Pastor: Amid anti-semitism, will we denounce what is evil and protect our neighbors?
As a Lutheran pastor, I feel it is incumbent to speak out during this time. The National Socialists (Nazis) of Germany famously used some of the works of my church body’s namesake to justify their antisemitism and give it a cloak of righteousness. This past year, neo-Nazis attempted to take over my church body and I was part of those who resisted, which ultimately led to their leaving of my denomination. It earned me their undying ire and threats to my person. But evil cannot go unchecked; good people cannot stay silent as their neighbors are terrorized.
Never again is now. Eighty-five years ago on Nov. 9, 1938, Kristallnacht took place. It was the start of the Holocaust. In recent weeks, we have seen attacks on Jewish communities and people in New York City, Los Angeles, college campuses like MIT and other places across the country. Jewish people are afraid to leave their homes and send their children to school. Will we stand quietly by while our neighbors are attacked?
I remember feeling the shockwave lifting the desks in my classroom on April 19, 1995. I would later find out that a family friend who was an FBI agent was killed in the bombing. I remember turning on the TV after hearing a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and watching the second plane hit. I have walked the halls of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. I listened to the stories of the Greatest Generation who went to war to defend their neighbor only to find they were overthrowing a great evil bent on the destruction of all it deemed “evil” and “unworthy,” and they promised “never again.” When evil is allowed to fester and go unchecked, it leads to unspeakable horror, pain and death.
This month, our nation celebrates the joining together of different peoples and cultures. And while our country and its history are not without its own evils and failures, it has ever endured to follow two guiding lights: “E Pluribus Unum” and “a more perfect Union.” On the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty etched in bronze are the words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
The American Dream has never been just about prosperity. America has shined as a beacon of freedom and justice. Since our great country was founded, it has been a melting pot of people from around the world. It would be a place where persecution and terror would not only not exist, but it would not be tolerated. It is true that it has not always lived up to these ideals (much to our great shame), but it has ever striven towards them. Will it continue to do so today?
Our diversity as a nation is one of its great strengths. The taking in of the tired and huddled masses, those who were terrorized, assaulted and cast out of their homelands has turned us into a beacon of hope. Out of the many, one nation united together.
One of the great ironies is that an open and tolerant society cannot tolerate intolerance. There can be no place for hatred of neighbor simply because of their genes or ancestry.
But, never again is happening now. Will we turn a blind eye to our neighbors? Will we forsake our national ideals? Will we ignore the sacrifice of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents and betray their promise? Will we let a great evil happen again? Or will we find the courage to once again stand up for what is right and true? Will we find the resolve to denounce what is evil and protect our neighbors? I, for one, will stand to protect my neighbor. I pray you will, as well.
The Rev. Daniel Ross is pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Mustang.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Pastor says diversity as a nation is one of its great strengths
