Today we will continue looking at what I am calling “antifascist theology,” as expressed by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. [In Part I, I introduced the core concepts of fascism and introduced Bonhoeffer. In Part II, we explored the three general categories of Christians who fall under fascism’s sway.]
In recent years, I’ve noticed unexpected connections and alliances between certain Christian and non-Christian groups that are both working for truth, justice, and human dignity. Take for instance, anti-violence and anti-poverty Christian activist Shane Claiborne, who literally beats guns into gardening tools and once illegally occupied an abandoned church in Philadelphia to set up a shelter for homeless people. As a Christian activist, Claiborne regularly finds himself working alongside lots of people who he disagrees with theologically– but he finds common ground when it comes to issues like these. Or for another example, check out these Christians in Oregon working alongside firmly non-Christian antifascist groups to provide mutual aid in the wake of the Oregon protests and wildfires.
Now, I had previously thought that unexpected alliances like these were a somewhat recent, novel phenomenon. It is now only in reading Bonhoeffer’s Ethics that I saw the same dynamics took place in the context of German fascism! Bonhoeffer points out that when values of truth and tolerance are threatened by authoritarian power, there often forms a kind of a temporary alliance between the beleaguered defenders of those values and the remaining, antifascist Christians. Check out his words below—doesn’t most of this sound scarily relevant? It’s a long quote, but powerful-so please read carefully:
“Whenever, in the face of the deification of the irrational powers of blood, of instinct, of the predator within human beings, there was an appeal to reason; whenever, in the face of arbitrariness there was an appeal to the written law; whenever, in the face of barbarism, there was an appeal to culture and humanity; whenever, in the face of their violation there was an appeal to freedom, tolerance, and human rights; whenever, in the face of the politicization of science, art, and so on, attention was drawn to the autonomy of the various areas of life…then this was sufficient to evoke immediately awareness of some kind of alliance between the defenders of these threatened values and Christians. Reason, culture, humanity, tolerance, autonomy– all these concepts, which until recently had served as battle cries against the church, against Christianity, even against Jesus Christ, now surprisingly found themselves in very close proximity to the Christian domain…as a goal-driven alliance…Christ is the center and power of the Bible, of the church, of theology, but also of humanity, reason, justice, and culture.” [Ethics, 340-2]
To summarize, in this passage Bonhoeffer writes that the same secular liberals who had previously been attacking religion before the rise of fascism, now quickly found common cause with antifascist Christians such as himself. Of course, there were different theological values, but here was an alliance of convenience in order to defend their shared values: reason, law, culture, humanity, freedom, tolerance, human rights, science, and art. To bring it to our present day, I would argue that whenever contemporary Christians forge tactical alliances with secular antifascist movements (such as groups in opposition to nuclear weapons and war-mongering, corporate greed, environmental pillaging, dehumanization at the border, human trafficking, voter suppression, or other issues), these Christians are embodying this same kind of antifascist perspective that Bonhoeffer is espousing. Which brings me to a related topic.
Black Lives Matter
I believe that Black Lives Matter is another potential example of a “goal-driven alliance” between antifascist Christians and secular-leaning liberals. After George Floyd was murdered by police in broad daylight, millions of white Americans (including many Christians) joined in and protested as a way to decry racist police violence and to declare the fact that Black Lives Matter. Even a contingent of a conservative, pseudo-Amish Christian sect–apolitical and disinclined to join in most political actions–joined in these BLM protests! In so doing, this group was not endorsing every element of the Black Lives Matter organization, nor were they declaring that they were necessarily tossing their hats into the political ring. Instead, these antifascist Christians were simply responding to a very visible act of injustice (which in itself was simply the most blatant example of a centuries-old system of injustice). They chose to leave the confines of their Christian community and align themselves with a just cause-that of demanding justice for George Floyd and other Black lives facing widespread police brutality.
Bonhoeffer writes, quoting Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:
“’Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ (Matt. 5:10). This verse does not speak about the righteousness of God, that is, about persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ; rather, it calls those blessed who are persecuted for a just cause…With this beatitude Jesus thoroughly rejects the false timidity of those Christians who evade any kind of suffering for a just, good, and true cause because they supposedly could have a clear conscience only if they were to suffer for the explicit confession of faith in Christ; he rejects in other words, the kind of narrow-mindedness that casts a cloud of suspicion on any suffering for the sake of a just cause and distances itself from it. Jesus cares for those who suffer for a just cause even if it is not exactly for the confession of his name; he brings them under his protection, takes responsibility for them, and addresses them with his claim.” [Ethics 346]
What Bonhoeffer is saying is that suffering for any just cause is valid and blessed by God, even if those who are suffering are not explicitly Christian, nor if the cause is solely about Jesus! While I would hope this is a pretty obvious reading of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, I know that many Christians do not actually live this out! After all, how many Christians in 1930s Germany decided not to stand in solidarity with persecuted Jews, Gypsies, communists, gays, the people with disabilities, and other “undesirables”, because to do so wasn’t a matter of defending “Christianity?” The answer is—most of them! Only a very few, the antifascist Christians in the mold of Bonhoeffer, chose to stand alongside these groups.
Similarly, in our day, I think Bonhoeffer would offer a biting rebuke of the conservative Christians who have been reluctant to stand alongside in support of the Black Lives Matter protests. To be sure, Bonhoeffer was neither a communist nor a socialist, and he levels some firm critiques of these social movements elsewhere in Ethics. However, I do not think he would not have accepted the standard right-wing argument that to state “Black Lives Matter” means one is somehow aligning oneself with Marxism, atheism, or any of the other values ascribed to certain BLM leaders. Such thinking Bonhoeffer calls “narrow-minded” and “timid”, a reflection of an impoverished, potentially fascistic worldview (recall from my first blog that being angrily opposed to any hint of Marxism or communism is one of the hallmarks of a fascist mindset). Indeed, I think he would say that true followers of Jesus belong right in the middle of this cause, rather than fleeing from it!
Am I being presumptuous in claiming that Bonhoeffer would support Black Lives Matter? I don’t think so. In 1930, Bonhoeffer spent a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He became deeply connected to the African-American Church as he attended the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. There his eyes were opened to the injustices suffered by Black Americans on a daily basis. Angered by the lynching of the “Scottsboro Boys”, a group of nine African-Americans who were lynched in Alabama after a false rape accusation, Bonhoeffer unsuccessfully tried to mobilize church leaders back in Europe to organize against the injustice. Bonhoeffer was so deeply moved by the Black Christians he encountered in the United States that he translated a number of traditional African-American Spirituals into German and brought the tunes back to the churches he led in Germany! (The mental picture of a bunch of conservative white Germans in the 1930s trying to sing some lively Black worship songs is a bit funny to be honest–but hey props to them for trying!).
All that to say–Bonhoeffer’s understanding of the systemic oppression that Black people faced in 1930s America was absolutely part of the backdrop that helped him choose to stand in the gap for Jews, communists, and other victims of fascism in Germany. If Bonhoeffer were to return to the United States today, he was undoubtedly be angered by the extent to which the Black community still faces prejudice, discrimination, and systemic racism. And based on his quote above he would have some pretty harsh remarks for the “narrow-minded” and “timid” Christians who choose to distance themselves from secular justice movements–because in so doing they are not just distancing themselves from the oppressed…they are distancing themselves from Jesus.
To summarize, if one is bearing witness to Jesus in a society that increasingly bears the marks of fascism, one should expect to find oneself in some unexpected alliances. This is not a bad thing, nor does it mean that one’s Christian witness has somehow been diluted. In fact, it means the exact opposite! Now, this doesn’t mean there isn’t nuance, or gray areas. But by and large the automatic Christian response to injustice should be to stand alongside those who are experiencing it, and to advocate for justice. That’s what Bonhoeffer did, and it’s what we should do today.
