The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset. I ask you to join me tonight in praying for our Jewish sisters and brothers who right now are suffering attacks that should shame and infuriate us all. In the first two months of the year, Jewish organizations, cemeteries, and synagogues have been attacked or threatened, and WE ALL ARE TO BLAME!
Yes, you and me. We should not be surprised by the rise of anti-Semitism during a time when Steve Bannon, one of the leaders of the Alt-Right white supremacist movement, is our shadow president. He has been given unprecedented power, replacing the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the National Security Council. No, we have not attacked anyone, but we are to blame because we have not been so outraged by this that we haven’t raised sufficient hell to drive him from power.
Our silence makes us complicit, not unlike the silence of good Christians in Germany as anti-Semitic leaders rose to power. We never again should wonder how the Nazis were able to take over and commit such atrocities, because we are them.
Jews are being attacked; transgender children have lost their protection; immigrants are being rounded up and deported; people are being delayed or detained at the border because of their names or what is on their phones; the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Education are headed by people whose stated agendas are to dismantle their own agencies; and generals now fill many key roles, answering to an emotionally unstable Commander in Chief. All of this is being done by an almost all-male, all-white administration selected by only 25 percent of Americans.
Oh, what happened in Germany could never happen here … except it already is in VERY many ways, not the least of which is the silence and passivity of the good Christian people who sit in the pews on Sunday and keep their heads down on Monday.
Please share this post and then put your senator and congressperson on speed dial and in your email address book. Join the resistance before it is too late!
Blessings,
Rev. Michael Piazza