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I don't understand who Bohnhoeffer was, what he was fighting on - who he was leading - and what he paid his life for. Bonhoeffer did, in fact, reject the popla

I don't understand who Bohnhoeffer was, what he was fighting on - who he was leading - and what he paid his life for. Bonhoeffer did, in fact, reject the poplar ideas that "flowed though" his community. His sin was was rejecting the Nazi attempt to co-opt Christianity via the German Christian movement. His "confessing church" was one of the very very few organized responses to Hitler-ism in Germany.

plutonorm 5y ago
You entirely missed my point that this idea of good ideology and bad ideology is a hall of mirrors. We are all embedded in the same network of information and we are carried by their tides. In using one ideology to escape another he is merely choosing a different tide.
- InTheArena 5y ago
  He used his ideology to break away from the group and to found a group in opposition to the first.
  - CamperBob2 5y ago
    ... a group based on a religion responsible for no small amount of evil in itself. As the GP suggests, replacing one brand of stupidity with another isn't the solution. It's the whole problem. Bonhoeffer's essay is worthwhile, but it's also true that his closing paragraphs provide a flawless example of what the previous ones warned about.
    - macintux 5y ago
      > ... a group based on a religion responsible for no small amount of evil in itself. As the GP suggests, replacing one brand of stupidity with another isn't the solution. It's the whole problem. Or, maybe, only a powerful belief in something can provide the strength to actively resist the encroaching darkness.
      - CamperBob2 5y ago
        Valid point there for sure. They say that if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything, and there's plenty of proof of that across the entire political spectrum. And it works both ways: if you have faith in your own purpose while your adversaries remain disorganized and irresolute, you have a hell of an advantage regardless of whether your cause is just.

plutonorm 5y ago

You entirely missed my point that this idea of good ideology and bad ideology is a hall of mirrors. We are all embedded in the same network of information and we are carried by their tides. In using one ideology to escape another he is merely choosing a different tide.

InTheArena 5y ago
He used his ideology to break away from the group and to found a group in opposition to the first.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  ... a group based on a religion responsible for no small amount of evil in itself. As the GP suggests, replacing one brand of stupidity with another isn't the solution. It's the whole problem. Bonhoeffer's essay is worthwhile, but it's also true that his closing paragraphs provide a flawless example of what the previous ones warned about.
  - macintux 5y ago
    > ... a group based on a religion responsible for no small amount of evil in itself. As the GP suggests, replacing one brand of stupidity with another isn't the solution. It's the whole problem. Or, maybe, only a powerful belief in something can provide the strength to actively resist the encroaching darkness.
    - CamperBob2 5y ago
      Valid point there for sure. They say that if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything, and there's plenty of proof of that across the entire political spectrum. And it works both ways: if you have faith in your own purpose while your adversaries remain disorganized and irresolute, you have a hell of an advantage regardless of whether your cause is just.