The Pope on the Holocaust May 29, 2006
Posted by Evil Bender in News and politics, Religion.trackback
From Majikthise:
Benedict said it was almost impossible, particularly for a German Pope, to speak at "the place of the Shoah." "In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence, a silence which is a heartfelt cry to God — Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?"
At least two things stand out to me here: he refers to the Holocaust as Shoah, using Jewish terminology; and this is an ironic statement from the head of the Catholic church, given that the church never did speak out against the evils of Nazi Germany until the war was over.
I think the Pope's question is fair, and I think that most of us do wonder why a loving God would let this happen. But I also think that we should see to our own faults first: the Holocaust did not happen because God refused to step in. It happened because of human actions. While we refuse to make this world a better place, blaming God is too often a convienent way of refusing to blame ourselves.
We should ask where God was during the Holocaust. But let us not forget to ask where we have been during the great evils of our time.
Where was God?! “Where was God?” squeaks His so-called ambassador on earth! The real question is where were YOU Benedict?! Because the answer to “Where was God?” isn’t “behind a gun turret!” That bastard has no right.
Indeed–that’s the whole thing behind free will: we humans are free to make huge messes (which is far too weak a term for the Holocaust, of course, but I’m not sure any word really does it justice besides Holocaust), and God lets us.
You make a number of good points here, EB, not least of which is that we must all ask where we have been during the great evils of our time. I just wish more people realized that. (Cross-reference our conversation about personal responsibility earlier today–snark.)
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