In the last post, I explained what gradualism and appeasement are, and then gave examples of both from England’s history. Today I want to switch from England to Germany, and conclude this series on the Church vs. Covid with two more historical examples of the dangers of gradualism and appeasement.
EXAMPLE 3: THE JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST
Ever since the Holocaust, distraught Jews have been asking, “How did six million of our people allow themselves to be led to the gas chambers without resisting?” As far as we know, in only one death camp (Treblinka) was there a significant, organized attempt to resist the guards. The reason the Jews did not resist (both before and after they were sent to concentration camps) is simple: the Nazis were masters of gradualism. They intentionally used that technique to keep their victims from taking a stand against their horrific injustices.
Below is a chilling summary of the tactics crafted by Adolf Eichmann, the SS colonel who designed and ran Hitler’s “final solution” program to exterminate the Jews. As you read it, remember that the parallel is NOT between the Nazi government and today’s governments. It is between Christians and the Jews of the Holocaust in failing to identify the decisive moment to respond to government injustice with appropriate civil disobedience.
“Operations [that Eichmann] had managed in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania, and Poland had revealed to him the best methods to realize … success …. The first stage of his plan focused on isolating the Jews. Orders would be issued to require the wearing of the Yellow Star, to prohibit travel and the use of phones and radios, and to ban Jews from the civil service and scores of other professions. He had more than a hundred such measures …. Bank accounts would be frozen. Factories and businesses owned by Jews would be expropriated …. Next came ghettoization, uprooting Jews from their homes, and concentrating them together until the final, fourth stage could be effected: deportation to the camps ….
[Eichmann met] face to face with Jewish leaders to reassure them that the measures restricting their community were only temporary necessities of war. As long as these leaders, organized in a council, saw to their implementation, he would promise that no harm would come to their community …. Even when the Jews were forced onto the trains, they were to be told that they were being relocated for their own safety.”
Neil Bascomb, Hunting Eichmann, p. 3
Blinded by the tactic of gradualism and driven by the instinct of self-preservation, the rational discernment of millions of Jews was paralyzed, and they slowly forfeited the ability to respond decisively to government injustice.
And here’s a vital point: gradualism doesn’t have to be an organized and intentional government tactic to have that effect.
EXAMPLE 4: CHRISTIANS IN NAZI GERMANY
A German pastor named Wilhelm Busch, reflecting on the Nazi years in Germany (1933-1945), has noted that German Christians were completely unprepared to face the threat of gradualism and appeasement because such dangers were utterly novel to their Christian experience.
“[What] we learned in the first year under Hitler was, how unprepared we were for such a time, how helplessly we stood before the question of what really was to be done.”
William Busch, Christ or Hitler, p. 209.
Sound familiar? Take out the name “Hitler,” and insert the word “COVID,” and you have a perfect description of Christians in the last year: “What we learned in the first year under COVID was, how unprepared we were for such a time, how helplessly we stood before the question of what really was to be done.” “
Busch continues:
“In the first year [of Hitler’s rule] the state police had not been fully developed. At that time the Nazis didn’t know exactly how far they could go in infringing people’s rights and how far the people would tolerate the government operating “a little outside the law.”
Christ or Hitler, p. 207.
Once the Nazis realized that neither society generally nor the church specifically had the moral fortitude to stand up to their unjust and tyrannical actions, all pretense at restraint was quickly jettisoned. However, it is important to realize that the regulations imposed on churches were subtle at first, not dramatic. For example, soon after Hitler came to power, government decrees made it mandatory for all children to attend Hitler Youth meetings in order to indoctrinate them in Nazi beliefs. By “coincidence,” Hitler Youth chapters soon began scheduling their meetings on Sunday mornings. Children were not forbidden to go to church; however, mandatory government meetings just happened to be scheduled at the same time as church services.
As a result, German Christians had an utterly unanticipated choice forced on them: Should they obey the government, appeasing them to avoid open conflict by sacrificing something essential to spiritual life (i.e., corporate worship), or should they trust Christ and take a stand? In his memoirs, Busch records that some of the boys in his high school ministry took a stand, telling their Hitler Youth leaders, “We’re going to church.” When they were informed that obedience to the government must come first, Busch records:
That produced the first big conflict, the question of the conscience …. But they stood firm …. It really struck me at the time how my young lads already grasped the principle that one must be obedient to God from the beginning ….[iv]
“From the beginning …” That is the primary lesson that Busch urges Christians to learn from what he experienced under the Nazis.”
Christ or Hitler, 208-9.
Unfortunately, many German Christians, all too aware that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down, followed the path of appeasement and capitulation. Gradually, as governments always do, the Nazis grasped more and more authority and imposed more and more regulations and restrictions. Sadly, having missed the decisive moment to take a stand, most German churches never took a stand at all.
CONCLUSION
Historical examples do not have the same authority as Scripture—of course not. However, they are informative, perhaps even compelling. History has one voice on this matter: those who fail to take a stand early in the process, rarely recover. Backpedaling becomes a habit, making concessions a way of life.
In fact, the battle against gradualism takes place on two fronts. First, it is vital that Christians not establish a precedent of knuckling under to unjust or overbearing government regulations that prohibit fundamental biblical practices. Once formed, such a habit is rarely broken. Second, it is important that government officials not be allowed to imagine that they can impose unjust or dictatorial restrictions on churches, confident that churches won’t have the fortitude to resist them.
Submitting to the government is a very important way that we maintain our Christian testimony in this world, but it isn’t the only way. We also maintain our testimony for Christ by holding fast to basic Christian doctrines and practices, even in the face of government animosity and legislation.
It would be a gross exaggeration to construe the COVID regulations enforced on churches in the last year as a long-prepared, carefully schemed conspiracy to destroy the Christian faith. However, it would also be naïve to imagine that our governments’ willingness to impose extended bans on church meetings reveals nothing about their view of the value and significance of Christian worship. No conspiracy was exposed; a worldview was. And it is a worldview that will require more and more courage for Christians to resolutely stand against in the days ahead.
During our most recent “illegal” period in South Africa, a church member asked me why we were meeting in defiance of the government regulations. My one-line summary was, “Because, as your elders, we would rather have to explain to the government why we are meeting, than explain to God why we are not.”
Perhaps in the back of my mind as I made that statement was the song I learned years ago in Sunday School: “Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone. Dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known.” May God give us the grace to be as wise and as brave as Daniel and his three (teenage!) friends in Daniel 1 as we guard our churches against the dangers of gradualism and appeasement.
Part 2: Romans 13 vs. Hebrews 10
Part 3: When Jesus set aside regulations
Part 4: Modern Applications of Matthew 12