by the Rev. Thomas Johnson | Special to the Courier

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We’ve all heard the expression “unless we learn from history we are doomed to repeat it.” A man we can learn from is Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian who worked against Hitler and Nazi Germany, calling on others to resist Hitler’s hurtful actions. He eventually paid with his life for speaking the truth. But his words and deeds live on, offering a pertinent example for us today.

This is the purpose behind the Bonhoeffer Festival, which takes place April 10 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1700 N. Towne Ave., its 13th consecutive year in Claremont. The event is co-sponsored by Good Shepherd and the Center or Lutheran Studies, which we began at the Claremont School of Theology. The keynote speaker will be Todd Komarnicki, writer and director of the film “Bonhoeffer,” which was released last November to worldwide acclaim, and is now streaming on Apple and Amazon.

Before attending the talk, I encourage you to watch the movie. It tells the powerful story of a man dedicated to his faith who had the courage to resist evil. When Hitler declared that all pastors needed to sign a loyalty pledge, Bonhoeffer would not sign, declaring his allegiance was to God, not to a dictator who demanded people worship him.

He was also one of the very first to speak out against Hitler’s plan for ethnic cleansing that made the Jewish people the scapegoat for all the problems in Germany. But it wasn’t until his brother-in-law, who was Jewish, showed him evidence of the death camps that Bonhoeffer fully realized the violent plot to exterminate all Jews. At one point, acting as a double agent, he was able to liberate 12 Jews and send them to Switzerland.

The parallels from then to what is happening in our country today are astounding:

• Get rid of anyone who is not of true German (American) ethnic heritage.

• Get rid of the free press.

• Make every legislator be completely loyal to the leader.

• Get rid of any judges who stand in the way.

• Use propaganda to brainwash the people into believing whatever the leader says or does is right, while punishing those who disagree.

• Lead people to believe that having a dictator is better than having freedom or democracy.

The guiding principle for Hitler was his book, “Mein Kampf,” which means, “my big idea.” Today’s playbook is called Project 2025.

And today we are seeing severe cuts enacted or proposed to remove programs that serve the disabled, veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, children who rely upon basic nourishment from school programs, elderly in nursing homes, and basic healthcare for everyone.

Yet huge tax cuts for billionaires are also part of the plan.

One of the last passages Bonhoeffer wrote in prison seems eerily relevant today:

“Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere … infects a large part of humankind with stupidity … The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other. The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence … [they are] under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused … capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”

Bonhoeffer can be an invaluable resource for us in discerning the best way to protect our precious gifts of freedom and democracy.

Join us on April 10 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for a free lunch at 12:30 p.m. followed by a 1:30 p.m. talk with Komarnicki, including clips from his film, “Bonhoeffer,” to learn about a man who remained loyal to God and his foundational values of respect, decency, integrity, love and freedom for all people.

The Rev. Thomas Johnson is a semi-retired Lutheran pastor and a former professor at Claremont School of Theology.