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PDF versionHoly hatred and the consequence of ideas
by Bill Tammeus on Jul. 14, 2010
Several years ago I audited a two-semester course on Christian history at an American Baptist seminary in the Kansas City area.
I wasn't required to take the pop quizzes, though I did. Nor was I required to write the required six papers, though I did that, too.
And rarely a week goes by now that I don't feel good about my decision to be an overachiever.
It turned out that the papers I wrote then traced the long, shameful arc of anti-Judaism through nearly 2,000 years of Christian history. Although I knew some of the breath-taking story of what scholar and author Robert Michael, in the title of his book called "holy hatred," I wasn't aware of the full scope of the centuries-long oppression.
It began soon after followers of Jesus began to separate themselves from Judaism and it continued -- often with the official church encouragement -- well into my own lifetime. When this relentlessly painful story becomes familiar, it's easier to understand why Voltaire once described human history as "hardly more than the history of crimes."
What I concluded while writing these research papers was that this appalling anti-Judaism had helped to create the poisonous atmosphere in which modern antisemitism became possible, and that without modern antisemitism the Holocaust is simply incomprehensible. (Just to be clear, anti-Judaism is theological in nature while modern antisemitism is much more racial. In the first instance, Jews are condemned as Christ killers; in the second, they are dismissed as filthy money-grubbers intent on ruling the world exactly the picture of them painted in the fraudulent, but still available, Protocols of the Elders of Zion.)
Learning this history proved to be good background for the work I later did with a rabbi to write our new book, They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust. And it allowed me to combine my six seminary papers into an essay I've posted on my blog and into a speech I've given to Christian, Jewish and secular audiences. (No surprise: The Jews know this history in much more depth than do the Christians, some of whom seem shocked to be hearing about this for the first time.)
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But it seemed to me that the post-Auschwitz cry of "never again" cannot be the cry just of families of the victims. It also must be the cry of the families of the perpetrators and of those who stood by and did nothing -- or who might well have been part of either group had we been adults in Europe during the Holocaust.
So I have decided to lead a seminar on "Lessons from the Holocaust" the first weekend in November at Kirkridge Retreat Center in Pennsylvania. And one of the things I plan to do is make sure that the participants are familiar with the history of anti-Judaism I came to know in some depth when I audited the Christian history class at Central Baptist Seminary.
I do not want you or any of my seminar participants to conclude that this abominable history of anti-Judaism means that any criticism Christians make of Israel today is automatically antisemitism. No. That would be adopting the same sort of unthinking, simplistic labeling that helped to create antisemitism in the first place. Indeed, there is much to criticize about the actions of both modern Israel and the Palestinian leadership — to say nothing about those of our own government.
But I hope that people who grasp the importance of this history will understand that words and ideas have consequences. What we teach our children can lead them to be bigots who marginalize and even destroy others simply for who they are or, as was the case of people in our new book, can lead them to work to save people when they become targets.
But we're unlikely to be in the latter group if we're ignorant of history.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Bill Tammeus, a Presbyterian elder and former award-winning Faith columnist for The Kansas City Star, writes the daily “Faith Matters” blog for The Star’s Web site and a monthly column for The Presbyterian Outlook. His latest book, co-authored with Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn, is They Were Just People: Stories of Rescue in Poland During the Holocaust. E-mail him at wtammeus@kc.rr.com.
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It is so important that we
It is so important that we remember--accurately--so it never does happen again. And we must understand the mechanism of hatred--for example, how broadcasts in Rwanda referring to Tutsi "cockroaches" and the nursing of ethnic hatred led to the horriflying massacres, often perpetrated by neighbors and former friends, in Rwanda.
I am so glad you are teaching this.... We need to see the seeds of evil that lurk in our own psyches, just waiting to be watered, and refuse to nurture them in any way--small or large.
A Russian, Mikhail Bakunin, I
A Russian, Mikhail Bakunin, I believe, a failed believer in the goodness of humankind said at the close of his life that he thought that if there were three people left alive on earth, two would unite to oppress the third. Sometimes this seems to be true. Jews were mistreated and now look at the people of Gaza. Their kids are denied by Israelis, in addition to many other more vital things, writing tablets. Will illiteracy make them more docile?
What was the point of this.
What was the point of this. Did he just realize as an old man that the Holocaust happened? And he had to take a course from Baptists to learn that? Does he not know that the Holocaust has been drilled into the heads of those living in Western Civilization for 65 years? How did he get to write a column?
I'm scandalized, but not
I'm scandalized, but not especially worried. Babini's eighty-one. He grew up in Fascist Italy, studying pre-Nostra Aetate theology. All he's doing now is strolling down memory lane.
What I'm waiting to see is the emergence of a new generation of anti-Semites who have enough media savvy to pour the old manure in what look like new bottles. They'll won't attack Nostra Aetate outright; they'll just parse it until they've made it mean exactly the opposite of what it means. They'll soften their bigoted rants by assuring their audiences that some of their best friends are Jewish. Then they'll add: "But..."
Coming from a mixed heritage
Coming from a mixed heritage of Jews and Catholics, I can fully appreciate the Book of Romans and the way in which St. Paul teaches how we are "under Grace," rather than "Under the Law." For years I have studied the Old Testament and I have learned how Jesus fulfilled all of the Feasts of the Old Testament, with the exception of the Feast of Trumpets, which will be fulfilled at His second coming. I have also learned how, since the time of St. Augustine, the Church has taught the shibboleths that Jews are inferior to Catholics through Augustine's unchallenged doctrine of "Supersessionism" (Google it if you are unfamiliar with it). Augustine's doctrine regarding his "claimed" inferiority Jews has caused untold bloodshed over the centuries and promoted the kind of Anti-Semitism that led to the deaths of 6 million Jews and an estimated 60 million Christian men, women and children, (mostly Catholic), and servicemen on both sides, who also lost their lives in WWII. Jesus gave us 2 laws of LOVE. The price of sinning against the laws of LOVE not only hurt the Jews, but also changed the lives of Catholic and Christian men, women and children, who lost their loved ones in unnecessary wars and pogroms started by Augustine's Original Sins, embedded in doctrines of Supersessionism. Do you think that Augustine's doctrines, which promoted and encouraged centuries of Anti-Semitism, were worth the price? I don't.
Just this morning, an
Just this morning, an obituary in the New York Times of another Jew-hating priest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/world/europe/14jankowski.html?_r=1&ref...
And how quick the defenders of the Vatican were to say "Jews were behind the current criticism of the Catholic church's record on tackling clerical sex abuse".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/11/catholic-bishop-blames-jews
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/04/12/bishop_blames_pedophilia_je...
"Blessed" Anne Catherine
"Blessed" Anne Catherine Emmerich's anti-semitic writings inspired Mel Gibson.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=anne+catherine+emmerich+anti-se...
Ouch. And here we are in
Ouch. And here we are in 2010, and we still haven't mastered the basics of our faith - to " Love one another as I have loved you."
"Anti Jewish" feelings are still fueled in our local Catholic schools. The public schools close for Yom Kippur and have "no homework" policies for the beginning of Rosh Hashanah and Passover. Many friends whose children attend Catholic school think this is ridiculous. They are usually silenced when I point out that, in some cases, a quarter of the students are absent on those days and that they shouldn't complain because their major religious holy days convienienty fall during winter and spring breaks. I am thankful that my kids have the opportunity to meet and to be friends with students from all different backgrounds and faith traditions.
So when your kid's public
So when your kid's public school doesn't close for the feast of the Immaculate Conception does that fuel their anti-Catholic bias? Are you seriously asserting that because a Catholic school doesn't celebrate a jewish holiday that it breeds anti-Jewish feelings? This is getting ridiculous.
As always....good work Bill!!
As always....good work Bill!! There is carryover into the disputes between Christioan groups also!! Perhaps this could be the next topic you take on!!
For those catholics who
For those catholics who cannot attend the seminar "Lessoms from the Holocaust," I strongly urge the reading of "Constantine's Sword" by Catholic scholar and historian James Carroll. The winner of the "National Book Award," it relates the tragic relationship between the Jewish people and the antisemitism of the Roman Catholic Church. From the 1st 58 pages where he traces his personal journey into the subject, James Carroll traces the tragic growth of antisemitism from the new testament to the Church's connection to the Holocaust to Vatican Council II to the Cross at Auschwitz. It is an eye opening read, presented in a personal way, thoroughly foot-noted and documented. It should be mandatory reading for all catholics who place their trust in the hierarchy and the pope. Be enlightened.
I'm glad you wrote this
I'm glad you wrote this particular column. And that you added the warning about falling into the same simplistic pattern ourselves that is more heat than light that perpetuates the tragedy. You have done a lot of thinking these past years on this subject and as far as I can tell, have kept a wide view. I'm proud of you.
While I appreciate the
While I appreciate the article by Bill Tammeus I think it needs to be pointed out that anti-Semitism only really reached its height after the reconquest of Spain in 1492 and then the Reformation in Europe immediately following. Many thousands of Jews found refuge in Catholic Poland for several generations while being mercilessly persecuted in the Protestant states of Germany.
During WW2 it is estimated that 50 million people died in Europe as a direct result of the war. It may surprise people to know that 44 million were not Jewish. In Poland which was the epicentre of the Holocaust, at least 6 million died in the war, 3 million were Jews and 3 million were Catholics. No one knows how many died in the Soviet Gulags at the same time but one estimate puts it as high as 10 or 11 million.
We must never forget the Holocaust the way we have already forgotten the other 44 million, not to mention the 2 million Armenians from WW1.
Try Norman Davies' books "Europe at War 1939-45" and "Europe East and West" among the more recent of his many books on Eastern Europe. No one can defend the Holocaust but why do we forget the other atrocities? Why do we consistently criticise PP XII for not speaking out when even Stalin derided the fact that he had no Divisions? What was the US doing to help up to 1942 and how often did the great and good Roosevelt speak out until after the US joined the European war in Dec 1941? And finally why are we defending the perpetration of to-day's Zionist triumphalism in the Middle East?
"Why do we consistently
"Why do we consistently criticise PP XII for not speaking out when even Stalin derided the fact that he had no Divisions?"
-------
It doesn't take divisions to speak out.
Just guts and humanity. And a microphone. Which of those did Pius lack?
With all due respect any
With all due respect any reading of anti-semtism starts way before 1492 and then continues. 1492 is hardly the "height of it. 1492 merely marks one of several expulsions. Mass murders, mass rapes, auto de Fes of Jews starts far earlier. The Pogroms start as early as the 400s, the 8 crusades all saw Jewish massacres on various levels from the 1100s onward. Pogroms occurred in multiple places at multiple times all across Europe, parts of North Africa and even the Middle East. Such a wide spread phenomenum does not get explained away so easily. SOMEBODY and SOMETHING was popularizing this recurring scape goating. Christianity in its widespread proselytizing is at least partially responsible, but also fundamental to such a development.
Since all Religions are
Since all Religions are Man-Made, and handed down to Children unto the Third and Fourth Generation as Truth, what else can we expect but Holy Hatred?
We have Proof the Catholic/Protestant Religion was Man-Made and so were all the rest.
I would also recommend
I would also recommend "Europe and the Jews" by Malcolm Hay - subtitle 'The pressure of Christendom on the People of Israel for 1900 years' (Beacon). Initially entitled 'The foot of pride' (1950/1960/1961 - as a draw-dropping gob-smacking enlightenment.
It seems little changes only the target.
Good recommendation, Hilary.
Good recommendation, Hilary. Hay's book is essential reading.
Matthew 5:22 contains Jesus'
Matthew 5:22 contains Jesus' words
"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his
brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his
brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says
'You fool'! shall be liable to the hell fire."
I believe that anger, insults and hatred, etc.
kept in our hearts and spoken aloud are really
the first steps to war and genocide.
JoanC - thank you for this.
JoanC -
thank you for this. i grew up in a home in which we were not allowed to do any name-calling, with "fool" being one of the most forbidden words, alongside all racial and class slurs (I am always surprised when well-educated, decent people who would never use most slurs use the combined class/racial slur "white trash" or "[white] trailer trash". People as trash? and, if you have to clarify that this particular human trash is white, what color do you think human trash usually is? a remarkable exposure, I think, of the classism that is buried in racism and vice versa. It is unbelievable to me that "white/traiiler trash" is acceptable in any sphere).
i am not a fan of washing a kid's mouth out with soap but the threat taught me not to attack people through words of insult and denigration about who God made them. which is what i have always understood that admonition about calling people "fools" is about. But i didn't know until today that the specific admonition about using the word "fool" came from Jesus. i have wondered and i always forget to ask my parents why "fool" was on the list of forbidden terms.
thank you, joan, for reminding me. it shames me to know that i have since lost my vigilance and lack of tolerance for versions of the word "fool" - idiot, dumbf-ck, wack, batsh-t crazy and fool itself. i may not use all those words myself but i also don't express discomfort and, if the word is used to describe people I consider enemies of my values, I am all too often delighted.
finally, i agree one hundred percent that "anger, insults and hatred, etc.
kept in our hearts and spoken aloud are really the first steps to war and genocide". i will never forget hearing George Bush refer to Afghanis as "rodents" we would blow back to the stone ages. the hair stood on the back of my neck. this was the most powerful man in the world speaking publicly - officially - comfortably this way.
thank you, again, for the lesson on my own role in this. i will watch my own lanaguge for versions of "fool".
jean
Thank you, NCR, for sharing
Thank you, NCR, for sharing Bill Tammeus' blogpost with us. And, thank you, Bill, for writing it and doing this work and sharing. As soon as I am done here, I am going to check out the conference.
I think Jews have been hated
I think Jews have been hated all throughout history right back to the beginning of their existence. The Christian variety of Jewish hatred can hardly be blamed for modern anti-Semitism. Besides others, Babylonians, Egyptians, Romans, Christians, Europeans, Germans, Africans, Muslims, Arabs & Palestinians have all hated the Jews. Does anyone detect a pattern here?
The pattern in your posts is
The pattern in your posts is obvious to all.
Perhaps others have hated and
Perhaps others have hated and continue to hate people of different faiths. As Christians, however, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Torturing and killing innocent people is not a demonstration of love. The holocaust was carried out by people who professed to be Christian.
Paulte; I hate to say the
Paulte; I hate to say the word "hate" out of respect for my brother and sister Jews. No one likes to think they are hated and your'e right, it can be traced right back to the beginning of their existance as a race.
A precurser to modern antisemitism.
Irrespective of the Pius X11 push to be recognised as assisting the Jews for sainthood, it was actually Pope John XX111 who embraced them as brothers and saved many many lives.
His pro Jewish statements causing all manner of theological implications.
The Prayer of Penance, beautifully written by him shortly before his death June 3rd. 1963 says it all.
Unfortunately it has not been spoken of and in fact, is virtually unknown by many Catholics, I was a convert and my knoweledge of Jewish history came with me.
It is as follows in case some one other than myself is interested.
Prayer of Penance: We recognise today, that many centuries of blindness have veiled our eyes, so that we no longer see the beauty of Your chosen people and no longer recognise the features of our first-born brother. We know now, that the mark of Cain is on our forehead. Over the course of centuries, our brother Abel has lain in the blood we have spilled and has wept tears which we have caused, because we forgot Your love. Forgive us for this curse, which we unjustly placed on the name of the Jews. Forgive us, for crucifying You a second time. For we knew not what we were doing....
Pius was long gone when this was written.
There are a number of ways to
There are a number of ways to respond to your post. Yet, I am curious as to what you think the Christian response is to our neighbor and to hate when it is promoted. And, has the Church been willing to promote the Gospel message about these issues?
"it began soon after
"it began soon after followers of Jesus began to separate themselves from Judaism and it continued -- often with the official church encouragement" do you mean like dragging the Apostles out of the temple and having them arrested, or stoning Stephen? Is that the kind of "encouragement" that made the Christians separate from Judaism?
Even alluding to the idea that Christian antisemitism led to the holocaust is irresponsible and shows a lack of knowledge of history.
Let me put it this way: in
Let me put it this way: in the late nineteenth century, when nationalist ideologues from various countries started preaching that Jews were racially inferior or harmful, by virtue of their very existence, to the Geist of whatever Volk was being shilled for, not too many Christians stood up to say, "Stop! That's madness!"
Really? Not too many
Really? Not too many Christians stood up against the influence of Nietzsche, Kant, Marx? You mean other than Pius XII, Leo XIII, Jacques Maritain, Gabriel Marcel etc.
Jeff, I think you missed the
Jeff, I think you missed the point.
"If someone hits your cheek,
"If someone hits your cheek, offer your other.". Two wrongs never make a right. The holocaust was religious persecution on a horrifying scale.
JP - Nobody denies that the
JP - Nobody denies that the holocaust was religious persecution on a a horrifying scale. I am arguing against his assertion that it had its origin in Christian antisemitism.
Many things contributed to
Many things contributed to the holocaust and Christian antisemitism was one of them. To deny it, I think, shows a lack of knowledge of understanding history.
John David Then please
John David
Then please explain how Christian antisemitism contributed to the holocaust at the hands of the Nazis. Look at Nietzsche, look at Mein Kampf, they are grounded in moral nihilism not in Christianity. In fact they stood diametrically opposed to Christian thought. If it were founded in Christian antisemitism then why were Catholics and some Christians of other denominations sent to the concentration camps? I am sure Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maximilian Kolbe would like a word with you.
I would love to have a word
I would love to have a word with both Mazimilian Kolbe, as well as Bonhoeffer, as they are both heros of mine. And, yes, if more Christians were as courageous and loving as they were, I would not be stating my belief that Christian antisemitism contributed to the holocaust. Sadly, that was not the case.
I did not say that the holocaust were grounded in Christianity and I am in full agreement with you that Nietzsche and Hitler's Mein Kampf were grounded in nihilism, not Christianity. I was stating my belief that the undercurrent of antisemitism in the pre-war Church was often subtle enough to be exploited by the those who followed the nihilist pholosophies of those you mention.
Jeff, it seems to me that you focus on several pieces of the picture, all of which are of themselves true, yet you then seem to think these pieces give the full picture. I think there are other pieces to this picture that are necessary if one wants to understand all of the influences that allowed the horror of the Holocaust to happen.
Peace and prayers
John David
A small point here about
A small point here about history. Hitler was born an Austrian Catholic, was an alter boy, and has claimed in his own writings that what he learned about the Jews, he learned from the Church. In fact, when several cardinals approached him during the Holocaust to spare Jews who converted (but not ALL Jews), Hitler laughed at them and said he was doing what THEY had taught him. His Austrian church used a winged cross as its symbol...turning it on at a 45 degree angle gave him his Swastika.
He and many of his henchman in his leadership all quoted various Christian prejudices about Jews - as based in Christianity. You can find the verified quotes on the Internet and in many archived documets.
So it is a bit difficult to separate Nazism under Hitler, much less Hitler himself, from the theology of Christianity and the Church itself - despite Hitler being somewhat divorced from the Church. Christian anti-semitism may have been an "insufficent cause" of Nazi bigotry, but it was a "necessary foundational cause" in order to provide some culturally normative acceptance of legalized murder (no different than was done under the Church during the Crusades). Without Christian ideology permeating European society, Hitler's bigotry would not have been as acceptable, understandable, popular or effective as it was. Demographers of the Jewish people have estimated that todays world Jewish population should be about 95 million if left to normal circumstances, rather than the tiny 13.5 million it is; that 9 out of 10 Jews in the last 2,000 years died unnatural deaths resulting in this massive suppression of them, for so long, in so many places. The estimate is that Christianity (the Church and other churches) caused around 22 million Jewish deaths over the 2,000 years, effectively suppressing the Jewish people. So Christianity bears some responsibility here. Any self-respecting Christian has to accept that. A Jew would suspect anyone who belonged to the Nazi party of nefarious intentions today, and given history, should have suspicions about Christians of all stripes. To think otherwise is to ignore all history and logic. To, it is a wonder that Jews today, having the return of their biblical land in part and being a nuclear power, does not exact revenge. In fact, its the opposite. Israel today is the leader in biotechnology (80% of the market) saving millions of lives all over the world, it is the leader in desert reclamation and even invented a strain of wheat that grows in the desert. So healing and feeding the world is what they have done - despite their history, Christian antipathy and policial opposition, and persistant Christian anti-semtism. Maybe Christians can learn a lesson here as Jews seem to be doing as a nation, as a people what only individual Christians are doing, what Jesus taught. Jesus seems to reflect theseJewish characteristics and motivations, not the other way around.
Who was the saint who tore
Who was the saint who tore nipples off Jewish women? Was it Louis, or Bernard...? People were rewarded with sainthood for being vicious persecutors.
I reread parts of Hay's book
I reread parts of Hay's book to check my memory and have a correction on this. The tearing off of breasts and castrations were done by Draconet de Montauban, a companion of Louis in the Crusade. Bernard preached that Jews were lower on the creation scale than animals, and Louis preached that Jews should be gutted with a knife if they disagreed with a Christian.
You know, I've often wondered
You know, I've often wondered why anti-Semitism hasn't made a bigger comeback among Catholics. Nuns are wearing habits, priests are celebrating the Mass in Latin. Te-indicting the Jews for deicide and blaming them for whatever irksome social trends have no other obvious culprit would seem to be the next logical step.
Now, granted, I'm not keenly attuned to -- for lack of a better word -- conservative Catholic opinion as I'd like to be. Maybe anti-Semitism really is coming back. But if it is, I haven't seen any sign of it. When Bill Donohue blamed the Passion's initial bad press on Hollywood Jews, the rest of the Church pulled a facepalm. On this very page, paulte made his little crack, but it got no "Amens."
I can think of three factors keeping Jew-bashing out of vogue.
1) Pope John Paul II. THe man was a promoter of old-time religion in every way but one: he liked the Jews -- he really liked them! It would be very difficult, so soon after his death, to separate that part of his legacy from the rest.
2) The fact of American pluralism. The Europe of Charles Maurras' and Karl Lueger's day was homogeneous: everyone was white, everyone was at least nominally Christian. Jews stood out like a sore thumb. In Fr. Coughlin's America, Jews were still a relative novelty, and the speed with which they achieved the American Dream won them the resentment of the Catholic working class. In both cases, they made credible scapegoats.
Things are different now. We've got people of all colors arriving from every corner of the globe. To blame unwanted social change on a famously well-assimilated minority whose roots in America date back over a hundred years just wouldn't fly, not even with the paranoiac.
3)The sheer strength and diversity of the Church's opponents. Back in the early twentieth century, it was just possible to argue that the Church would be ruling the roost, culturally and politically, if not for a few Jews and Freemasons. Today, you'd have to account for gays, atheists, agnostics -- quite a few of them former Catholics. Next, you'd have to contend with theCatholics in good standing who have decided that the inmates, as far as the Church is concerned, are running the asylum. Making Nicholas Kristoff suffer for the sins of Maureen Dowd and Chris Matthews would look plain stupid.
But the fact is, anti-Semitism was NEVER rational, and there's always been someone shameless enough to plug it for all he was worth. So if, one day, Joseph Bottum publishes an essay to the effect of "What America Needs is a Good Pogrom," I'll be upset, but not especially surprised.
Before people get too
Before people get too comfortable with how well managed anti-semitism has been "controlled" in this country, please look at the 2008 Hate Crime FBI statistics. Here is the link.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/07/graph_of_the_day_for_july_27...
Please note that in this country alone (it IS worse in Europe, Africa and South America, not to mention in Muslim countries), that 67%, the majority, of the religiously motivated hate crimes are against Jews who are ONLY 1.7 % of the population. We are talking over a 1,000 crimes here in a country that is 75+% Christian. Also, note that anti-Muslim hate crimes rate at only 7% against .6% of the population - and American is at WAR with several Muslim countries as we speak, while Israel is an ally of the US. Can anyone explain why those statistics, assuming normal bias about "enemies", are not reversed if NOT for the legacy of Christian stereotypes, teachings (past and presetn) and assumptions?
Someone once said, "remove the plank in your own eyes".
Thank you Bill for your
Thank you Bill for your thoughtful comments.
As a working chaplain, well aware of the horrors of the Holocaust from a Jewish "sister" whose grandparents and father barely escaped the camps, I nonetheless was reduced first to tears and then to uncontrollable sobs by a visit to the Detroit Holocaust Museum (the first in the US by the way) last week. So I can appreciate the transformation of your experience. I am also most grateful for the unveiling of horrific RC anti-semitism throughout the ages, as received from my RC MDiv. degree program, and the corresponding unveiling of comparable sins against the Muslims from my Sovereign Military Order of Hospital of St. John (Knights of Malta) forbears.
We have much to learn from the sins of our collective ancestors and much vigilance to hold that we do not repeat their errors. Blessedly the Spirit will guide us if we let Her...
And i also agree with your "small c' catholic moniker; i claimed it in my first unit of CPE, ad contra the clerical monarchalism of Rome...
an "unordainable" chaplain
"But it seemed to me that the
"But it seemed to me that the post-Auschwitz cry of "never again" cannot be the cry just of families of the victims. It also must be the cry of the families of the perpetrators and of those who stood by and did nothing -- or who might well have been part of either group had we been adults in Europe during the Holocaust."
And now we have an African nation almost 100% in favor of jailing and/or executing homosexuals..........
It has happened again, and it is now happening again. All in the name of the Christian Religion.
Brother Luke
Brother Luke, you have posted
Brother Luke, you have posted a very important post. Yes, never again is a cry we all need to have and keep with us. And, the horrors of the Holocaust are not just something of the past, as much of the same is happening in many places today. Whenever, We need to keep in mind that whenever we project "the other" onto some group, we are the danger zone.
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