In the desperate final days of Bonhoeffer’s life, he wrote from prison about the futility of trying to talk to stupid people about facts, as many of his neighbors and fellow church folk simply rolled along with the Nazi movement. M. Scott Peck defined evil as a kind of “militant ignorance,” a refusal to deal with the known facts of reality. While we are reasonably cautious about comparing modern America to Nazi Germany, is it too much of a stretch to go from the death camps of the Jews to the children held in cages by the tens of thousands along America’s southern border. How do we, especially religious people, go to bed at night, sleep and rise to lead normal lives while our government, on our behalf, are traumatizing tens of thousands of innocent children; many of whom are sick, and not a few who are being subjected to sexual abuse? How is it that we have not risen up in force and stormed the gates of the detention centers? I our nation now so morally jaded that even martyrdom would not make a difference? What seems imperative for all persons of conscience in this nation in 2020, at the very least, is to vote in the hope that there can be a peaceful revolution before a violent revolution becomes necessary.

These progressive sermons are available as podcasts at:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/progressive-faith-sermons/id419225485

Dr. Roger L. Ray
pastor, The Emerging Church
www.spfccc.org
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