I have been reading the biography of Deitrich Bonhoeffer
recently. It is entitled Bonhoeffer:
Pastor, Maryty, Prophet, Spy. It is sobering, to say the least, to read
about the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the 1930’s. Over the past few
years we have seen in the news numerous comparisons between the recession since
2008 and the Depression of the 1930’s. While the economic difficulties of
recent times are by no means comparable to the Great Depression, the outcry of
the political left would make you think that it is. In light of that rather
indefensible hyberbole from those advocating ever more state spending and ever
more state control of the economy, I have to admit some hesitance in bring up
the subject. However, in reading Bonhoeffer
I have been struck by the similarity of some things that Hitler did to
consolidate his control with some of the things going on today.
Due to the economic collapse of the Weimar republic and the
general feeling of the German people that they had been victimized by the
Versailles treaty to end World War I, the people were all too willing to
support Hitler’s moves. The fact that he was first elected democratically and
then systematically moved to eliminate the democratic processes that elected
him reminded me first of Iran and then of the things now going on Egypt and
Libya. I have little hope that those recent overthrows of dictators will result
in anything more than a different type of dictator. So first I was reminded of how easy it is for
new attempts at democracy to run amok, especially in situations where there is
no heritage of democratic institutions.
It is the story of how the German church was used by Hitler
to his advantage, though, that was especially concerning to me. The German
church had been losing its direction for at least a century before Hitler came
along. Schliermacher had ushered in what we think of as ‘liberal’ theology,
followed by Harnack and many others who had abandoned the deity of Christ, treated
most of the Gospels as myth, and considered Jesus little more than a high-minded
man who set a good example. They and their German schools of theology had led
the way in rendering the German church little more than a psychological support group. When Hitler began to co-opt
the church for his own political purposes, most common folks in German had
little understanding of what the gospel actually is and as a result had no foundation to stand
on. Nietsche and his concept of the Ubermensch (superman) had won out. The
liberal theologians had removed the soul of the church before Hitler arrived;
when he arrived, the church simply caved in and went along. Today’s church in America has been slowly
abandoning the historic reality of the scripture for many years and is getting
to the point that it is no longer a voice that can confront the government to
hold the government accountable. The scandals of child abuse, adultery, lust for money in the ‘health/wealth’
preachers, and acceptance of the clearly immoral practices of abortion,
homosexuality, easy divorce, etc. has rendered the voice of the church in America
nearly as impotent as it had become in
German in the 1930’s.
A chill went down my spine, however, as I read about some
specific Hitler moves beginning in 1933. The key was in putting limits on how
state money could be used. In April of 1933 the Nazi’s barred Jews from being
state attorneys in the patent office; then also in April they banned Jewish
doctors from working in institutions funded by state insurance; they limited
Jewish students allowed in state funded schools; then they banned Jewish dentists
from institutions receiving state health insurance funding. Since there was a state church in Germany,
they soon banned anyone with Jewish ancestry from being ordained into the
ministry regardless of if they had been raised Christian. One of Bonhoeffer’s
seminary friends found himself in this problem.
Eventually they demanded that candidates for ordination take an oath of
loyalty to Hitler before ordination; after all, the state paid the salary of
these pastors.
I must admit that the constraints put on how the state money
could be used began to remind me of how we now find ourselves in a situation
where pharmacists who do not want to administer abortion pills are threatened,
where some medical schools demand that all doctors in training take hands-on
training in abortions, and where state funded universities demand that groups
who oppose things like homosexuality and abortion must allow supporters of
those things to join their groups or even run for office in those groups or be
banned from the campus. Many of these
things are tied to receipt of state funds.
Bonhoeffer saw where this was leading with the Nazi state,
and began opposing them in the 30’s; many of his friends and colleagues, even
the eminent Karl Barth, did not. I fear
many of us today have the same sort of naivite about our own slow drift into
the omnipotent state.
