Pastor Niemoller
“First they came for the Jews, but I did nothing because I’m not a Jew. Then they came for the socialists, but I did nothing because I’m not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I did nothing because I’m not a Catholic. Finally, they came for me, but by then there was no one left to help me.”
– Pastor Father Niemoller (1946) German Lutheran pastor arrested by the Gestapo in 1937
This is a quote I ran across for the first time around 1999. I saw it posted on the wall, in a small frame at the offices of an Episcopal Church I cleaned on the weekends. It resonated deeply with me then as it does now. It’s “we’re all in this together” message is timeless and crucial for our increasingly diverse society. Belief, doctrine, dogma… we will never all agree on things but for basic human RIGHTS we will sometimes be called and challenged to stand with those we agree with and even more difficult, with those we despise.
