Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his life: Dahlworthy

One of the themes that consistently runs through anti-Christian (and anti- other religious) diatribe is that the world would be a much better and safer place without Christianity. Specific wars are often cited, and along with it other atrocities that could have been avoided had only the instigators not been followers of such a violent God. The Church, continues this argument, has caused more war and oppression and pain than the good that it purports to do. Consider the Crusades and the Witch Trials and the acceptance of slavery. Consider the Holy Wars that continue in our time.

The first problem with the above statements is that they are true. Religion has brought with it plenty of evils. The second problem is that the above statement is entirely too broad to be completely true.

It is true that during the Holocaust the Church officially made a deal with the Nazis, allowing each participant in the agreement to go on about life without public judgment from the other. But it is also true that there is more to the story.

It may need to be said here that the official head of a religion doesn't necessarily represent all within its fold. This is easily visible in the differences between what the Pope (any pope will do) professes and what the lay people believe. Even my good friend John from high school, who claims he believes everything the Pope says, doesn't follow the Holy Pontiff in certain areas where his conscience disagrees.

In Nazi Germany, German pastors were in much of the same boat as the rest of the populace. You either get in line with the goose-steppers or face their quick and deadly wrath. But some pastors realized that what was happening was not right. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as evidenced in the documentary and in his writings found in A Testament to Freedom, was one of those dissenting pastors.

In what was perhaps one of the toughest decisions in his life--it would have been very tough for me, at least--Dietrich makes the decision to leave the safety of America and come back to Germany. His desire is to be with the German people and help them through the great moral decisions before, them as they figure out how to wrestle with the evil in their midst. Writes Bonhoeffer in a letter to Reinhld Niebuhr, "Christians in Germany will face the terrible alternative of either wiling the defeat of their nation in order that Christian civilization may survive, or will the victory of their nation and thereby destroying our civilization."

While there have clearly been those who use religion as at least a verbal excuse for their selfish desires and evil acts, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life shows us by example that there are others who use their religion in the opposite way. Let us all strive to know history a little better. And may we all find the courage that possessed Bonhoeffer as we stand up to the evil in our midst.