Clergy from left, Deacon Amy Schmuck, Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, retired, The Rev. Mary Ann Hill and The Rev. Lynn Finnegan. Photo by Nate Limback/ladailypost.com

By The Rev. Mary Ann Hill
Rector
Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church

Next Sunday, March 16, I will be in Germany for the 80th anniversary of the fire-bombing of Würzburg. Ninety percent of the city was destroyed in 20 minutes, and I had family members among the 5,000 people who perished in that bombing. Every ordinary German family eventually suffered under Hitler, and that doesn’t even begin to touch the suffering inflicted on the Jews and the foreign enemies of the Third Reich.

I know first-hand the evil that comes from fascism. In recent weeks we’ve seen people make light of the Nazi salute and praise the hard right movement in Germany. You know it’s bad when other far-right groups in Europe don’t want to have anything to do with the ADF. These developments are very concerning, not just because of where those paths lead, but especially because some of the people involved call themselves Christians.

Hitler tolerated the Church because he needed the influence and stability it provided but, in reality, he couldn’t stand it. When they first met, Mussolini gave Hitler a leather-bound set of the writings of Nietzsche. Like Nietzsche, Hitler despised the ways that Christianity and Judaism shaped Western Civilization. Chief among those was the belief that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore has an inherent dignity and is worthy of respect.

No, Hitler couldn’t stand the idea that the weakest and poorest of society were as important as the strongest.

If you recall, early in A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is approached by two gentlemen asking him to make a donation to help the poor. In reply, Scrooge asks if the debtors’ prisons and work houses are still in business. When he is told that the poor would rather die than go there, Scrooge replies, “If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

In this scene, Charles Dickens was referring to the theories of the late 18th century economist Thomas Malthus – that leaving the poor to die through starvation was the most expedient way of avoiding scarcity for the rest of society. Dickens’ own family was incarcerated in a debtors’ prison when he was young and, as a 12 year old, he was forced to work 60+ hours a week in a rat-infested factory. Dickens often wrote on the topic of poverty. He did not despise the rich, just the callousness of those who refused to help the poor, and he was deeply offended by the intellectuals of his day with whom Malthus’ theories were popular.

A prominent person recently said that, “the fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.” The Nazis, Nietzsche and Thomas Malthus would all probably agree with that.

Jesus would not. He did not believe in disposable people. Caring for those in society who are vulnerable is not a weakness, but a strength. If we are serious about being followers of Jesus, we must continue to hold that as a primary standard, however inconvenient.

Editor’s note: ‘All Shall Be Well’ is a column written by local women clergy including The Rev. Mary Ann Hill, Rector, Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church (momaryannhill@gmail.com); The Rev. Lynn Finnegan, Associate Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith, Santa Fe (rev.lynn@holyfaithchurchsf.org); Deacon Amy Schmuck, Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church (deaconamy@bethluth.com); and ELCA Deacon Cynthia Biddlecomb, M.Div., retired (czoebidd@gmail.com).