there is an inherent violence in the attitude that often comes out in actual violence against those being cancelled. Some historical examples illustrate this point of people who were once allied but suffered because they fell out of favor or were deemed not enthusiastic enough for “the cause”:

1. Following up on the violence perpetrated by the Nazis, Hitler turned on one of his earliest fervent friends and supporters, Ernst Röhm, murdering him and disbanding his pro-Nazi militia in 1934.
2.  In the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin denounced and executed some of his allied communist leaders, including Leon Trotsky, who had served in the Russian revolution with Lenin. He conducted what is called the Great Purge (called by the Russians, “The Great Terror”), dividing people by their class and ideology before executing literally millions of them. He then executed his leaders who had conducted the purges for him.
3.  Another Great Terror took place in France during and following their revolution. Again, social class and fervency for the cause were criteria for whether someone lived or died. Eventually the revolutionary leader, Maximilien Robespierre himself, died on the guillotine in 1794 after being denounced by his fellow revolutionaries.
4. Following our own revolution, numerous Americans who had remained loyal to the Crown were harassed. Some 80,000 of them fled to Canada or back to Britain for safety.
5. Lest we find the Church faultless in this area, consider the Inquisitions conducted by the Roman Catholic Church for four hundred years, which purged the Church and its territories of people considered to be heretics or Protestants. The accused lost jobs, positions, families, and even their lives. The number of executions is estimated at some 32,000 people.

Beliefs do matter, and the impetus to ally with those of like mind and purpose is a powerful and important one. I certainly would not have called any non-believers to serve as my associate pastors. Our church body does conduct thorough reviews of all candidates to make sure they know and believe the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. But the difference is, we don’t execute those who don’t make it!

But now, our society is tearing apart as people group themselves and others into “acceptable” and “unacceptable” categories. What race are you? How old are you? Who did you vote for? What did you post on social media? What did you tell a friend twenty years ago in private, that now became public? What belief did you espouse that was once popular, but now is considered offensive? What are your preferred pronouns? Vaccinated or unvaccinated? Which computer system do you use, Mac or PC?

As you can see, there is an almost infinite variety of categories which can divide us. Unfortunately, once divided, it becomes easy to hate the other group and rejoice at their misfortunes, or desire their cancellation. It also prevents us from seeing the other person as an individual who probably has the same needs, wants, and hopes that we do. As people whom God loves and for whom Christ died.

So, how do we react to this current “cancel culture”?

• We speak against it, in love but forcefully. Whenever anyone is cancelled, we could be the next in line, just as Niemöller warned. Even if we aren’t targeted, we are diminished by the loss of others’ ideas and works.
• We avoid cancelling other people we may disagree with. The French philosopher, Voltaire, famously said, “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
• When we disagree, make sure we are hearing the other person accurately. Avoid overreacting to what we think they mean, or what their critics tell us about what they mean. Read and think for ourselves. We should follow Martin Luther’s teaching on the Eighth Commandment: “We should fear and love God that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, think and speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything.” When we give the other person a chance, we may actually learn something!
• We obey Christ’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves (Luke 10:27), a command echoed explicitly throughout Scripture in both Old Testament “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18), and New: “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.” (Galatians 5:14). Therefore, even if we completely disagree with what another person says or does, we still treat him or her with respect and love. And if they hurt us by words or actions, we still forgive them, as we have been forgiven (Matthew 6:12-15).
• We see other people as people, and not as representatives of groups at odds with our particular group. As I stated above, God loves that person just as he loves me, and does not desire that either of us perish. John 3:16 is our guide here: God loved the world (that’s everybody) and gave his Son that we should not perish but have eternal life. If God did that, who am I to decide otherwise?
• Finally, I remember the poem written by Edwin Markham, who wrote:
  • • • • He drew a circle that shut me out
          Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
          But Love and I had the wit to win:
          We drew a circle that took him in.*

This is hard to do, to take in those who insult and hate me. But I seem to have heard about Someone else who did just that, enduring the hatred, mocking, brutal beatings – and yes, even death by crucifixion – out of love for those he came to save. Our Lord had every reason to cancel all of us, but his love took us in, even when we deserved only his wrath. Let us strive, in love, to cancel the cancellations.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Matthew 5:43; Mark 12:30-32; Luke 10:27; Romans 13:9-10; and James 2:8.

*Edwin Markham, The Shoes of Happiness, and Other Poems, 1913