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Editorial: An Irresolvable Bond
Stephen Platten
‘First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out –
because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Socialists,
and I did not speak out – because I was not a Socialist. Then they
came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I
was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the incurably sick, but
I did not speak out – for I was not incurably sick. Then they came
for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for
me.’1
This celebrated quotation has been traced by Herbert Marcuse
to a speech given by Martin Niemöller, a bishop in what is now
the Evangelische Kirche von Deutschland, to representatives of the
then Confessing Church in Frankfurt on 6 January 1946. It is
memorable for many reasons but particularly since it captures most
sharply the impact of not facing the collusion of the state with subgroups
within itself, and notably here in terms of the relationship
of the Church to the state. The Confessing Church had, of course,
set itself resolutely against compromise with the Nazi machine, in
contrast to the Reichskirche, set up by Hitler in collaboration with
Bishop Ludwig Müller and his followers.
Different nations and régimes have taken a variety of attitudes
to the manner in which the churches and the state should relate.
Famously, the Constitution of the United States of America has
as its First Amendment, that no religion shall be ‘established’. The
assumption is that this would protect the populace from that which
the early settlers in North America were attempting to escape
from, with regard to the establishment of the Church of England
in the ‘old country’. The term ‘establishment’ is notoriously vague
and various court cases have sought to clarify its meaning. So,
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