I am writing this on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, on Holocaust Remembrance Day. After seeing all the posts today quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Elie Wiesel, I can no longer remain silent. I had originally written the first part of this to address the “Christian” response to LGBTQ inclusion in the church. I’ve sat on it for a few years, but unfortunately it resonates all too loudly with our current situation. I can no longer ignore it. Let me make clear — I am a Christian. Hence my complete confusion as to what some of the Christian community is supporting. Perhaps I am a Christian who has taken Jesus’ teachings too literally. I was instructed to care for the widow, the orphan, the foreigner. (Matthew 25:35-40)
My first uncomfortable experience with my beliefs and my people’s response was back in 2001. I remember sitting in the first night of my Holocaust studies class in graduate school with Dr. David Patterson, the Bornblum Chair of Excellence in Judaic Studies at the University of Memphis. He discussed how the church stood by as the Nazis began to target Jews and their supporters. I was horrified … angry. I knew my people would never behave that way or stand by and watch as those atrocities occurred.
Dr. Patterson was kind. He could have made a fool out of me like some in the world of academia seem to enjoy. He could have shown me the evidence in front of the whole class and have everyone laughing at my ignorance, but he did not. He simply stated the truth and continued with the lesson. By the end of the semester, the evidence spoke for itself. It wasn’t anything I would ever want to admit or even consider, but it was there, staring me in the face. Christians stood by watching or conveniently denying what was taking place as Jews were led to the slaughter.
I thought, “Not my people! NEVER my people!” But yes. My people did not want to get involved, didn’t think it was a real threat, didn’t know what to do, didn’t see it as their problem, or didn’t care. There is a reason the Nazis did not target the Christian church, though some individuals stood up for what was right and paid with their lives. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one such example.
I learned something invaluable that semester. Whatever thing you may believe in your heart and soul that you or your people would never do, is completely possible. We want to believe our people would never fall on the wrong side of history, but it is possible. It has happened repeatedly throughout history, and it is happening again.
We all want to think our history, our people, our religion, etc., would not have gotten it wrong. The problem is we did, and we continue to. The best thing we can do at this point is own up to it and seek to do better. Do not settle for complacency when you know in your heart they are wrong.
When Renée Good was murdered by ICE, I was horrified. I couldn’t believe this was happening in the “land of the free.” I felt sick to my stomach, but I carried on with work and life as usual because surely it was an isolated event, a horrible mistake. Now we have witnessed the murder of Alex Pretti. I cannot stay silent. I should have spoken up sooner. Now is the time for us to join together. We have the news at our fingertips, a modern luxury that our counterparts did not have during the Holocaust. We know in real time what is happening. All people of faith must come together and defend our neighbors to fight for what is right.
I will leave you with quotes from those who have fought this fight in some form or another, before us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German preacher who was murdered by the Nazis for speaking against their atrocities:
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
And from his Sermon on II Corinthians 12:9, “Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness, and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.”
From writer and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel:
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe,” he said in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech on Dec. 10, 1986. And, “Action is the only remedy to indifference: the most insidious danger of all,” from the same speech.
Melanie Winstead Morton is a Spanish teacher originally from Memphis.