The Pastor Who Would Not Be Silent

In 1933, Dietrich Bonhoeffer watched as the Deutsche Christen movement draped swastika banners beside the cross in German churches. They rewrote hymns to honor the Fatherland. They barred Christians of Jewish descent from the pulpit and the communion table. The sanctuary — the place where every soul was meant to meet the Almighty on equal ground — had been converted into a stage for political power.…