Are we in a Bonhoffer moment? That is the question set forth in this essay I have been led to from Facebook this morning.
For my Catholic brethren, I think the question comes down to one word: Priorities. This is no time to elevate the cult of the fetus above everything else. And if the motivation of a member of the Catholic Church is to vote Republican in order to rail against same sex marriage, then please study up on all the things Jesus actually said--and tell us again why that should be the priority.
Having grown up in a Catholic neighborhood in New Jersey, I developed a soft spot for the church as an institution by the time I went to college. I have often thought, in this time of the church's current crisis of its own making, this is a time for good Catholics to return to the institution, if they believe any organized religion is worth saving. An institution needs people of good will to reform and regenerate it in a time of crisis. And such people should be ready to reform procedures and even some tenets no longer necessary, and which procedures or tenets pose an impediment to continued growth and even existence. For me, if I was a returning Catholic, I would support the call for priests to marry, and to teach the Catholic Church's own history with all its truly interesting twists, turns, and revanchist tendencies (particularly on abortion, which would surprise many modern Catholics; though homosexuality in Church doctrine has been more consistent, though not without some twists). The Church should therefore approach its history and legacy with a humility the official Church claims to admire and worship in its Savior. I believe, in doing so, the Church will find people far more interested in joining and staying in the institution. It may even open up the Church to having members it previously made unwelcome, but who share the Church's best values.
For me, after serving as a president of a Jewish synagogue for nearly nine years, I have had my ups and downs about whether I believe American Judaism, as a set of organized institutions, is worth saving, considering nearly all of the Jewish American institutions have had an excessive focus on Israel and the Holocaust. In the past week, however, I have had to re-examine that proposition once again, as I saw how much the racist siren calls from Trump and the Republicans over the years have influenced the rise of anti-Semitism. It has led me to wonder if this is the time for Jews in America to stick together and re-join Jewish oriented institutions. On the other hand, as we have seen in modern Poland, where there is anti-Semitism with hardly any Jews in Poland, one wonders if the anti-Semitic worldview simply goes on without us being Jewish in any organized way--anyway.
For those who are not religious, or who belong to another religious institution, we should recognize we are all in a Bonhoffer moment. There are Republicans who see this moment, and have responded--see George Will, Max Boot, and others--but none that I see who currently hold office (example: former Republican Senator from Virginia, John Warner). It is therefore the number reason to vote out Republicans wherever any of us are living in the United States today. For the Republicans in office have been enablers of Traitor Trump and Trump's siren calls that demonize immigrants, Muslim-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and now American Jews.
