Future Hope Column: The Bonhoeffer Movie and Immigrant Rights

 

By Ted Glick

“The church is the church only when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell people of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others. It will have to take the field against the vices of hubris, power-worship, envy, and humbug, as the roots of all evil. It must not underestimate the importance of human example (which has its origin in the humanity of Jesus); it is not abstract argument, but example, that gives the word emphasis and power.”

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, Macmillan Publishing, p. 381

In this relative lull before the second Trump Presidency begins, an important movie, Bonhoeffer, has just been released. It is the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a leading Lutheran minister in Germany in the 30’s and 40’s who was killed by the Nazis two weeks before the war’s end. He was part of an underground resistance movement from 1935 on, including unsuccessful organized efforts to assassinate Hitler, which is why he was eventually arrested in 1943.

This is a movie that should be seen by as many US Americans as possible. Those who have done so since it was released five days ago have liked it, garnering a 4.5 out of 5 rating by those who saw it according to a Google survey. That is good news.

I’ve known about Bonhoeffer for a long time. When I was in prison for 11 months during the Vietnam War for my draft resistance activism, the most important book which I had inside was his Letters and Papers from Prison. His life example helped a great deal in making my prison time, as difficult as it was on a daily basis, into something of real value, an important learning and deepening experience.

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Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution, both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com.

Photo credit: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1987-074-16 / CC-BY-SA 3.0